CC Houston Dies at 91; Gospel Star Guided Daughter Whitney's Rise

Ceci Houston, who sang in a church choir as a child before emerging as an in-demand backup vocalist on pop and soul records and then as a gospel star and who helped shepherd her daughter Whitney Houston to superstardom, died Monday at her home in Newark. He was 91.

His family announced his death in a statement, which said he had been in hospice care for Alzheimer's disease.

Ms. Houston was a gifted stylist whose powerful voice and deep faith made her an influential figure in gospel circles for decades. He won Grammy Awards in the traditional soul gospel category for the albums “Face to Face” in 1997 and “He Leadeth Me” in 1999.

Before that, he was among the busiest backup singers in the record business, providing vocal backing for Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley and many others. And for more than half a century he was choir director at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, where he got his start as a singer in the 1930s.

Mrs. Houston was the matriarch of a singing dynasty that included her daughter, her nephews Dion and Dee Dee Warwick, and a cousin, the opera star Leontyne Price. He endured the deaths of his daughter, who drowned in a hotel bathtub in 2012, and Whitney Houston's daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, who was found unresponsive in a bathtub at her Georgia home in January 2015, and six died. Months later Whitney Houston struggled with addiction for years despite her mother's intervention.

Unlike her daughter, Cissy Houston achieved massive fame in her later years, but she was comfortable with it. He told Jet magazine in 1998: “A lot of what I've done has come late in life and it's like starting a whole new career. I have no regrets about the way I planned and lived my life and I am very proud of what I have become.”

Ms. Houston can be heard singing backup on her own or with her group The Sweet Inspirations on such hits as Ms. Franklin's “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” Van Morrison's “Brown-Eyed Girl” and Dionne Warwick. “Walk on foot.”

She became pregnant with her daughter while recording backup vocals for the Drifters' “On Broadway” in 1963, according to her autobiography, “How Sweet the Sound: My Life with God and Gospel” (1998), written with Jonathan Singer.

“It's bound to be an interesting baby,” he wrote.

Robert Darden, a professor of journalism at Baylor University and author of several books on gospel music, said Ms. Houston “was a remarkable figure because she sold a lot of records, but because of the people she influenced who sold a lot. And as a bearer and nurturer of the gospel music tradition. Because of his work.”

“Whitney Houston was coached by the best,” he continued in a 2015 interview for The Death, “and even though she had a voice once in her life, without the training and influence and experience of someone like Cece, who knew everybody and could sing in any style, He could not have achieved what he did.”

Sissy Houston was born Emily Drinkard in Newark on September 30, 1933, the last of eight children born to Nicholas Drinkard, a factory worker, and Delia Mae (McSkill) Drinkard. His family attended revival-style weekday services, where they first encountered gospel music.

Sissy began singing with her siblings at the age of 5 at a local church, and she, her sister Ann, and her brothers Larry and Nicky formed the Drinkard Four, a quartet that performed regularly at New Hope Baptist Church. The group, named the Drinkard Singers, appeared in a 1951 Carnegie Hall performance featuring Mahalia Jackson.

Miss Houston's marriage to Freddie Garland ended in divorce in 1955. She later married John Houston, with whom she had three children.

In the early 1960s, Ms. Houston was a prominent member of Sweet Inspiration, an introspective R&B group that sang backup on hundreds of songs for artists including Wilson Pickett, David Bowie, Neil Diamond. Song, Jimi Hendrix.

Eager for a solo career, he left the group in 1969. He recorded himself and performed in nightclubs, appeared on “The Tonight Show” and in 1983 joined the cast of an Off Broadway musical, “Taking My Turn”.

Reviewing a performance by Reno Sweeney at a New York nightclub in 1977, Robert Palmer of The New York Times wrote: “With her absolutely majestic voice, her imitative tone and economical, almost self-indulgent phrasing, Miss Houston is a singer's singer. To resurrect an old cliché, he can sing the telephone book and deliver an uplifting experience.”

Mrs. Houston eventually began devoting most of her time to raising her children and directing the church choir at New Hope Baptist. He encouraged Whitney in her early singing and often brought her to the recording studio.

As Whitney's career skyrocketed, mother and daughter occasionally acted together; CC Houston lent her backup vocals to Whitney Houston's hits like “How Will I Know” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”.

Mrs. Houston's survivors include her sons, Gary Garland, from her first marriage, and Michael Houston, as well as many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Interviewed by The Times in 1983 about her appearance on “Taking My Turn,” a coming-of-age musical, Ms. Houston described her musical inspiration. “It's all coming from inside me,” she said. “I sing what I feel.”

Bernard Mokam Contribution reporting.