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

Cissy Houston, the Grammy-winning singer and mother of the late Whitney Houston, has died. She was 91.

Cissy died Monday morning at her home in New Jersey while receiving hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease, her daughter-in-law Pat Houston told the Associated Press.

The two-time Grammy Award winner was surrounded by her family.

“Our hearts are full of pain and sadness. We have lost the matriarch of our family,” Pat said in a statement, adding that her mother’s contributions to music and culture were “unprecedented.”

“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.”

Cissy’s singing career began in 1938 when she joined her siblings in the gospel singing group Drinkard Four.

During Cissy’s time with the group, later renamed The Drinkard Singers, she made her television debut on TV Gospel Time.

Before she gave birth to her daughter Whitney in 1963, Cissy founded the group Sweet Inspirations with Doris Troy and her niece Dee Dee Warrick.

Sylvia Shemwell, Estelle Brown and Myrna Smith then joined the group and sang as backing vocalists for several artists including Otis Redding, Lou Rawls, The Drifters, Dusty Springfield and Cissy’s niece Dionne Warwick.

This story will be updated…