AP Spotlight
We’ve had to say goodbye to some beloved musicians, athletes, actors and more. Here's a look at the stars we've lost so far in 2024, through August.
LOS ANGELES — Cissy Houston, the mother of the late Whitney Houston and a two-time Grammy winner who performed alongside superstar musicians like Elvis Presley, and Aretha Franklin, has died. She was 91.
Houston died Monday morning in her New Jersey home while under hospice care for Alzheimer's disease, her daughter-in-law Pat Houston told The Associated Press. The acclaimed gospel singer was surrounded by her family.
“Our hearts are filledwith pain and sadness. We loss the matriarch of our family,” Pat Houston said in a statement. She said her mother-in-law's contributions to popular music and culture are "unparalleled."
“Mother Cissy has been a strong and towering figure in our lives. A woman of deep faith and conviction, who cared greatly about family, ministry, and community. Her more than seven-decade career in music and entertainment will remain at the forefront of our hearts.”
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Houston was in the well-known vocal group, the Sweet Inspirations, with Doris Troy and her niece Dee Dee Warrick. The group sang backup for a variety of soul singers including Otis Redding, Lou Rawls, The Drifters and Dionne Warwick.
The Sweet Inspirations appeared on Van Morrison's “Brown Eyed Girl” and sang background vocals for The Jimi Hendrix Experience on the song “Burning of the Midnight Lamp" in 1967. In the same year, Houston worked on Franklin's classic “Ain't No Way."
Houston's last performance with the Sweet Inspirations came after the group hit the stage with Presley in a Las Vegas show in 1969. Her final recording session with the group turned into their biggest R&B hit “(Gotta Find) A Brand New Lover” a composition by the production team of Gamble & Huff, who appeared on the group’s fifth album, "Sweet Sweet Soul."
During that time,the group occasionally performed live concert dates with Franklin. After the group's success and four albums together, Houston left The Sweet Inspirations to pursue a solo career where she flourished.
Houston became an in-demand session singer and recorded more than 600 songs in multiple genres throughout her career. Her vocals can heard on tracks alongside a wide range of artists including Chaka Khan, Donny Hathaway, Jimi Hendrix, Luther Vandross, Beyoncé, Paul Simon, Roberta Flack and her daughter.
In 1971, Houston's signature vocals were featured on Burt Bacharach’s solo album, which includes “Mexican Divorce,” “All Kinds of People” and “One Less Bell to Answer.” She performed various standards including Barbra Streisand’s hit song, “Evergreen.”
Houston won Grammys for her albums “Face to Face” in 1997 and “He Leadeth Me” the following year in the best traditional soul gospel album category.
Houston authored three books: “He Leadeth Me,” “How Sweet The Sound: My Life with God and Gospel" and "Remembering Whitney: A Mother’s Story of Life, Loss and The Night The Music Stopped.”
In 1938, Cissy Houston started her career when she joined her sister Anne and brothers Larry and Nicky to form the gospel group, The Drinkard Four, who recorded one album. She attended New Hope Baptist Church, where she later become Minister of Sacred Music.
Houston was the youngest of eight children.
“We are touched by your generous support, and your outpouring of love during our profound time of grief,” Houston said on behalf of the family. “We respectfully request our privacy during this difficult time.”
Photos: Notable deaths in 2024
Glynis Johns
Adan Canto
Bud Harrelson
Dejan Milojevic
Jack Burke
Mary Weiss
Norman Jewison
Charles Osgood
Melanie Safka
Chita Rivera
Carl Weathers
Wayne Kramer
Ian Lavender
Toby Keith
Henry Fambrough
Bob Edwards
Don Gullett
Lefty Driesell
Andreas Brehme
Golden Richards
Richard Lewis
Nikolai Ryzhkov
Brian Mulroney
Akira Toriyama
Iris Apfel
Andy Russell
Ed Ott
Chris Mortensen
Steve Lawrence
Naomi Barber King
Paul Alexander
Thomas P. Stafford
Chris Simon
M. Emmet Walsh
Laurent de Brunhoff
Obit Angelos Baseball
Joe Lieberman
Louis Gossett Jr.
Joe Flaherty
John Sinclair
Larry Lucchino
Christopher Durang
Jerry Grote
Schappell Twins
Peter Higgs
Ralph Puckett Jr.
O.J. Simpson
Eleanor Coppola
Robert MacNeil
Faith Ringgold
Steve Sloan
Ken Holtzman
Carl Erskine
Whitey Herzog
Bob Graham
Dickey Betts
Mandisa
David Pryor
Roman Gabriel
Andrew Davis
Terry Anderson
Bill Gladden
Duane Eddy
Paul Auster
Dick Rutan
Steve Albini
Jimmy Johnson
Sean Burroughs
Roger Corman
A.J. Smith
David Sanborn
Alice Munro
Dabney Coleman
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi
Jim Otto
Ivan Boesky
Jan. A.P. Kaczmarek
Carlie Colin
Morgan Spurlock
Richard M. Sherman
Bill Walton
Albert Ruddy
Larry Allen
Janis Paige
Parnelli Jones
Chet Walker
The Rev. James Lawson Jr.
Jerry West
Ron Simons
Bob Schul
Willie Mays
Donald Sutherland
Bill Cobbs
Kinky Friedman
Martin Mull
Robert Towne
Vic Seixas
James Inhofe
Joe Bonsall
Shelley Duvall
Dr. Ruth Westheimer
Richard Simmons
Jacoby Jones
Shannen Doherty
James Sikking
Pat Williams
Lou Dobbs
Bob Newhart
Cheng Pei-Pei
Abdul 'Duke' Fakir
Bernice Johnson Reagon
John Mayall
Erica Ash
Jack Russell
Chi Chi Rodriguez
Susan Wojcicki
Frank Selvy
Wally Amos
Gena Rowlands
Peter Marshall
Alain Delon
Phil Donahue
Al Attles
James Darren
James Earl Jones
Frankie Beverly
Joe Schmidt
Chad McQueen
Tito Jackson
JD Souther
Dan Evans
Mercury Morris
Maggie Smith
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