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 toddler. She additionally sang secular music. She carried out with The Candy Inspirations, the group that backed Aretha Franklin. And he or she 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 Instances 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 quite a lot of information however due to the folks she influenced who did promote lots 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 bought 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 residence 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 approach up in heaven – good God Almighty, now – God approach 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 health care provider, too. God is a health care provider, too. In your time of hassle, He is really 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 previous had been you once you began singing within the household group?
C HOUSTON: 5 years previous. I used to be 5 years previous, and so they needed to put me on a stool with a view to see me. And, in fact, at 5 years previous, I needed to be out enjoying with everybody else. And it was sort of tough for me, however there was no query. I did not have a selection (laughter).
GROSS: You need to develop an important ear for concord once you begin singing shut concord on the age of 5.
C HOUSTON: For certain. I actually did. And I choose it. I like, quite a lot of instances, a cappella. That’s initially in educating, 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 a few of the performers that you simply first heard?
C HOUSTON: Nicely, Dinah Washington was certainly one of my favourite folks, and I like her. At the moment, I 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 understand, folks like that. The blues – I like the blues , issues like that.
GROSS: I would love to listen to the story of the way you grew to become 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 change into one?
C HOUSTON: Nicely, really Dionne had one thing else to do this evening 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 important alternative for her. So he requested me would I do it? I stated, yeah, I am going to do it. You already know, 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 needed to cancel the session. So my husband stated, nicely, simply hear, you understand, and whatnot, and so they did. And after that, they needed me. I completed an entire week with them. They needed me. They did not need – you understand, did not need to return. They appreciated the sound and all of that. And that is how I bought began in it.
GROSS: After singing backup for some time, you ended up singing with Aretha Franklin as certainly one of her backup singers.
C HOUSTON: Yeah, nicely, I labored with Aretha when she was at Columbia additionally, the sooner days earlier than she bought to Atlantic, when she did some marvelous music. Simply wasn’t appreciated, I suppose, prefer it ought to’ve been. Then she got here to Atlantic, and yeah – and regarded like our paths met once more and wound up singing background for her, yeah, lots.
GROSS: And in your memoir, you say that certainly one 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 somewhat bit about how you probably did that, what you had been in search of?
C HOUSTON: Nicely, I do not know. You all the time, once 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 understand? And that is the purpose. That is the gist of doing backgrounds, to make it higher, you understand? And quite a lot of instances, backgrounds make songs and actually promote them. And I do not understand how I labored it out proper now (laughter). It was simply, you understand, repeating and serious about, you understand, doing one thing. And also you attempt one factor, and that works or would not work. You attempt 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 a substitute of ooh-aah or ooh-aah-ooh or…
C HOUSTON: Neither do I. I do not know why. You attempt the one which works, I suppose.
GROSS: Nicely, why do not we hear “Pure Girl, ” Aretha Franklin? Cissy Houston is among the backup singers on this, and he or she 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 assert it. I did not know simply what was unsuitable with me until your kiss helped me title it. Now I am not uncertain of what I am dwelling for. And if I make you content, I needn’t 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 he or she did the vocal harmonies for that monitor. Cissy Houston, did you are feeling a connection to Aretha Franklin by gospel music?
C HOUSTON: Considerably as a result of we each had been in gospel music, did the identical sort of, you understand, factor, stirring sort of gospel. And, sure, I felt, like, a camaraderie along with her.
GROSS: And once 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, certain. Oh, certain. One factor about us, we pushed each other. We’d simply, you understand – we might feed off each other, which made it a terrific sound and such an important, you understand, 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 possibly a sales space or outdoors with one thing else.
GROSS: What was your choice?
C HOUSTON: Nicely, sales space is nice. And overdubbing is larger as a result of you’ll be able to actually get a down sound, you understand, good sound, steadiness and all that sort of enterprise. And issues that you simply consider, you understand, which may work higher on one thing, you do not have to keep it up, you understand?
GROSS: What did you take pleasure in and what did not you want about singing backup?
C HOUSTON: I did not like? Something. You already know, 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 he or she 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, the truth is, why do not we pause right here and hearken to a canopy you probably did of certainly one 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 approach?
C HOUSTON: Nicely, I all the time – I simply appreciated the tune. All the time did. And there was no sort of purpose to cowl it however I simply – besides that I simply appreciated the tune and needed to attempt it one other approach.
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) Someone. Will not you assist me? Someone. ‘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 by, 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 time 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 lots – quite a lot of backgrounds. In reality, I used to be within the studio the evening 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 anyone – I think about it was for Aretha or anyone 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, advantageous. Come on. Roll the tape. And so they had been nervous. They had been a nervous wreck.
(LAUGHTER)
GROSS: Nicely, it should have been exhausting to take these large, deep breaths it is advisable to sing once you had been, you understand, prepared to present beginning.
(LAUGHTER)
C HOUSTON: Probably not. You do not even give it some thought, you understand? I used to be singing like a mockingbird once I was pregnant.
GROSS: So once you grew to become a mom and also you had been on the highway lots, you understand, in recording studios and, I suppose, doing a little performing as nicely, when did you resolve to return off the highway?
C HOUSTON: Nicely, it simply – I actually bought drained. I bought uninterested in listening to my youngsters cry, Mommy, why do it’s a must to go? Da, da, da, da. And I had determined that I’d do one thing else on my own.
GROSS: What?
C HOUSTON: And – nicely, I used to be changing into an artist in my very own proper, and I had a possibility to take action. And that is once 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, and so they needed to do different issues. They needed to put on issues that I did not really feel like I’d – may afford to do this with my three youngsters and representing my, you understand? 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 understand, did not change into me.
GROSS: Proper.
C HOUSTON: That is all.
GROSS: When did you notice that Whitney may actually sing?
C HOUSTON: I suppose 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 appreciated to apply within the basement of some type, and he or she beloved to bounce 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 understand, issues. And he or she was good at what she did, you understand? However then, at 11, I feel that is once 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 needed to do. I believed she was going to be a veterinarian.
(LAUGHTER)
GROSS: And once you realized that she needed to sing professionally, did you attempt to encourage or discourage her?
C HOUSTON: Nicely, I attempted to inform her of the – all of the negatives, you understand? And there have been so many positives additionally. However it’s your decisions that you simply make.
GROSS: Should you do not thoughts my asking, your talking voice immediately sounds somewhat raspy. Your singing…
C HOUSTON: Yeah.
GROSS: …Voice sounds actually full and clear.
C HOUSTON: Yeah.
GROSS: Does your voice sort of change throughout the day, or is your singing voice and your talking voice completely different, or…
C HOUSTON: It is completely different.
GROSS: It is completely different.
C HOUSTON: Sure. Everyone’s all the time so shocked once 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 normally not this raspy.
GROSS: Proper. OK. OK. And what’s it like so that you can sing in a spread that is completely different out of your talking vary? Has it all the time been that approach, or…
C HOUSTON: Yeah. It is all the time been that approach.
GROSS: Even once you had been a woman, you had been singing greater than you had been talking.
C HOUSTON: I used to be a contralto once I was a child – very low voice, very low, very deep and pronounced, you understand? It was fantastic, like an organ. And I all the time needed to sing excessive, so to develop my vary, that is what I did. I did it scales and stored going up and up. You already know what I am saying?
GROSS: Proper. I feel quite a lot of listeners, after 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 suppose, to have been you in a approach – to have been the backup singer on Aretha’s information. And I am questioning, like, do you sing backups once you hear a kind 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, moderately than study the lead elements, I am normally doing the background, you understand?
GROSS: (Laughter).
C HOUSTON: In my home or no matter, you understand? I feel that is essentially the most – they made quite a lot of the file sound. You already know, the background was most necessary.
GROSS: It certain was. Do you could have a favourite of all of the information you’ve got sung backups on?
C HOUSTON: I suppose 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 suppose 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 Someone” and “How Will I Know” and ones of – oh, I overlook the title 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, excellent. It felt odd, you understand? I am doing the backup on my child’s – my child’s file, you understand? And it was nice. It was nice.
GROSS: Nicely, 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 could 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 at any time when we meet. I am asking you ‘trigger you understand about this stuff. 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 in regards to the first episode of “Saturday Evening Stay.” 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 mild. He retains all hope alive and watches by the evening. We’re His youngsters. We’re really blessed. We shout to all who’ll hear we’ll equal in a take a look at.
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