Cissy Houston Net Worth

Emily "Cissy" Houston (born September 30, 1933) is a Grammy Award-winning American soul and gospel singer. She led a successful career as a backup singer for such artists as Elvis Presley, Mahalia Jackson, Wishbone Ash and Aretha Franklin, and is now primarily a solo artist. She is mother to the late singer and actress Whitney Houston, aunt of Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick and a cousin of Leontyne Price.
Houston was born in Newark, New Jersey to Nitcholas and Delia Mae Drinkard (n'ee McCaskill) who had seven older children: sons William, Hansom, Nicky, and Larry, and daughters Lee, Marie and Anne. Houston's father Nitcholas Drinkard was born to a part Dutch, part African-American, mother Susan Bell Drinkard (n'ee Fuller) and a Native American father John Drinkard, Jr. The Drinkards owned a substantial amount of farmland in Blakely, Georgia during a time when it was unusual for blacks to own large portions of land. The asset was gradually depleted as small portions of the land were sold, over time, to resolve the continued legal troubles of a close relative.
After Houston's three oldest siblings were born, the family relocated to New Jersey during the Second Great Migration. Emphasis was placed on education and church while her father encouraged Houston and her siblings to sing. In 1938 when Houston was 5 years old her mother, Delia, suffered a stroke and died of cerebral hemorrhage three years later.
Her father later died of stomach cancer in 1951 when Houston was 18. Cissy and her siblings went to live with her older sister Lee and her husband Mancel Warwick. The Warwicks had three children: a son, Mancel Warwick Jr. and two daughters Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick. Renowned soprano Leontyne Price is a Drinkard cousin.
In 1955, Houston married Freddie Garland and had a son, NBA basketball player and DePaul University Athletic Hall of Famer Gary Garland. The Garlands divorced soon after. In 1959, she married a Newark City Administrator and entertainm