LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) –Two-time Grammy-winning singer, Cissy Houston, is dead.
The 91-year-old singer died on Monday morning in her New Jersey home while under hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease.
Pat Houston, her daughter-in-law, in a statement, described Cissy as a strong and towering figure in the family’s life.
“Our hearts are filled with pain and sadness. We lost the matriarch of our family,” the statement reads.
“Mother Cissy has been a strong and towering figure in our lives. A woman of deep faith and conviction, who cared greatly about family, ministry, and community.
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Her more than seven-decade career in music and entertainment will remain at the forefront of our hearts.
“Her contributions to popular music and culture are unparalleled.”
Cissy was born in New Jersey in 1933 as the youngest of eight children. Born Emily Drinkard, she began singing at a young age after she formed a gospel group with her siblings.
She started to gain popularity in the 1960s as a member of the backing group The Sweet Inspirations with Doris Troy and her niece Dee Dee Warwick.
They sang backup for soul legends including Otis Redding, Lou Rawls and the Drifters, and Dusty Springfield.
Cissy left the group to pursue a solo career, which made her one of the world’s most in-demand session singers of that era.
