DAVE DAVIES, HOST:
That is FRESH AIR. I am Dave Davies. Cissy Houston, the gospel singer and backup vocalist who guided her daughter Whitney Houston to stardom, died Monday on the age of 91. Cissy Houston started singing on the gospel circuit as a baby. She additionally sang secular music. She carried out with The Candy Inspirations, the group that backed Aretha Franklin. And she or he sang backup vocals for Elvis Presley, Solomon Burke, Dusty Springfield, Wilson Pickett, Van Morrison, The Drifters and Dionne Warwick, who was her niece.
In a New York Occasions obituary, Robert Darden, who wrote a number of books on gospel music, stated of Houston, she was a major determine not as a result of she bought a variety of information however due to the individuals she influenced who did promote loads and due to her work as a sustainer and nurturer of the gospel music custom. For greater than 50 years, Cissy Houston was the choir director for the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, the place she acquired her begin as a singer. She endured the double tragedy of the loss of life of her daughter Whitney, who drowned in a resort bathtub in 2012, and three years later the lack of her granddaughter and Whitney’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, who was discovered unresponsive in her house bathtub and died shortly after.
Terry spoke with Cissy Houston in 1998. On the time, Houston had written her autobiography, “How Candy The Sound: My Life With God And Gospel.” They started with music from Cissy Houston’s Grammy Award-winning gospel album “Face To Face.” That is “God Do not Ever Change.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “GOD DON’T EVER CHANGE”)
CISSY HOUSTON: (Singing) God in all creation. God when Adam fell, Adam fell. God manner up in heaven – good God Almighty, now – God manner down in hell. Oh, He is God, He is God. God do not ever change. He is God – He is God, my God – all the time shall be God. You see, He is spoken to the mountain – sure, He did, yeah – stated how nice I’m, I’m. Need you to stand up within the morning, youngsters, shift round like lambs. He is God, He is God. God do not ever change. He is God – He is God, my God – all the time shall be God. He is God in your time of illness, in your time of illness. God is a physician, too. God is a physician, too. In your time of hassle, He is actually a God to you. Hallelujah. Oh, He is God, He is God. God do not ever change. He is God – He is God, my God – all the time shall be God, yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
TERRY GROSS: Cissy Houston, welcome to FRESH AIR.
C HOUSTON: Thanks so very a lot for having me.
GROSS: So how outdated had been you whenever you began singing within the household group?
C HOUSTON: 5 years outdated. I used to be 5 years outdated, they usually needed to put me on a stool in an effort to see me. And, in fact, at 5 years outdated, I wished to be out enjoying with everybody else. And it was sort of troublesome for me, however there was no query. I did not have a selection (laughter).
GROSS: You will need to develop an ideal ear for concord whenever you begin singing shut concord on the age of 5.
C HOUSTON: For positive. I actually did. And I want it. I like, a variety of occasions, a cappella. That’s before everything in instructing, so far as I am involved, that the harmonies be proper.
GROSS: So how did you first begin listening to secular music? And who had been among the performers that you simply first heard?
C HOUSTON: Properly, Dinah Washington was one in every of my favourite individuals, and I really like her. At the moment, I really like her. Sarah Vaughan went to highschool with my sister, so she lived within the neighborhood additionally. I listened to her and Jimmy Witherspoon. I beloved him – B. B. King, you already know, individuals like that. The blues – I really like the blues , issues like that.
GROSS: I would love to listen to the story of the way you turned a backup singer. I feel that Dionne Warwick pertains to this story. Dionne Warwick and her sister, Dee Dee, had been backup singers. And had you recognized them from church choir?
C HOUSTON: No, they’re my nieces.
GROSS: They’re your nieces.
C HOUSTON: Sure, they’re.
GROSS: Oh, oh, oh. Wow – small world.
C HOUSTON: Each of them are.
(LAUGHTER)
GROSS: So how does Dionne Warwick’s having been a backup singer relate to you having turn out to be one?
C HOUSTON: Properly, really Dionne had one thing else to do this night time with The Shirelles, and my husband was managing them on the time.
GROSS: Managing The Shirelles or Dionne Warwick?
C HOUSTON: No, no, no, Dionne and her group, background singers – Dee Dee, Dionne and one other child, Sylvia. And he was managing them, and he had a session to do. And naturally, he could not cease her from going with The Shirelles. That was an ideal alternative for her. So he requested me would I do it? I stated, yeah, I will do it. , I did not actually need to as a result of I had simply had a child, like, a month earlier than that. However anyhow, I did. We wrapped up and went to New York. And at first, the man did not need – he wished to cancel the session. So my husband stated, nicely, simply pay attention, you already know, and whatnot, they usually did. And after that, they wished me. I completed a complete week with them. They wished me. They did not need – you already know, did not need to return. They favored the sound and all of that. And that is how I acquired began in it.
GROSS: After singing backup for some time, you ended up singing with Aretha Franklin as one in every of her backup singers.
C HOUSTON: Yeah, nicely, I labored with Aretha when she was at Columbia additionally, the sooner days earlier than she acquired to Atlantic, when she did some marvelous music. Simply wasn’t appreciated, I assume, prefer it ought to’ve been. Then she got here to Atlantic, and yeah – and appeared like our paths met once more and wound up singing background for her, yeah, loads.
GROSS: And in your memoir, you say that one in every of your favorites of the Aretha tracks is “Pure Girl,” and also you labored out the background elements on this. Are you able to inform us a little bit bit about how you probably did that, what you had been in search of?
C HOUSTON: Properly, I do not know. You all the time, whenever you work out – I labored out background elements on a lot of the issues that I did. However “Pure Girl” was like, you attempt to meet – improve what she’s finished, you already know? And that is the purpose. That is the gist of doing backgrounds, to make it higher, you already know? And a variety of occasions, backgrounds make songs and actually promote them. And I do not know the way I labored it out proper now (laughter). It was simply, you already know, repeating and fascinated about, you already know, doing one thing. And also you strive one factor, and that works or does not work. You strive one thing else.
GROSS: Now, did you provide you with the aah-oohs, or was {that a} producer who advised that?
C HOUSTON: No, that was me.
GROSS: That was you.
C HOUSTON: Mm-hmm (ph).
GROSS: I all the time marvel, like, how are you aware what syllable to make use of? Like, why aah-ooh as an alternative of ooh-aah or ooh-aah-ooh or…
C HOUSTON: Neither do I. I do not know why. You strive the one which works, I assume.
GROSS: Properly, why do not we hear “Pure Girl, ” Aretha Franklin? Cissy Houston is without doubt one of the backup singers on this, and she or he did the vocal preparations, the harmonies.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “NATURAL WOMAN”)
ARETHA FRANKLIN: (Singing) When my soul was within the misplaced and located, you got here alongside to say it. I did not know simply what was mistaken with me until your kiss helped me identify it. Now I am now not uncertain of what I am residing for. And if I make you cheerful, I need not do extra. Since you make me really feel, you make me really feel, you make me really feel like a pure girl, girl. Oh, child, what you’ve got finished to me, what you’ve got finished to me. You make me really feel so good inside, good inside. And I simply need to be, need to be near you. You make me really feel so alive. You make me really feel, you make me really feel, you make me really feel like a pure girl, girl. You make me really feel…
GROSS: That is Aretha Franklin with Cissy Houston, my visitor, as one of many backup singers. And she or he did the vocal harmonies for that observe. Cissy Houston, did you are feeling a connection to Aretha Franklin via gospel music?
C HOUSTON: Considerably as a result of we each had been in gospel music, did the identical sort of, you already know, factor, stirring sort of gospel. And, sure, I felt, like, a camaraderie along with her.
GROSS: And whenever you had been doing backup vocals for Aretha Franklin, did you discover that all the pieces you wanted to know, you knew from gospel music, that the harmonies you had been utilizing got here out of gospel music?
C HOUSTON: Oh, positive. Oh, positive. One factor about us, we pushed each other. We might simply, you already know – we might feed off each other, which made it a terrific sound and such an ideal, you already know, viewers participation. They only beloved it.
GROSS: Now, how would you file within the studio? Did you all sing on the similar time, or was all the pieces overdubbed?
C HOUSTON: No, nicely, generally we sang on the similar time. With Aretha, at that time, yeah, all the pieces was overdubbed. On Columbia, now, we sang on the similar time. She sang in a sales space, and we had been in both perhaps a sales space or exterior with one thing else.
GROSS: What was your desire?
C HOUSTON: Properly, sales space is sweet. And overdubbing is bigger as a result of you’ll be able to actually get a down sound, you already know, good sound, stability and all that sort of enterprise. And issues that you simply consider, you already know, that may work higher on one thing, you do not have to keep it up, you already know?
GROSS: What did you take pleasure in and what did not you want about singing backup?
C HOUSTON: I did not like? Something. , I beloved singing background. I simply love singing it and love creating one thing and realizing the result. And it was sounding nice and good. And we sounded good and nice, and most of all, it bought information (laughter).
DAVIES: Cissy Houston talking with Terry Gross in 1998. She was a gospel and backup singer for a lot of hits of the ’60s and ’70s, and she or he was the mom of Whitney Houston. We’ll hear extra after a break. That is FRESH AIR. ****************************
DAVIES: That is FRESH AIR. Let’s get again to Terry’s 1998 interview with gospel and backup singer Cissy Houston. She died Monday on the age of 91.
GROSS: Now, you had an album of your individual within the mid-’70s that has since been reissued. And on this, you had been the lead singer, all secular songs, all cowl recordings. And, actually, why do not we pause right here and take heed to a canopy you probably did of one in every of your niece’s hits?
(LAUGHTER)
GROSS: And that is “I Simply Do not Know What To Do With Myself, ” one of many Burt Bacharach songs. Do you need to say something about recording this and doing it your manner?
C HOUSTON: Properly, I all the time – I simply favored the track. All the time did. And there was no sort of purpose to cowl it however I simply – besides that I simply favored the track and wished to strive it one other manner.
GROSS: Why do not we hear it? And that is from the mid-’70s, Cissy Houston.
C HOUSTON: Nice.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “I JUST DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF”)
C HOUSTON: (Singing) Any individual. Will not you assist me? Any individual. ‘Trigger I do not know what to do with myself. Simply do not know what to do with myself. I am so used to doing all the pieces with you, planning all the pieces for 2. However now that we’re via, I do not know what to do. I do not know what to do with myself. I am so lonesome for you, I may cry. Going to a film solely makes me really feel unhealthy. Events make me really feel so unhappy ‘trigger I am not with you. I do not know what to do. No, no. no. Like a summer season rose.
GROSS: That is Cissy Houston from a secular album that she made within the mid-’70s. Now, the place had been you in your profession when your daughter, Whitney Houston, was born?
C HOUSTON: I used to be just about doing loads – an excessive amount of backgrounds. In reality, I used to be within the studio the night time earlier than I went to the hospital.
GROSS: What had been you recording?
C HOUSTON: I do not know what we had been recording. We had been recording – I used to be placing on any individual – I think about it was for Aretha or any individual like that. And Tom Dowd, who was the engineer at that time, stated, Cissy, are you all proper? Are you all proper? Are you – I stated, superb. Come on. Roll the tape. And so they had been nervous. They had been a nervous wreck.
(LAUGHTER)
GROSS: Properly, it should have been arduous to take these huge, deep breaths you might want to sing whenever you had been, you already know, prepared to provide beginning.
(LAUGHTER)
C HOUSTON: Not likely. You do not even give it some thought, you already know? I used to be singing like a mockingbird after I was pregnant.
GROSS: So whenever you turned a mom and also you had been on the highway loads, you already know, in recording studios and, I assume, doing a little performing as nicely, when did you resolve to come back off the highway?
C HOUSTON: Properly, it simply – I actually acquired drained. I acquired bored with listening to my youngsters cry, Mommy, why do it’s a must to go? Da, da, da, da. And I had determined that I might do one thing else on my own.
GROSS: What?
C HOUSTON: And – nicely, I used to be turning into an artist in my very own proper, and I had a chance to take action. And that is after I left the Candy Inspirations and have become a single artist as a result of I used to be the oldest one of many group, they usually wished to do different issues. They wished to put on issues that I did not really feel like I might – may afford to do this with my three children and representing my, you already know? So I made a decision…
GROSS: You need to give us an instance of what you imply?
C HOUSTON: No.
GROSS: No. OK.
C HOUSTON: No, not likely – simply garments that, you already know, did not turn out to be me.
GROSS: Proper.
C HOUSTON: That is all.
GROSS: When did you understand that Whitney may actually sing?
C HOUSTON: I assume she was – should have been round 11 when she actually sang her first solo, and it was nice. She – earlier than that, she all the time favored to apply within the basement of some form, and she or he beloved to bop and issues like that. And I used to take her with me on a regular basis, so she was uncovered to that sort of, you already know, issues. And she or he was good at what she did, you already know? However then, at 11, I feel that is after I actually realized that she actually may sing. And I by no means did take into consideration her having a future in it till she determined that that is what she wished to do. I assumed she was going to be a veterinarian.
(LAUGHTER)
GROSS: And whenever you realized that she wished to sing professionally, did you attempt to encourage or discourage her?
C HOUSTON: Properly, I attempted to inform her of the – all of the negatives, you already know? And there have been so many positives additionally. But it surely’s your decisions that you simply make.
GROSS: In case you do not thoughts my asking, your talking voice right this moment sounds a little bit raspy. Your singing…
C HOUSTON: Yeah.
GROSS: …Voice sounds actually full and clear.
C HOUSTON: Yeah.
GROSS: Does your voice sort of change in the course of the day, or is your singing voice and your talking voice totally different, or…
C HOUSTON: It is totally different.
GROSS: It is totally different.
C HOUSTON: Sure. Everyone’s all the time so stunned after I sing so excessive, proper?
GROSS: Oh, yeah.
C HOUSTON: (Laughter) And my voice is so – actually low. Such as you stated, it is raspy. And – however I’m drained. I’ve a chilly, in order that’s in all probability why. I am often not this raspy.
GROSS: Proper. OK. OK. And what’s it like so that you can sing in a spread that is totally different out of your talking vary? Has it all the time been that manner, or…
C HOUSTON: Yeah. It is all the time been that manner.
GROSS: Even whenever you had been a lady, you had been singing larger than you had been talking.
C HOUSTON: I used to be a contralto after I was a child – very low voice, very low, very deep and pronounced, you already know? It was fantastic, like an organ. And I all the time wished to sing excessive, so to develop my vary, that is what I did. I did it scales and saved going up and up. what I am saying?
GROSS: Proper. I feel a variety of listeners, once they hear, say, an Aretha Franklin file, act as if they’re one of many backup singers (laughter) singing alongside. It is really, I feel, a lifelong fantasy of lots of people to have been – I assume, to have been you in a manner – to have been the backup singer on Aretha’s information. And I am questioning, like, do you sing backups whenever you hear a type of information performed again, say, in a restaurant…
C HOUSTON: On a regular basis.
GROSS: …Or one thing?
C HOUSTON: On a regular basis. In reality, quite than be taught the lead elements, I am often doing the background, you already know?
GROSS: (Laughter).
C HOUSTON: In my home or no matter, you already know? I feel that is probably the most – they made a variety of the file sound. , the background was most vital.
GROSS: It positive was. Do you could have a favourite of all of the information you’ve got sung backups on?
C HOUSTON: I assume I like that one, “Pure Girl.” I like “Preacher Man” by Dusty Springfield. And I did a few Whitney’s. I beloved all of these (laughter).
GROSS: Oh, I assume I ought to have realized that. You are doing the backups on Whitney’s information.
C HOUSTON: A few of them, yeah. “I Need To Dance With Any individual” and “How Will I Know” and ones of – oh, I neglect the identify of the opposite one. It was a gradual one about her man – “My Man” – no matter. Yeah.
GROSS: That should have felt good.
C HOUSTON: It felt very, superb. It felt odd, you already know? I am doing the backup on my child’s – my child’s file, you already know? And it was nice. It was nice.
GROSS: Properly, I need to thanks very a lot for speaking with us.
C HOUSTON: It is my pleasure. And thanks for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HOW WILL I KNOW?)
WHITNEY HOUSTON: (Singing) How will I do know? Do not belief your emotions. How will I do know? How will I do know? Love might be deceiving. How will I do know? How will I do know if he actually loves me? I say a prayer with each heartbeat. I fall in love every time we meet. I am asking you ‘trigger you already know about these items. How will I do know if he is considering of me?
DAVIES: Cissy Houston spoke with Terry Gross in 1998. She died Monday on the age of 91. After a break, we’ll hear an excerpt of my 2004 interview with baseball’s Pete Rose, who died final week, and David Bianculli evaluations a brand new movie concerning the first episode of “Saturday Night time Dwell.” I am Dave Davies, and that is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HE IS THE MUSIC”)
C HOUSTON: (Singing) I’m a singer. I am however one voice. I sing to free myself, to let my soul rejoice. He’s my ardour. He’s my gentle. He retains all hope alive and watches via the night time. We’re His youngsters. We’re actually blessed. We shout to all who’ll hear we’ll equal in a take a look at.
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