Editing Cissy Houston (section)

===Solo career===
As Cecily Blair, Houston cut her first secular solo record "This Is My Vow" on M'n'M Records in 1963, following this up in 1966 with "Bring Him Back" b/w "World Of Broken Hearts" on [[Congress Records]]. Her final solo single before recording with The Sweet Inspirations was "Don't Come Running To Me" b/w "One Broken Heart For Sale" released on [[Kapp Records]] in 1967.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.soulfulkindamusic.net/chouston.htm|title=chouston|website=www.soulfulkindamusic.net}}</ref> On these early singles, her name is spelled as Sissie Houston. 

In 1969, Houston signed a recording contract with Commonwealth United Records and recorded her solo debut LP ''[[Presenting Cissy Houston]]'' which was released in 1970.<ref name="Houston"/>  It contained several well received singles, including covers of "[[I'll Be There (Bobby Darin song)|I'll Be There]]" and "[[Be My Baby]]", both of which made the R&B charts as well as the pop charts.<ref name="AMG Soul">{{cite book |editor-last=Bogdanov |editor-first=Vladimir |last1=Unterberger |first1=Richie |title=All Music Guide to Soul: The Definitive Guide to R&B and Soul |date=2003 |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |isbn=9780879307448 |page=321 |edition=Revised |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o552g5xRRiwC&q=%22Presenting+Cissy+Houston%22+%22debut+album%22&pg=PA321 |access-date=June 22, 2014}}</ref> Following the release of her debut album, Houston's contract was sold to [[Janus Records]].<ref name="AMG Soul"/> She recorded another album and several more singles in the early 1970s, which included the original recording of [[Jim Weatherly]]'s "[[Midnight Train to Georgia]]" in 1972, which was a minor R&B and UK hit for Houston and later became a number one hit for [[Gladys Knight & the Pips]].<ref name="AMG Soul"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Cissy Houston @ Artist Direct|url=http://www.artistdirect.com/artist/cissy-houston/415062|website=Artistdirect.com|access-date=February 25, 2012}}</ref> She continued to record with Janus Records until 1975.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Nathan|first1=David|title=Cissy Houston: Presenting Cissy Houston Expanded Edition (SMCR-5054)|url=http://www.soulmusic.com/index.asp?S=1&ART=2411|website=soulmusic.com|access-date=June 23, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304131208/http://www.soulmusic.com/index.asp?S=1&ART=2411|archive-date=March 4, 2016}}</ref> Houston performed as backing vocalist on jazz flautist [[Herbie Mann]]'s [[funk]]y [[disco music|disco]] single "Hijack" (1975), album ''Discotheque'' (1975), and album ''Surprise'' (1976).<ref>[http://www.jazzdisco.org/atlantic-records/catalog-1600-series/#sd-1682 Atlantic Records Catalog: 1600 series] Atlantic Records Retrieved February 15, 2024</ref>

In 1977, Houston was signed by [[Private Stock Records]], working with arranger/producer [[Michael Zager]] on three albums. The first, a [[Cissy Houston (album)|self-titled]] effort produced two modest R&B hits, including a soulful, gospel-influenced rendition of "[[Tomorrow (Annie)|Tomorrow]]". The second included her big [[disco]] hit "Think It Over", which climbed to number 32 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Selling Soul Singles chart in 1979 and number 5 on the same magazine's [[Hot Dance Club Play|Disco Action Top 80]] chart. That same year, Houston represented the United States at the [[World Popular Song Festival]]  in [[Tokyo, Japan]] with the song, "You're the Fire", landing second place during its Grand Prix contest and winning the "Most Outstanding Performance Award". The song later appeared on her 1980 disco-flavored album, ''[[Step Aside for a Lady]]'', again produced by Zager, but released on [[Columbia Records]] after Private Stock had folded (the same album was released on [[EMI]] in the United Kingdom). 

During the mid-to-late 1970s through the mid-1980s, Houston began regularly performing all over [[Manhattan]]'s jazz clubs, headlining at venues such as Sweetwaters, Fat Tuesday, Reno Sweeney, [[Seventh Avenue South (jazz club)|Seventh Avenue South]] and [[Mikell's]]. During this time, Houston brought along her teenage daughter [[Whitney Houston|Whitney]] and would have her sing solos to help her get started in the record business. When Whitney began attracting attention from record label scouts offering contracts, Houston would decline such offers, telling them to wait until Whitney finished high school.<ref name="Bronson2003ad">{{cite book|last=Bronson|first= Fred|title=The Billboard book of number 1 hits|date=October 1, 2003|publisher=Random House Digital|isbn=978-0-8230-7677-2|page=629}}</ref><ref name="1990Company">{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Ebony (magazine)|Ebony]] |title=Forever Daddy's Girl |date=June 1990 |page=136 |issn=0012-9011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8tMDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA136 |access-date=September 7, 2021 |first=Lynn |last=Norment}}</ref> It was Houston who eventually convinced her daughter to sign with [[Arista Records]] in the spring of 1983, figuring that label head [[Clive Davis]] was the right man to guide her daughter's career. <ref name=WhitneyRS>{{cite magazine |last=DeCurtis |first=Anthony |title=Whitney Houston: Down and Dirty |date=June 10, 1993 |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/whitney-houston-gets-down-and-dirty-192198/ |access-date=October 20, 2024}}</ref> Shortly after Whitney signed with Arista, Cissy was featured on TV with her daughter following Whitney's national television debut on ''[[The Merv Griffin Show]]'', where mother and daughter performed a medley of Aretha Franklin duets with Whitney singing "Aretha" and Houston singing "Cissy". That same year, Houston took part in the [[Off-Broadway]] [[musical theatre|musical]] ''Taking My Turn'', which received a [[Drama Desk Award]] nomination for [[Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical|Outstanding Musical]], often singing the song "I Am Not Old".<ref name="cissyturn">{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzbv0IqfP7k |title=Cissy Houston performing "I Am Not Old" - TAKING MY TURN - PBS Great Performances |work=[[YouTube]] |accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref>

After her daughter found musical stardom in the mid-1980s, Houston's solo output slowed, though she contributed duet vocals to her and Whitney's rendition of "[[I Know Him So Well#Cissy Houston and Whitney Houston version|I Know Him So Well]]" on the latter's eponymous [[Whitney (album)|1987 album]]. The song charted in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, becoming Houston's biggest international hit, reaching the top twenty in the latter two countries; Houston later sang the song with her daughter on Whitney's HBO concert special, ''[[Classic Whitney: Live from Washington, D.C.]]'' a decade later. In 1992, she recorded the duet album, ''[[I'll Take Care of You (Chuck Jackson and Cissy Houston album)|I'll Take Care of You]]'', with fellow soul singer and longtime friend [[Chuck Jackson]], on [[Shanachie Records]]. It would be Houston's final secular album as she put her focus primarily on gospel music afterwards. Two years later, Houston joined Whitney onstage for her historic [[Whitney: The Concert for a New South Africa|South African concert performances]], where she directed a South African choir of young girls while Whitney sang the [[Earth, Wind & Fire]] song "Touch the World". Houston also performed the gospel hymn, "[[Mary Don't You Weep]]" at the [[1987 Soul Train Music Awards|first annual ''Soul Train Music Awards'']] and, with Whitney and son Gary, the gospel song, "Wonderful Counselor" at the [[American Music Awards of 1988|15th annual American Music Awards]] in 1988. That same year, she joined her daughter onstage at the [[Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute]] at London's [[Wembley Stadium]], where she performed the gospel-R&B song, "He/I Believe", a song that Whitney had incorporated during the early years of her solo career and which Houston first recorded for her [[Presenting Cissy Houston|debut album in 1970]].

In 1996, after signing with the independent House of Blues label, Houston released the gospel album, ''Face to Face'', which featured a gospel rendition of [[Marvin Gaye]]'s "[[How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)]]". Houston would win her first [[Grammy Award]] at the [[39th Annual Grammy Awards|1997 Grammys showcase]] under the [[Grammy Award for Best Traditional Gospel Album|Best Traditional Gospel Album]] category. In 1997, she released a second album of gospel work, ''He Leadeth Me'', for a one-off [[A&M Records]] deal, and won a second Grammy in the Best Traditional Gospel Album category for that album at the [[41st Annual Grammy Awards|1999 Grammys showcase]]. In between these recordings, she also contributed vocals on "The Lord is My Shepherd" on daughter Whitney's [[The Preacher's Wife (soundtrack)|soundtrack]] to ''[[The Preacher's Wife]]'', which her daughter produced; Houston played a minor role in the film as choir singer Mrs. Havergal, in the film. In 2006, she contributed vocals on the song "Family First" alongside her daughter Whitney, granddaughter [[Bobbi Kristina Brown]] and nieces Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick for the [[Daddy's Little Girls#Soundtrack|soundtrack]] to ''[[Daddy's Little Girls]]''. In June 2012, Houston sang "[[Bridge over Troubled Water (song)|Bridge over Troubled Water]]" as a tribute to her daughter Whitney, who had [[Death of Whitney Houston|passed away that February]]. Two years later, Houston was seen backing up longtime friend Aretha Franklin while Franklin performed her hit, "[[Rolling in the Deep#Aretha Franklin version|Rolling in the Deep]]" on ''[[The Late Show with David Letterman]]''.