Cissy Houston Cissy Houston Emily "Cissy" Houston (née Drinkard; born September 30, 1933) is an American soul and gospel singer. After a successful career singing backup for such artists as Dionne Warwick, Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin, Houston embarked on a solo career, winning two Grammy Awards for her work. Houston is the mother of singer Whitney Houston, grandmother of Bobbi Kristina Brown, aunt of singers Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, and a cousin of opera singer Leontyne Price. Born Emily Drinkard in Newark, New Jersey, to Nitcholas and Delia Mae Drinkard (née McCaskill), she was the eighth and final child; older
Whitney Houston (album) [...] was a fresh serving of precocious talent compared to 1985's mildly flavored R&B buffet." Allison Stewart from "The Washington Post" stated that the album "provided a blueprint for the pop/dance/R&B-melding careers of Mariah Carey and others, and introduced the world to "The Voice", an octave-spanning, gravity-defying melismatic marvel." In "The New Rolling Stone Album Guide" (2004), music journalist J. D. Considine gave the album three out of five stars and stated, "Although utterly calculating, "Whitney Houston" does have its moments, particularly when Houston leans toward R&B, as on 'You Give Good Love.'" The album received good response from major