Emily Drinkard (September 30, 1933 – October 7, 2024), known professionally as Cissy Houston, was an American soul and gospel singer.

Born in Newark, New Jersey, Houston began singing with three of her siblings in the family gospel group, The Drinkard Singers.

The asset was gradually depleted as they sold small portions of land over time, to resolve the continued legal troubles of a close relative, which later led to the entire family relocating to Newark during the Great Migration a decade before Houston's birth.

To help her recovery, along with raising the family's spirits, Houston's father encouraged Houston and her elder siblings Anne, Nicholas Jr. ("Nicky") and Larry to sing sacred hymns, to which afterwards, they formed The Drinkard Four, singing jubilees in various churches, including their own St. Luke's A.M.E. Church.

[4][7] For a time, Houston went to live with her older sister Lee and her husband Mancel Warrick and helped to raise her four nieces Dionne, Dee Dee, Judy Guions and Sylvia Shemwell and nephew Mancel Jr.[8][9] Soprano Leontyne Price is a Drinkard cousin.

Houston contended in her 2013 book, Remembering Whitney: A Mother's Story of Love, Loss and the Night the Music Died, that the group didn't sing professionally until radio announcer Joe Bostic hired them to open for Clara Ward and Mahalia Jackson at the first ever gospel showcase, named the "Negro Gospel and Religious Music Festival" at Carnegie Hall in October 1951.

Not long after that, the group sang on Bostic's Gospel Train New York radio show, becoming regulars on the program.

In two October dates in 1954 and 1957, the group, which now included Houston's adopted niece Judy, joined Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mahalia Jackson as one of several gospel acts to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival, leading to appearances on two live albums recorded at the festival in those years.

By the end of 1962, however, the group had permanently separated due to Houston's growing career as a session vocalist for secular recording artists.

In 1962, Dionne Warrick permanently separated from the group for good to begin singing professionally, working exclusively with Bacharach and his songwriting partner Hal David on Scepter Records, leading to the Gospelaires now being Houston, Dee Dee Warwick, Doris Troy and Shemwell before Troy herself left at the end of 1962, leading to her being replaced by Myrna Smith.

The group continued to back the newly rechristened Dionne Warwick and Troy on their solo hits, such as "Don't Make Me Over" and "Just One Look".

After singing background for the two Warwicks, Garnet Mimms, Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin among others for a number of years, the group was hired to back Irish soul singer Van Morrison on his composition, "Brown Eyed Girl", in 1967.

In addition, the group backed psychedelic rocker Jimi Hendrix on his song, "Burning of the Midnight Lamp", which was later featured on Hendrix's final studio album during his lifetime, Electric Ladyland[16] and would also back up more artists such as Otis Redding, Lou Rawls and Dusty Springfield.

In July 1969, the group was hired to back up Elvis Presley on the rocker's first live performances in almost a decade at the International Hotel.

That month, she decided to quit the Sweet Inspirations and stop touring to stay at home while also settling on a solo career.

During the mid- to late 1970s through the mid-1980s, Houston began regularly performing all over Manhattan's jazz clubs, headlining at venues such as Sweetwaters, Fat Tuesday, Reno Sweeney, Seventh Avenue South and Mikell's.

During this time, Houston brought along her teenage daughter Whitney and would have her sing solos to help her get started in the record business.

[25] After her daughter found musical stardom in the mid-1980s, Houston's solo output slowed, though she contributed duet vocals to her and Whitney's rendition of "I Know Him So Well" on the latter's eponymous 1987 album.

The song charted in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, becoming Houston's biggest international hit, reaching the top twenty in the latter two countries; Houston later sang the song with her daughter on Whitney's HBO concert special, Classic Whitney: Live from Washington, D.C. a decade later.

In June 2012, Houston sang "Bridge over Troubled Water" as a tribute to her daughter Whitney, who had passed away that February.

Houston's versatile cross-genre singing style kept her highly in demand as a session musician with some of the world's most successful recording artists.

In 1971, Houston contributed lead vocals on several songs featured on Burt Bacharach's self-titled 1971 gold album including "One Less Bell to Answer", "All Kinds of People" and "Mexican Divorce".

During 1975-76, she worked with jazz flutist Herbie Mann on three Atlantic albums, Discothèque, Waterbed, and Surprises, featuring on three tracks, "Violet Don't Be Blue", JJ Cale's "Cajun Moon", and "Easter Rising".

According to Houston, during her career with the Drinkard Singers, she enjoyed a brief courtship with Soul Stirrers front man Sam Cooke in the early 1950s.

1961), a songwriter and road manager, and daughter Whitney (1963–2012), who went on to be a world-renowned singer, actress, and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer.

[27][33] John Houston Jr. was a former Army veteran who served his country during World War II and was working as a taxi and truck driver when he met Cissy.

[27][failed verification] In the late 1990s, when her daughter Whitney began to struggle with drug addiction, Cissy staged several interventions to get her into rehabilitation programs.

On one occasion she obtained a court order and the assistance of two sheriffs to intervene, persuading Whitney to undertake treatment at Hope For Women Residential & Therapeutic Services in Atlanta, Georgia.