Unquestionably one of the greatest ‘voices’ in contemporary music, Emily ‘Cissy’ Houston (nee Drinkard) ascended on Monday, October 7th 2024 with an incredible musical legacy that began almost seventy years ago and was filled with accomplishment and acknowledgement for her contribution in the fields of gospel, R&B, soul and pop.
A personal joy for me as a soul music historian and archivist has been reissuing Cissy Houston’s original recordings for Janus Records, initially in 1995 and then again, in 2012 as expanded editions; and also reissues of the her Atlantic work with The Sweet Inspirations, the latter in a comprehensive 3CD set, produced and with stellar liner notes by Tim Dillinger,
Some history, bearing in mind a full documentation of all that Cissy Houston recorded as a solo artist, background vocalist and her many performances, would literally be pages long…
Cissy’s early work with the family group, The Drinkard Singers (initially as The Drinkard Jubilairs) – augmented by Judy Guions (later, Judy Clay) – was groundbreaking in and of itself, with a live performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958 and an album release (“A Joyful Noise”) on RCA Victor, the same year. As she noted in an interview with UK writer Adam White in 1987, “I loved singing with my family but after a while, I found we were being typecast…and let’s face it, there was no money in gospel. I had to continuously work a full-time job to make ends meet, and it was just wearing me out.”
Although I first met Cissy myself at London’s Heathrow Airport in 1968 – when The Sweet Inspirations were making a stopover on the way to performing at a private party hosted by a Bolivian millionaire in Portugal – my first in person face-to-face interview with her was in April 975, two months into my tenure as the resident New York correspondent for Britain’s “Blues & Soul” magazine. During that memorable conversation, Cissy revealed how her years as premier background vocalist began: “I was working at RCA – not singing but in the offices – and a session came up for [singer] Faye Adams… Well, I didn’t want to risk losing money with my regular job, so I didn’t go. But shortly afterwards, another session came up and I think it was Dionne [Cissy’s niece] who was supposed to do it and couldn’t….so I did. I believe the first [session] was with a group called Ronnie Hawkins and The Hawks in 1961.”
Thus began a consistent period of work with one of the foremost studio session groups of the era: while the original line-up consisted of sisters Dionne and Dee Dee (Warrick), Carol Slade and Doris Troy, Dionne’s career began to skyrocket in 1962 and Doris’ success with “Just One Look” resulted in Cissy stepping in along with Sylvia Shemwell (sister of Judy Clay). By December 1963, ‘The Group’ – as they were known in New York studio circles – comprised Cissy, Dee Dee, Sylvia and Estelle Brown (a former member of The Gospel Wonders); when Dee Dee began enjoying solo success in 1965, Myrna Smith (nee Utley) replaced her. Cissy became the quartet’s vocal contractor and the list of artists on whose recordings they could be heard included Aretha Franklin (then at Columbia Records), Nina Simone, Brook Benton, Chuck Jackson, Maxine Brown, Garnet Mimms, Esther Phillips, Wilson Pickett (whose “Come Home Baby” 1965 single featured Cissy’s prominent vocals) and Solomon Burke.
Under the pseudonym ‘Cecily Blair,’ Cissy recorded a one-off single for a independent label, MNM Records in 1963 and then a couple more 45s as a solo artist for Congress and Kapp labels as ‘Sissie Houston’; however, by 1967, the four women who had sung on countless recording sessions for others – Cissy, Sylvia, Estelle and Myrna – found themselves constantly at Atlantic Records’ studios in New York, leading label executive Jerry Wexler to suggest they make an album of their own as ‘The Sweet Inspirations,’ with various mythology surrounding how the came about.
Cissy and The Sweets began working with then-newly signed Atlantic artist Aretha Franklin in 1967, providing background vocals on Aretha’s early hits for the label; most notably, it is Cissy’s memorable obligatto on “Ain’t No Way” that remains one of the most outstanding vocal performances on record. The quartet did some selected shows with Aretha and in 1968, The Sweet Inspirations began live shows with Elvis Presley.
Over the years that followed, The Sweet Inspirations recorded five albums for Atlantic Records, with varying degrees of success: their biggest hit single was “Sweet Inspiration,” cut in Memphis in August 1967. A full and complete history of The Sweet Inspirations’ work at Atlantic can be found in the excellent notes for the 3CD set, “Let It Be Me: The Atlantic Recordings (1967-1970)” by Tim Dillinger for SoulMusic Records.
While she could be heard on the single, “(Gotta Find) A Brand New Lover” (a Top 30 US R&B charted hit), Cissy did not participate in the balance of the tracks on the final LP that The Sweet Inspirations recorded for Atlantic. In my 1975 interview with Cissy, she noted, “Yes, I was sad when it came time for us to part. Although it was my decision and although it’s inevitable that I miss the girls, I feel I did the right thing, citing the need to spend more time with her children (Whitney, Michael and Gary) at home in Newark, New Jersey.
With the assistance of her then-husband John Houston (who had been The Sweet Inspirations’ personal and road manager), Cissy secured a contract with newly-formed Commonwealth United Records, run by New York music executives Charles Koppelman and Donald Rubin and her first full-length album, “Presenting Cissy Houston” comprised nine tracks, all cover versions of material recorded by others, notably two that had been cut by niece Dionne, “This Empty Place” (the 1963 original of which likely included Cissy’s background vocals) and “I Just Don’t Know What To With Myself.” Only one single was issued initially, “I’ll Be There” and although it managed a showing on the US R&B and pop charts, Commonwealth United ran out of funds and within four months, Cissy’s contract had been purchased by Janus Records, a label initially owned by GRT and UK company, Pye Records.
Janus repackaged Cissy’s debut set in September 1970, releasing a couple of singles from the LP before Cissy began recording new material over the next two years which was likely intended for a second album. The closest she got to having a hit came in the form of a song originally presented to her by its’ writer, Jim Weatherly. In comments in a 1974 “Blues & Soul” interview she revealed, “Tte song was originally called ‘Midnight Plane To Houston’ and it really didn’t sound right to me — especially with me having the name of Houston. So, I sat down with my producer (Sonny Limbo) and we came up with the idea of changing to “Midnight Train To Georgia”. We called over to Jim Weatherly’s publisher’s office and got permission to change the words and off we went.” In a conversation for the reissue of her first album as an expanded edition in 1995, she suggested, “it may have been recorded in Nashville or Atlanta or somwhere down south! I really like the song but… I changed the title because we weren’t taking no midnight plane to Houston!”
A year later, Gladys Knight & The Pips were working with Jim Weatherly at Buddah Records and had a No. pop & R&B hit with the song, complete with the famous Pips’ refrain. Cissy, 1995: “I remember thinking, ‘I’ll be damned. I knew the song was a hit song.’ It didn’t get the fair shake from the record company, but hey, what are you going to do? You move right on.” One more session with Janus completed in Detroit with producer Don Davis in 1973 and Cissy was ready to do just that. She noted that her experience with Janus Records “wasn’t nice at all. I didn’t like what they did…they didn’t have any faith in me as an artist and I was very unhappy with the situation.”
Fortunately, Cissy’s reputation as vocalist doing background sessions and jingles kept her busy and in 1977, she signed with Private Stock Records working with producer Michael Zager. The label was absorbed by Columbia Records and in all, she recored four albums, achieving a modicum of chart success with “Tomorrow” (from the Broadway musical, “Annie”) and the dance anthem, “Think It Over.”
In a 1978 interview with me for “Blues & Soul,” Cissy talked about her self-titled debut album, noting, “I will not do any material that I can’t feel…sure, there are some songs I like better than others, but I’ve never cut anything I didn’t like. Because I have to be true to myself and I must relate to the song and what it means, which is why lyrics are so important to me.” Asked about whether she would be doing a lot of performing, her response was clear: “Let’s put it this way,” she laughs, “I’m not a teenager anymore and I do have a family — my husband and three children….so I don’t want to be out there for a long time.” Cissy also noted that she had been continuing through the years as “the Minister of Music at [New Hope] church in Newark but I have to add that some people have gotten confused — that doesn’t mean I’m a preacher or that I’ve been ordained — it just means that I’m in charge of the music there.”
It was during this time period that I got to see Cissy at Manhattan night clubs such as Reno Sweeney’s and in reviewing the year in 1977 in a post on my website, I found a video of one of her performances. I’m not sure if it was at this particular show towards the end of the year that Cissy introduced her then-teenage daughter who was doing background vocals with her mother and gave her a ‘step out’ that left the audience thrilled. I do recall that afterwards, Cissy introduced me to Whitney and I told her how amazing I found her performance to be! In fact, it was on the 1978 LP “Think It Over” that Whitney could be heard on backgrounds on several tracks.
Years later, when Whitney began her own career in earnest at Arista Records, she remembered us meeting through her mother and there was no doubt that she had learned a great deal from Cissy as I realized when I attended a show at The Roxy in L.A. after Whitney’s debut album was released.
There is so much more that has been written and documented about Cissy and her iconic daughter Whitney since Cissy and I conducted our last interview for the expanded edition of “Presenting Cissy Houston” in 1995, which was also the year that as the secretary of The Rhythm & Blues Foundation, I had the distinct honour of ensuring with my fellow board members that Cissy Houston received a much-deserved Pioneer Award for her years of work and service to the music industry.
Rest heavenly, Cissy, with deep appreciation for all you contributed to the world of music and indeed to life itself.
The best way to complete this personal rememberance of Cissy Houston is with the quotes that I had the joy to include in the initial reissue CD from her number one ‘fan,’ the late Luther Vandross who adored Cissy and Whitney, along with comments from her niece Dionne for the 2012 repackaging of the CD; and Whitney’s 1995 special message.
David Nathan, “The British Ambassador Of Soul,” October 8th, 2024
PRESENTING CISSY HOUSTON (EXPANDED EDITION)
THE SWEET INSPIRATIONS: LET IT BE ME – THE ATLANTIC RECORDINGS (1967-1970)