Cissy Houston, singer and mother of Whitney Houston, has died at the age of 91

Cissy Houston, the two-time Grammy Award-winning singer who passed her pipes down to her daughter, the late Whitney Houston, died Monday morning at age 91 while receiving hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease.

In a statement to The Associated Press, her daughter-in-law Pat Houston announced that the veteran singer died at home in New Jersey, not far from Fairview Cemetery & Arboretum in Westfield, where her famous daughter is buried.

“Our hearts are full of pain and sadness. We have lost the matriarch of our family,” Pat Houston wrote. “Mother Cissy was a strong and prominent figure in our lives. A woman of deep faith and conviction who cared deeply about family, service and community. Her career spanning more than seven decades in the music and entertainment industry will continue to be close to our hearts.”

By nurturing her daughter’s talents by hiring her as a backup singer in her band and performing together in cabaret clubs throughout New York City, Whitney learned valuable lessons in performing straight from the source, but always forgot to give her mother some credit to give for their success The relationship between mother and daughter has often been described as “complicated”.

“My mom said, ‘You look at the best. If you want to be the best, you have to watch them. You have to watch what they do. And then incorporate it into your own,’” Whitney said in a famous clip.

Long before Cissy Houston became a mother to Whitney, she appeared in Sweet Inspirations with Doris Troy and her niece Dee Dee Warrick, and also appeared alongside Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin. She won two Grammys in 1997 and 1998 for her albums “Face to Face” and “He Leadeth Me.”

As a fitting tribute to a family that has suffered so much loss in recent years, a fan posted a photo of the three deceased Houston women to X; Cissy, Whitney and Whitney’s daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown; with the caption “Together again.”