Guilty pleasures
By Associated Press
Cissy Houston, Whitney Houston’s mother and a Grammy-winning singer, dies at 91
LOS ANGELES | Cissy Houston, the mother of the late Whitney Houston and a two-time Grammy winner who performed alongside superstar musicians like Elvis Presley, and Aretha Franklin, has died. She was 91.
Houston died Monday morning in her New Jersey home while under hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease, her daughter-in-law Pat Houston told The Associated Press. The acclaimed gospel singer was surrounded by her family.
“Our hearts are filled with pain and sadness. We loss the matriarch of our family,” Pat Houston said in a statement. She said her mother-in-law’s contributions to popular music and culture are “unparalleled.”
“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.”
Houston was in the well-known vocal group, the Sweet Inspirations, with Doris Troy and her niece Dee Dee Warrick. The group sang backup for a variety of soul singers including Otis Redding, Lou Rawls, The Drifters and Dionne Warwick.
The Sweet Inspirations appeared on Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” and sang background vocals for The Jimi Hendrix Experience on the song “Burning of the Midnight Lamp” in 1967. In the same year, Houston worked on Franklin’s classic “Ain’t No Way.”
Houston’s last performance with the Sweet Inspirations came after the group hit the stage with Presley in a Las Vegas show in 1969. Her final recording session with the group turned into their biggest R&B hit “(Gotta Find) A Brand New Lover” a composition by the production team of Gamble & Huff, who appeared on the group’s fifth album, “Sweet Sweet Soul.”
During that time, the group occasionally performed live concert dates with Franklin. After the group’s success and four albums together, Houston left The Sweet Inspirations to pursue a solo career where she flourished.
Houston became an in-demand session singer and recorded more than 600 songs in multiple genres throughout her career. Her vocals can heard on tracks alongside a wide range of artists including Chaka Khan, Donny Hathaway, Jimi Hendrix, Luther Vandross, Beyoncé, Paul Simon, Roberta Flack and her daughter.
In 1971, Houston’s signature vocals were featured on Burt Bacharach’s solo album, which includes “Mexican Divorce,” “All Kinds of People” and “One Less Bell to Answer.” She performed various standards including Barbra Streisand’s hit song, “Evergreen.”
Houston won Grammys for her albums “Face to Face” in 1997 and “He Leadeth Me” the following year in the best traditional soul gospel album category.
Houston authored three books: “He Leadeth Me,” “How Sweet The Sound: My Life with God and Gospel” and “Remembering Whitney: A Mother’s Story of Life, Loss and The Night The Music Stopped.”
In 1938, Cissy Houston started her career when she joined her sister Anne and brothers Larry and Nicky to form the gospel group, The Drinkard Four, who recorded one album. She attended New Hope Baptist Church, where she later become Minister of Sacred Music.
Houston was the youngest of eight children.
“We are touched by your generous support, and your outpouring of love during our profound time of grief,” Houston said on behalf of the family. “We respectfully request our privacy during this difficult time.”
Billie Jean King named grand marshal for the 136th Rose Parade on Jan. 1
PASADENA, Calif. | Tennis great Billie Jean King will preside over the 136th Rose Parade as grand marshal next year.
King, who turns 81 next month, was introduced Monday in a shower of confetti on the lawn of Tournament House as “Philadelphia Freedom,” the hit song Elton John wrote for her, blared.
“I’m still kicking,” she said, smiling.
King will ride the 5½-mile route through the streets of Pasadena on Jan. 1 and be part of the coin flip for the 111th Rose Bowl football game later that day.
“We looked forward to it every year,” she said, recalling her childhood in Long Beach. “My mother and I always loved parades.”
The parade’s theme of “Best Day Ever!” celebrates life’s best moments.
“I love it,” she said. “I have a whole new saying the rest of my life now. It reminds us of living in the present every single day.”
She joins a long line of athletes who’ve served as grand marshals, including Olympic champions Laurie Hernandez, Greg Louganis, Janet Evans, Allyson Felix, Carl Lewis and Shannon Miller, as well as golfers Chi-Chi Rodriguez and Arnold Palmer, and Pelé and Hank Aaron.
“They’re absolutely the who’s who of American history,” she said.
King, however, is the first female athlete to serve on her own.
She has long advocated for gender equity, LGBTQIA+ rights and other social justice issues.
The 39-time major champion’s haul includes 20 Wimbledon titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
King was honored with a bronze statue at Cal State Los Angeles last week. She attended the university from 1961-64, winning her first Wimbledon doubles title while still a student, but never graduated. She told students she plans to re-enroll and finish her degree.
King has ownership interests in the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Angel City FC women’s pro soccer team.
She recently became the first individual female athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, which recognizes her “life devoted to championing equal rights for all, in sports and in society.”
Supreme Court declines to hear appeal from R. Kelly
WASHINGTON | The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal Monday from the singer R. Kelly, who is now serving 20 years in prison after being convicted of child sex convictions in Chicago.
The Grammy Award-winning R&B singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, was found guilty in 2022 of three charges of producing child sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors for sex.
His lawyers argued that a shorter statute of limitations on child sex crime prosecutions should have applied to offenses dating back to the 1990s. Current law permits charges while an accuser is still alive.
The justices did not detail their reasoning in declining to hear the case, as is typical. And none publicly dissented. Lower courts previously rejected his arguments.
Federal prosecutors have said the video showed Kelly abusing a girl. The accuser identified only as Jane testified that she was 14 when the video was taken.
Kelly has also appealed a separate 30-year sentence for federal racketeering and sex trafficking convictions in New York.
—From AP reports
