Cissy Houston's Life in Photos

The world lost another powerful voice when Cissy Houston died at age 91.

On Oct. 7, 2024, the Grammy-winning singer and mother of Whitney Houston died at her New Jersey home while under hospice care for Alzheimer's disease, her daughter-in-law Pat Johnson confirmed.

“Mother Cissy has been a strong and towering figure in our lives," Pat said in a statement. "A woman of deep faith and conviction, who cared greatly about family, ministry, and community. Her more than seven-decade career in music and entertainment will remain at the forefront of our hearts."

Cissy, the grandmother of Whitney's late daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, won two Grammy Awards in her lifetime for best traditional gospel album. She also sang backup for the likes of Elvis Presley, Bette Midler, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan and her niece Dionne Warwick.

As music mourns Cissy and her contributions to the industry, remember her accomplished life in photos.

Cissy Houston was born as Emily Drinkard in Newark, New Jersey, on Sept. 30, 1933, to Nitcholas "Nitch" and Celia Mae Drinkard. She was the youngest of eight children and grew up under the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Nitcholas encouraged four of his children, Cissy, Anne, Larry and Nick, to form the gospel singing group The Drinkard Four. The quartet later expanded to include their sister Marie, and they became The Drinkard Singers. Another sister, Lee Drinkard Warrick — who is the mother of Dee Dee and Dionne Warwick — served as their manager.

After several lineup changes, Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick formed the R&B girl group The Sweet Inspirations. When Dionne left in 1963, Cissy replaced her niece in the group, and they went on to sing backup for artists like Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix and Van Morrison on "Brown Eyed Girl."

Cissy departed the group in 1969 to pursue a solo career, and the following year, she released her debut album Presenting Cissy Houston.

John Russell Houston Jr. met Cissy in 1957, and the couple wed in May 1964, a month after John divorced his first wife. Their relationship produced two children, son Michael and daughter Whitney. They also shared Gary, whom Cissy gave birth to in 1957 during her first marriage to Freddie Garland.

The pair divorced in 1991, and John died in 2003 at age 82.

"We always loved each other," Cissy told USA Today in 2013, though she acknowledged the challenges she faced in their marriage.

In 1996, Cissy won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album with her sixth studio album Face to Face. She claimed another accolade in the category at the 1998 ceremony with her album He Leadeth Me.

Cissy's only daughter, Whitn -

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ey Houston, was born on Aug. 9, 1963. Whitney inherited her mother's passion and talent for music, going on to become one of the bestselling artists of all-time. The mother-daughter duo collaborated on occasion, singing Aretha Franklin's "Ain't No Way" together on The Merv Griffin Show and recording the duet "I Know Him So Well." They also worked with close relative Dionne Warwick on "Family First" for the Daddy's Little Girls soundtrack in 2006.

After Whitney was found dead on Feb. 11, 2012, in her hotel bathtub, Cissy wrote an emotional open letter in the program of her late daughter's homegoing service.

"How I love you Nippy and how I miss you, your beautiful smile, your special little things you used to say to me and sometimes you’d call just to say 'hi Mommie, I love you so much,' I loved you so much more. I love you, I’ll miss you, Thank you for being such a wonderful daughter," she concluded her farewell.

Cissy Houston was the aunt of singers Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, who also sang with her in The Drinkard Singers. Dionne was outspoken about how she looked up to Cissy and viewed her as an older sister, because the two were close in age.

"Cissy had an incredible voice and that transferred to her little baby, Whitney," Dionne told PEOPLE in 2022. "Whitney came up exactly the way we all did, in the church choir. It was just preordained, she was going to sing. Her destiny was as was the rest of the family. As if God pointed a finger at us and said 'Let them vocal cords do what they got to do.'"

In 2013, Cissy penned an open letter to her granddaughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, writing, "Krissi, all I want for you is your good health and happiness.”

When Bobbi was found unconscious in a bathtub at her Roswell, Georgia, home and was put on life support, Cissy joined her former son-in-law Bobby Brown at her granddaughter's bedside in the ICU. Bobbi died on July 26, 2015, at age 22, with the cause of her death ruled as a combination of drowning and drug intoxication.

On Oct. 7, 2024, Cissy Houston died in her Newark, New Jersey, home at age 91 under hospice care for Alzheimer's disease. Her daughter-in-law Pat Johnson confirmed the singer's death in a statement: "Our hearts are filled with pain and sadness. We loss the matriarch of our family."

Pat continued, "Her contributions to popular music and culture are unparalleled. We are blessed and grateful that God allowed her to spend so many years with us and we are thankful for all the many valuable life lessons that she taught us. May she rest in peace, alongside her daughter, Whitney and granddaughter Bobbi Kristina and other cherished family members."

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