Cissy Houston, singer and mother of Whitney Houston, has died at age 91

Cissy Houston, the legendary gospel singer and mother of Whitney Houston, died Monday morning at the age of 91, her family said in a statement.

Houston, a two-time Grammy Award-winning singer, died at her New Jersey home while being hospitalized for Alzheimer's disease, said her daughter-in-law, Pat Houston.

“Our hearts are filled with pain and sorrow. We have lost the matriarch of our family,” she said, adding that her mother-in-law was a “strong and towering figure” in the family's life.

Houston enjoyed a decade-long successful singing career, in which she performed with superstars such as Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin.

Born in New Jersey in 1933, Houston was the youngest of eight children. He started singing at a young age after forming a gospel group with his siblings.

In the 1960s, he formed the R&B group Sweet Inspiration, which sang backup for such big names as Otis Redding, Dusty Springfield and Dionne Warwick. They also performed Van Morrison's hit song Brown Eyed Girl.

After finding success with Sweet Inspiration, Houston embarked on a solo career, singing with artists including Chaka Khan, Jimi Hendrix, Beyoncé, Paul Simon and her late daughter Whitney Houston, who died in 2012 at age 48.

Houston won a Grammy Award in 1997 for her traditional soul gospel album Face to Face and the following year for her album He Leadeth Me.

She also wrote three books, including one in memory of her daughter, Remembering Whitney: A Mother's Story of Life, Loss and The Night the Music Stopped.

At age 80, Houston sang with Aretha Franklin again during her performance on The Late Show with David Letterman, where they performed a cover of Adele's Rolling in the Deep.

His daughter-in-law Pat said Houston's “more than seven-decade career in music and entertainment will live on in our hearts”.

He added that the family was “blessed and grateful that God allowed him to spend so many years with us”.

“May he rest in peace with his daughter Whitney and granddaughter Bobbi Kristina and other cherished family members.”