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 (2015 film) five years (1989–1994) when Houston was catapulted in the worldwide success of her film debut "The Bodyguard" and its subsequent soundtrack. Filming took 20 days to shoot and was primarily filmed in Los Angeles and Santa Clarita, California. Canadian R&B singer Deborah Cox performs all of Houston's vocals in the film, including "I Will Always Love You", "I'm Your Baby Tonight", "I'm Every Woman", "Jesus Loves Me" and "The Greatest Love of All". In addition, songwriting/production team The Jackie Boyz performed Brown's vocals for "Every Little Step" in the Soul Train Awards scene. In 1989, Whitney Houston (Yaya DaCosta) is