Emily Cissy Drinkard Houston (born
September 30,
1933), better known as
Cissy Houston, is an American
soul and
gospel singer. She led a successful career as a backup singer for such artists as
Elvis Presley,
Mahalia Jackson, and
Aretha Franklin, and is now primarily a solo artist. She is the mother of singer and actress
Whitney Houston.
Born in
Newark,
New Jersey, Houston was the youngest of eight children of parents Nicholas (aka Nitch) and Delia Drinkard. In 1938 when Houston was 5 years old her mother, Delia, suffered a
stroke and died of
cerebral hemorrhage three years later. Her father, Nitch, later died of
stomach cancer in 1951 when Houston was 18.
