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NEWARK, N.J. (AP):
Dionne Warwick, BeBe Winans, Darlene Love and a massive choir helped celebrate the life of gospel icon Cissy Houston during a music-filled memorial Thursday in the Duchess of Gospel’s hometown of Newark, New Jersey.
The ceremony at New Hope Baptist Church – where Houston was a congregant and choir leader for decades – was decorated with framed photos of Houston and her coffin was placed in front of the pulpit. The church also held daughter Whitney Houston’s funeral more than a decade ago.
“She gave so much. She gave me the right to be me,” said Warwick, the 91-year-old Houston’s niece.
“Cissy, I’m going to miss you,” she added, asking her aunt to greet her passed relatives. “They’re all waiting for you. Your gave us your heart and soul.”
Houston, a two-time Grammy-winning soul and gospel artiste who sang with Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley, died October 7. In her honour, her oldest son, Gary, sang Freedom and Love sang It Is Well with My Soul.
Her god-daughters said they would carry on her tradition of wearing purple eyeshadow proudly. A portrait emerged from the speakers of a woman of great faith and deep love, but also one who suffered fools poorly. “No one else could cut you in Jesus’ name,” Winans joked as the mourners roared. “You didn’t have to say words. She could cut you with her eyes.”
He also told a story of her compassion: When Whitney Houston died, Winans got a call from Cissy. “I’m just calling to check on you,” she told him. “At that moment, her strength became my strength. It was just who she was.”
‘Soul of New Jersey’
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka read a proclamation created in her honour and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy called Houston a “musical legend” who “embodied the very soul of New Jersey”.
“While each one of us are born with a voice, only a select few of us are endowed with a voice that is powerful enough to reach into the hearts of millions and millions of listeners around the world, a voice that is powerful enough to soothe the pain of heartbreak or to carry the euphoria of falling in love,” Murphy said.
A church performer from an early age, Houston was part of a family gospel act before breaking through in popular music in the 1960s as a member of the prominent backing group, The Sweet Inspirations, with Doris Troy and niece, Dee Dee Warwick. The group sang backup for a variety of soul singers including Otis Redding, Lou Rawls and The Drifters. They also sang backup for Dionne Warwick.
Houston’s many credits included Franklin’s Think and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, Van Morrison’s Brown Eyed Girl and Dusty Springfield’s Son of a Preacher Man. The Sweet Inspirations also sang onstage with Presley.
The Sweet Inspirations had their own top-20 single with the soul-rock Sweet Inspiration, made in the Memphis studio where Franklin and Springfield, among others, recorded hits. They released four albums just in the late ‘60s.
Houston became an in-demand session singer and recorded more than 600 songs in multiple genres throughout her career. Her vocals can be heard on tracks alongside a wide range of artistes including Chaka Khan, Donny Hathaway, Jimi Hendrix, Luther Vandross, Beyoncé, Paul Simon, Roberta Flack and her own daughter.
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