Whitney Houston's Mother Cissy Has Died At 91

Whitney Houston's mother, Cissy Houston, has passed away at 91-years-old.

Cissy passes away 12 years after her daughter's untimely passing. The soulful songstress passed away in 2012 after a lengthy battle with substance abuse.

According to TMZ, Cissy's death was originally reported by the Associated Press. The Grammy Award winner was surrounded by her family while receiving hospice care, the AP reported.

Mrs. Houston was struggling with Alzheimer's disease.

Mrs. Houston's daughter-in-law, Pat, has released a statement on behalf of the family.

"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," Pat said in the statement.

The AP also reported Pat called Cissy's musical contributions "unparalleled." Sissy worked with Elvis Presley. She was also a member of The Sweet Inspirations, who did backing vocal work for many well-known artists, including niece Dionne Warwick, and Aretha Franklin.

The group was also part of the recording of Van Morrison's legendary track. "Brown Eyed Girl," and also worked with The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Mrs. Houston was on stage with Presley when she did her last performance with The Sweet Inspirations.

Mrs. Houston's legacy includes several Grammy's to her name. The woman of faith has won two GRAMMYS for her gospel albums, "He Leadth Me" and "Face To Face." Both albums were nominated in the Best Traditional Soul category, per Variety.

Mrs. Houston also surroundced herself with several notable figures in the studio over the years. Artists from Beyoncè to Paul Simon, to the late Burt Bacarach have worked with the soulful diva.

Sissy's daughter, Whitney, is arguably one of the greatest vocalists of all time, having influenced a generation of singers.

Mariah Carey has paid her respects to the "So Emotional" songstress on social media before. Carey, 55, took to X (formerly Twitter) to pay tribute to Houston on the tenth anniversary of her passing. Whitney passed away on February 11th, 2012, in a California hotel room.

The unofficial Queen of Christmas honored Whitney by posting a collection of photos and proclaimed she was "missing" the artist. One of the photos included the two power vocalists together, as The Blast previously reported.

Carey proclaimed she believed the "Greatest Love Of All" was one of the "greatest singers" of all time as well. The "Heartbreaker" star also reflected in an interview how she and Whitney bonded with each other after recording a duet. The duet the pair recorded together helped solidified their friendship after the press had previously put the two against one another.

"Waiting To Exhale" actress Angela Bassett also paid tribute to the singer upon the tenth anniversary of her passing. Bassett opened her heart in an interview with InStyle, and shared how Whitney's passing has continued to impact her; she also mentions the importance of "Black Panther" actor Chadwick Boseman.

"The loss can be overwhelming, but I try to remain grateful for the moments I've had with them and for the contribution that they've made to my life and to culture," Bassett explained. " Instead of leaning into the loss, I lean into the blessing that their life was and will appear to be in spirit," as The Blast previously reported.

Bassett continued, "When you're a person of faith, you know that we are much more than just flesh and blood. We're spirit, heart, and soul as well. And we trust that those things remain with us."

Songstress and "The Little Mermaid" actress, Chlöe Bailey, has also opened up about Whitney's impact on her career.

The 25-year-old opened up on the impact of Whitney's "early pop records" on her career in an interview with NYLON.

Bailey said, "Early on in [Houston's] career, when she was doing the big pop records, she got a lot of flak for that: being told she wasn't Black enough and wasn't catering to the base that made her," Bailey told the outlet. "To see how she persevered and has become one of the most iconic, legendary artists that we've ever seen, shows that music has no race, it has no genre, it has none of that."