Cissy Houston, Grammy winner and mother of Whitney Houston, dies at 91

Ms. Houston began singing as a child at her church and in a group formed with several of her siblings. In later years she emerged as a matriarch in a musical family that included a cousin, the opera singer Leontyne Price; his nephews Dion and Dee Dee Warwick; and his daughter Whitney, who became one of the top-selling pop stars of her generation before her death in 2012 at the age of 48.

Whitney was born while Ceci Houston was singing with Sweet Inspiration, a backup group that performed with artists as diverse as Otis Redding, Lou Rawls, Jimi Hendrix and Elvis Presley. They provided “Sha-La-Las” to Van Morrison's “Brown Eyed Girl” and “Chain Chain Chain” to Aretha Franklin's “Chain of Fools.”

“I think Sweet Inspirations changed the whole business of background singing because it was unique, and I did all the background,” Ms. Houston told the Daily Record of Morristown, N.J. Other backup vocalists “just sang what they were told,” she said. added “I believed that was my job – in the background business.”

Ms. Houston later broke out as a solo artist, finding hits including “Be My Baby.” He has sustained his career for decades, winning two Grammy Awards, for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album, for “Face to Face” (1996) and “He Leadeth Me” (1997).

Mrs. Houston once told the Los Angeles Times that she did not want her daughter to enter show business because she had “seen what it can do to you, how people are ready to hurt you.” But he eventually helped launch Whitney's career, taking her to Newark Baptist churches and singing in nightclubs.

Whitney Houston became a superstar, with major hits including “I Will Always Love You” (which she featured on the soundtrack to the 1992 movie “The Bodyguard” starring her and Kevin Costner) and “The Greatest Love Of All.”

She sings “How To Know”, “I Want To Dance With The One (Who Loves Me)” and “I Know Her Too Well” with her mother.

Whitney Houston publicly endured struggles with substance abuse and a difficult marriage to singer Bobby Brown. She was found dead in her hotel room in Beverly Hills, California on the eve of the 2012 Grammy Awards. A coroner determined that he accidentally drowned in the bathtub and that cocaine use and heart disease were contributing factors.

After her daughter's death, Ms. Houston wrote the book “Remembering Whitney” (2013) with co-author Lisa Dickey. She reflects on Whitney's talent and personal struggles, as well as her own grief as a mother to a daughter she affectionately calls “Nippy”.

“I'm still very angry – at Nippy, at the world, at myself,” Ms Houston wrote. “There are days when the question consumes me … Was I a good mother? Was I too hard on him? And worst of all – could I have somehow saved him?”

Emily “Sissy” Drinkard, the youngest of eight children, was born on September 30, 1933, in Newark. He was 8 years old when his mother died. His father nurtured his budding musical career, which began when he and several siblings formed the Drinkcard Four (later the Drinkcard Singers) in 1958, releasing the album “A Joyful Noise”.

Ms. Houston was first married to Freddie Garland, with whom she had a son, Gary Garland, who later played in the NBA for the Denver Nuggets. She later married John Houston, with whom she had two children, Whitney and a son, Michael. John Houston managed the careers of CC and Whitney Houston and eventually divorced his wife.

A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.

In addition to the book about her daughter, Ms. Houston wrote the memoir “How Sweet the Sound: My Life with God and the Gospel” (1998, co-authored with Jonathan Singer).

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times in 1995, Whitney Houston recalled a moment that was perhaps a turning point in her career.

One night when she was about 17, Whitney and her mother were supposed to appear together at a club.

“He called and hollered, 'My voice! I can't sing! You're going to have to do it without me,'” Whitney Houston recalled. “I said, 'Forget it! I can't do it!' He said, 'Sure you can, you're fine.' “

Whitney Houston went on stage alone that night. She later learned that her mother was fine and wanted to show Whitney that she could be successful on her own.

“I really had to show you that you can do it,” she recalled telling her mother, “and that if you want it, you have to go for it.”