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
Thelma Houston Thelma Houston Thelma Houston (née Jackson; born May 7, 1946) is an American singer and actress. She scored a number-one hit in 1977 with her recording of "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Houston was born in Leland, Mississippi. Her mother was a cotton picker. She and her three sisters grew up primarily in Long Beach, California. After marrying and having two children, she joined the Art Reynolds Singers gospel group and was subsequently signed as a recording artist with Dunhill Records. She is not related to Whitney Houston. In 1969,