Two-time Grammy-winner Cissy Houston, the mother of the late Whitney Houston, died Monday at the age of 91.
Her daughter Pat said Houston died in her New Jersey home where she was under hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease, according to The Associated Press. The highly respected gospel singer and talented artist was surrounded by her family as she passed on.
“Our hearts are filled with pain and sadness,” Pat said in a statement issued to the outlet. “We lost the matriarch of our family.”
NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 30: Singer Cissy Houston and daughter singer Whitney Houston attend the 2010 Keep A Child Alive’s Black Ball at the Hammerstein Ballroom on September 30, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)
Houston’s talents were well recognized within the music industry and her illustrious career included performances alongside some of music’s biggest greats, including Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin.
Pat called her mother’s contributions to music “unparalleled,” according to The Associated Press.
“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. Her more than seven-decade career in music and entertainment will remain at the forefront of our hearts,” she said.
Singer/actress Whitney Houston w. her mom Cissy. (Photo by Robin Platzer/Getty Images)
Houston was part of the Sweet Inspirations, with Doris Troy and her niece Dee Dee Warwick, and sang backup for a variety of soul singers including Otis Redding, Lou Rawls, The Drifters and Dionne Warwick.
The Sweet Inspirations were featured on Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” and sang background vocals for The Jimi Hendrix Experience on the single, “Burning of the Midnight Lamp,” as well as Franklin’s classic hit, “Ain’t No Way.”
Houston left The Sweet Inspirations to pursue a solo career and flourish as an independent artist.
She recorded more than 600 songs in multiple genres throughout her career.
NEW YORK – CIRCA 1967: (Clockwise from top) Sylvia ShemwelL, Cissy Houston, Myrna Smith and Estelle Brown of the vocal group ‘The Sweet Inspirations’ pose for a portrait in circa 1967 in New York, New York. (Photo by James Kriegsmann/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Her vocals were featured on tracks with Chaka Khan, Donny Hathaway, Jimi Hendrix, Luther Vandross, Beyoncé, Paul Simon and Roberta Flack, to name a few.
The talented singer took home two Grammys for her albums “Face to Face” in 1997 and “He Leadeth Me” in 1998 in the best traditional soul gospel album category.
Houston was the author of three books, including, “Remembering Whitney: A Mother’s Story of Life, Loss and The Night The Music Stopped.” (RELATED: Al Pacino Reveals He Came Close To Death)
The music industry has united in their grief and are sharing fond memories of Houston on social media as they pay tribute to the tremendous legacy she left behind.
This article was originally published at dailycaller.com
