@celebrity.death.s: Emily Drinkard known professionally as Cissy Houston, was a soul and gospel singer. Houston was a founding member of the R&B group The Sweet Inspirations, and sang backup for artists such as Roy Hamilton, Dionne Warwick, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, and Chaka Khan. Born Emily Drinkard on September 30, 1933, in Newark, New Jersey The Drinkards had owned a substantial amount of farmland in Blakely, Georgia, at a time when it was unusual for black people to have large landholdings. The asset was gradually depleted as they sold small portions of land over time, to resolve the continued legal troubles of a close relative. In 1938, five-year-old Cissy's mother Delia suffered a stroke and died of cerebral hemorrhage three years later. Houston's father died of stomach cancer in March 1952 when Houston was 18 Houston's singing career began in 1938 when she joined her sister Anne and brothers Larry and Nicky in the gospel singing group the Drinkard Four. It was while performing on Drinkard Singers that Cissy Houston made her television debut on TV Gospel Time. Houston and the Drinkard Singers regularly performed at New Hope Baptist Church and later recorded a live album for RCA called A Joyful Noise, becoming one of the first gospel acts to release a gospel album on a major label. In 1955, Houston married Freddie Garland and had a son, Gary Garland (born 1957), an NBA basketball player and DePaul University Athletic Hall of Famer. In early 1957, when she was 24, Houston met John Russell Houston Jr. and embarked on a romance that led to the births of son Michael (born 1961), a songwriter and road manager, and daughter Whitney In 1963, about to give birth to daughter Whitney Houston, she formed The Sweet Inspirations with Doris Troy and niece Dee Dee Warrick. In 1967, The Sweet Inspirations sang background vocals for The Jimi Hendrix Experience on the track "Burning of the Midnight Lamp". In 1969, they were hired to sing backing vocals for American singer Elvis Presley in Las Vegas on his return to live performances during July and August 1969. Houston's versatile cross-genre singing style has kept her highly in demand as a session musician with some of the world's most successful recording artists. Houston sang back-up on Bette Midler's 1972 debut album, The Divine Miss M. In the late 1990s, when her daughter Whitney began to struggle with drug addiction, Cissy staged several interventions to get her into rehabilitation programs Cissy Houston died at her home in Newark on October 7, 2024, at the age of 91. She had been in hospice care for Alzheimer's disease.

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Monday 07 October 2024 23:37:13 GMT