Cissy Houston Houston, her daughter and backup singer, increasingly sang solos with Cissy's band, including the Barbra Streisand hit "Evergreen". They would collaborate on "Ain't No Way" (originally a Cissy Houston and Aretha Franklin vehicle), on which Cissy sang "Cissy" and Whitney "Aretha". In 1996, Houston received the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album for "Face to Face", an album that contained a Gospel version of "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)". The same year, she contributed one song to the gospel soundtrack album for the film "The Preacher's Wife", which starred her daughter Whitney Houston. In
Whitney Houston I Know"—influenced several African-American women artists who followed in her footsteps. Houston began singing in church as a child and became a background vocalist while in high school. With the guidance of Arista Records chairman Clive Davis, she signed to the label at the age of 19. Her first two studio albums, "Whitney Houston" (1985) and "Whitney" (1987), both reached number one on the "Billboard" 200 in the United States and became two of the world's best-selling albums of all time. She became the only artist to have seven consecutive number-one singles on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, from "Saving