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Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast. I'm DJ Sir Daniel.
And my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my government as Johnnie Ray Kornegay III and Sir Daniel, I am really excited about the conversation that we're about to have.
Absolutely. Could we, because Queue Points podcast is the podcast dropping the needle on black music history.
Yeah,
feel like right about now we could use a little sweet inspiration. How about you?
you know what? That is absolutely true. And I honestly miss style of singing in our music landscape. Like we just don't do it like The Sweet Inspirations did it anymore.
Absolutely. Sadly, um, Cissy Houston passed away on October 7th of 2024 at the age of 91. And the world, of course, is familiar with Cissy Houston as Dionne Warwick's aunt and the mother of a singer you may or may not have heard of.
have, you may have heard of her.
So just a little singer, a little vocalist by the name of Whitney Houston, um, was her daughter. She, she gave birth to the voice.
¶ Intro Theme
Yeah.
but the thing people need to realize is that Cissy Houston was her own voice. She mama had her own bag before Whitney came along. And on this episode, we're going to talk about Cissy Houston and The Sweet Inspirations and the legacy that they left behind.
¶ Welcome to the Show
So Jerry,
Yeah.
um, A lot of people don't realize that Cissy Houston was not only a background vocalist, but she was, like we saying, she was a part of the, a major group called The Sweet Inspirations, and we'll talk about their impact as a group, but she was also a vocal arranger.
Yeah,
What they would call her today is she's a vocal, she would be called a vocal producer. What do you think?
yeah. So that would absolutely be true. And um, we've seen now a lot of clips of, uh, Miss Houston, um, with got in front of gospel choirs, just kind of directing. And when you listen. To miss Houston saying you hear Whitney Houston and the way that she
¶ Remembering Cissy Houston
was able to use her vocal, kind of the vocal inflections and some of the playing that Whitney ultimately did. Um, vocally, you actually hear her mother doing those things because the thing that is really important about Whitney Houston's career and Whitney talks about this that her mother. coached her, right?
Yeah. Yeah.
¶ Cissy Houston's Career and The Sweet Inspirations
a vocal producer today, but when you go back in time and you listen to these amazing voices, you hear that great combination of soul, gospel, and jazz just mixed in
Yeah. Silence. Silence. Silence. Silence.
right. This is actually the last official album that, uh, Cissy appeared on. She left the group after this in 1969, but, um, it's called sweets for my sweet. And I want to read a quote from, um, the liner notes. So. Back in the day, kids,
Yeah.
you would not only get liner notes so you can know who produced records, you would also get like a story, right? So the story here, and the quote I want to read is from the second paragraph. The Sweet Inspirations, all from gospel backgrounds, found that they could utilize those roots when they began working around recording studios as background singers. They soon became so proficient that they were still are one of the most called on background singers in the country.
Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Herbie Mann, Nina Simone, Solomon Burke, Chuck Jackson, and many, many others have used the voices that The Sweet Inspirations have heard. polished and honed to perfection. So that was on this record. And another quick note about this record, Sir Daniel, which is related to another diva that we recently did a show about is Miss Chaka Khan.
Hmm.
All of the string arrangements, because back then, you know, the kids had strings in the studio,
a whole orchestra.
orchestra. All of the string arrangements were done by one Arif Mardin who produced the Chaka Khan albums as well.
Right.
¶ Impact and Legacy of The Sweet Inspirations
And of course, we will talk about it. Also, um, Cissy Houston ended up singing backgrounds on one of the biggest hits off of that album. I'm every woman,
Yup.
to sweets for my sweet on. And you see on those liner notes.
Yes.
had on the album, as far as writers and producers was like none other, some of the featured writers on the album. Speaking of I'm every woman, a young Ashford and Simpson were writers early in their career were writers on that album, the iconic Carol King, who is a Kennedy center award winner. Like she's literally, literally written. Some of the most iconic songs in the American songbook.
And of course, and another amazing songwriter Bert Bacharach and his partner, uh, Hal David at the time co wrote on this album as well. Like Bert and Cissy. Emily Drinkard, EmilCissyssy, Cissy, Emily. I don't know how black people came up with that nickname of calling her Cissy, but we're going to give you a nickname. But yes, Emily Drinkard is also known as Cissy Houston, professionally Cissy Houston.
But, um, yeah, so Burt Baccarat must have loved him some Cissy because he loved him some Dion and continued to work with these ladies again. So Dionne was Cissy's aunt,
Yeah.
and isn't, wasn't Dionne one of the original members of The Sweet Inspirations,
Back when they were the Drinkard singers, Dionne and her sister Dee Dee, um, were a part of the group. And What's so dope about this is just kind of the legacy of the Drinkard family. So they are famously related to Leontine Price, which people did not know
Mm hmm.
Shout out to Danielle Smith, who has a whole chapter kind of dedicated to the Drinkard bloodline in her book. Um, so definitely check that out. But, um, These women, these black women from Jersey were out here in churches learning how to sing orchestral, uh, music and learning how to sing in, in, in that way and being able to apply it to gospel and soul. So, yeah, you know, this group actually started, you know. With Dionne and Dee Dee, um, and of course Dionne goes on to become the blueprint.
We talk about blueprints and Dionne Warwick was that girl in the night, in the early 1960s, if you were talking about black women singers, all of them were aspiring to be like. Dionne Warwick.
Rock and roll Hall of Fame inductee of 2024. Um, the album suites for my suite also contains a Marvin Gaye cover called chains, right?
Um, I love that song. It's a, you know, they kind of, it's a rock, little Diddy,
Mm hmm.
And this is weird because when people listen to Chained, it forces you to kind of go back into Marvin's career kind of pre, uh, 1968. And you realize that Marvin Gaye was doing like all of this other stuff. Like he was doing like a little rock and a little
Yeah,
and like all these other things that were not what he ended up becoming super famous for.
yeah, you know one thing about The Sweet Inspirations also is that they were a pivotal part of the Stax Recordings as well because they work with Otis Redding If it was rumored that Cissy might have been dating him But hey, I mean those things those things happen Allegedly, but um, but yeah, so Stax they were involved in the Stax um Legacy.
Um, and like we said, she went, they went on to sing background for, of course, Aretha Franklin, Solomon Burke, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Dusty Springfield, Van Morrison, and get ready for this. Elvis Presley.
Yeah. man. Um, so after, since he left the group, um, in 1969, from like 1970 till Elvis's death, The Sweet Inspirations were his backing vocalists. Um, so they sang with Elvis for many, many years. And to that point is speaks to, and so Daniel, we know this right. Artists need them a little bit of need them a little bit of soul in that thing, right? When they hit the stage,
sure do. What do they do with these are the live performances. They going to trot out that gospel choir. I don't care if it's total Elvis Presley, they're going to bring
¶ The Sweet Inspirations' Collaborations and Influence
out a gospel choir to bring it on home and get people on their feet.
and so The Sweet Inspirations. So when we think about like legendary background singers, because, you know, in on this show, we've talked about over the years, the importance of The music is not just a person up front, like there's all of these people that made it happen. You have the musicians and it also for many folks included these background singers of which the Sweet Inspirations were famous literally as we read in that paragraph and that was 1969.
So these women were really kind of just running things for like years. Um, and it's kind of sad that music has moved. In such a way that we just don't get stuff like that anymore. You don't get to build a career. These women had a career that they were able to raise their families and
Yes,
Yeah. Yeah.
at church and somebody recently brought that up. I think it was Jermaine Dupri said on one of his lives, he was talking about, you know, Nobody's coming from the church anymore. Nobody's, and we've said that numerous times on this, on this show, Queue Points podcast, we've said it y'all are not, y'all don't come up in church choirs, flat footed singing, and we can tell y'all did not have to rehearse hour after hour. And we can tell at church churches had.
People that grew up in the church and sang in the church just have a different kind of discipline and it literally paid off. I was thinking about them jet setting around the world with all these major acts. I also think about what, because this is, you know, not too far from Jim Crow.
And the civil rights movement and just thinking about, you know, their treatment in going in these establishments, especially when they were traveling with the, the white, um, artists at the time, and just thinking about, you know, how would they were treated, um, as possible. They had to go into through the back, you know, the, the, the stories are true and we remember those things. So they really, really paved the way and laid it out for.
A lot of people to come along and to do their thing in the music industry. Cissy literally created a path for her daughter, an industry path. I think that's the best form of nepotism ever. I'm not, I like me a little nepotism. Bring me up, Unc. Put me on, Dad. You know, I'm not opposed to it, but Yeah, the, so Cissy Houston also goes on to have her own Flourishing career as a soloist.
Mm
She was a disco singer. She had a
Yeah.
hit
Yeah.
Of course, she still hit the, um, the background vocal Um, circuit and, um, she was also singing what, before we do that, Jerry, there's a song that we've talked about on this show that, um, as part of a historical song
Yeah. Yeah.
then we also find out that The Sweet Inspirations are actually singing on background on this particular song, which is a huge landmark and game changing song. Silence. Silence. Silence.
being me being hyperbolic in any way. Um, and was written by a black woman and sung by two black men and, um, about being, um, out gay and proud. So the second version of the song though, is where The Sweet Inspirations come in, which is kind of fascinating.
¶ Cissy Houston's Solo Career and Contributions
So I'm actually going to play a clip of that. of Carl Bean, who sang that version, um, telling us what happened about, um, how The Sweet Inspirations got involved.
When they, they approached me. I knew when the song came. That's because I sat on that step and heard "What's Going On" and The Staples [Singers]. And that's what God had touched me with this message music, but in hearing that that day, I never would've thought in a million years, I was going to get the chance to sing about being gay. That was so far from my memory bank, thinking that it just wasn't nowhere around. And, uh, when it came, and Motown presented the song.
I knew the minute I saw the lyric, it was mine to do. Cause this is what I left to do, but I just I didn't know it was going to be about my particular journey. Johnnie Ray Kornegay III: Hmm. I Saw the lyrics sheet, I said, ain't no need in me questioning God. Johnnie Ray Kornegay III: Hmm. I asked the folks at Motown, I said, can I bring my own background in? And they said, well, who is it? I said The Sweet Inspirations, so then they said, you mean THE Sweet Inspirations.
Johnnie Ray Kornegay III: [Laughing] You mean them? I said, Yes. yeah, THE Sweet Inspirations. They said oh, hell yeah. [Johnnie laughing] Uh, huh. Johnnie Ray Kornegay III: Like they were going to say, no, your like, well, you know. Well, I've called Estelle [Brown], I said, y'all, I got a gig for you, they said what? I told em, they said, yeah, Carl, you know we will.
¶ Archbishop Carl Bean Sharing How The Sweet Inspirations Got Involved in "I Was Born This Way"
And I said, cause if my girl, we all came up from New York together, so all we got to do you give us the beat and we'll take it from there. [Johnnie laughing] We've been doing this a good while together, and so Estelle and I worked that way in the studio that night and, the thing that the people in loved was really my ad libbing. All the other stuff that people sing and get off on is me taking them to church.
so as you can see, so Carl bean, who got this deal at Motown to be, to sing this song, that was really like the crux of the deal, um, called up, uh, Ms. Estelle of The Sweet Inspirations. Um, since he was long, um, out of the group by then. And, um, to sing backgrounds on this gay anthem and their version of the song is the one that the kids tend to go up for. Cause it's very gospel. It's one it's disco and two is gospel. And so The Sweet Inspirations is just bringing it.
So women were a part of. Not just music history overall, not just black music history, but also the history of LGBTQ music includes the voices of The Sweet Inspirations.
That's right. And you know, not only did The Sweet Inspirations make their mark in gospel and disco, but they made their mark in hip hop as well, because there are a couple from a couple of those albums. There are a lot of sweet inspiration samples that you listen to to this day and you can't get enough of. I think the most prominent one that. The everyday listener and people who enjoy Queue Points will recognize is the classic I'm blue, which is actually a cover of, of the eye cats.
Um, I'm blue and you will notice that it was sampled by one ice cube, but you will also know, and here.
¶ How Cissy & The Sweet Inspirations Have Made Their Mark on Modern Music
Immediately as the record plays, I'm blue is the foundation for salt and pepper's major massive hit stoop. And so, yes, The Sweet Inspirations gave us a little hip hop Diddy as well. So shout out to them. They did quite a bit in the time that they worked in the industry. But as we started off talking about Cissy Houston, um, going on to have.
You know, being the focus of this conversation, but then going on to have a substantial solo career of her own, as Jay Ray mentioned, she's, you know, was featured on I'm every woman, um, a shocker con, but did you know that she was also singing backup with Bette Midler on Bette Midler's Grammy award winning massive hit from a distance.
Uh huh,
And, um, yeah, and not Bayhive listened to this. Cissy Houston is singing backup. With Beyonce on The Closer I Get to You, and I believe that was on the Dangerously In Love album. That was Beyonce's first album, I believe. So yeah, Cissy Houston, y'all gonna stop referring to her as Whitney's mom. She was her own woman. She, you know, she was her own woman and she did her, you know, she did her thing in this industry and left an indelible mark on the music industry, specifically Black music.
And for that, we salute Miss Cissy Emily Drinkard Houston on this episode of Queue Points Podcast. Another one, Jay Ray, what you got to say about it?
yo, thank you all so much for tuning in with us as we walk down memory lane. Before we close out, please make sure that y'all go and stream. Um, The Sweet Inspirations, you will not be disappointed. These records are full of beautiful harmonies. Um, lots of great covers that are unique. So you want to check out these records. So please go and do that. And for you beat makers and producers out there, you'll probably find some stuff you want to sample. So there's that.
Thank you so much for tuning into Queue Points. Please make sure. That you subscribe wherever you are. If you could see our faces, if you can hear our forces, if you can hear our voices, great, hit the subscribe button, share the show with your friends, family, colleagues. If You
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And like I always say in this life, you have an opportunity. You can either pick up the needle or you can let the record play. I'm DJ Sir Daniel,
My name is Jay Ray y'all.
and this has been Queue Points podcast, dropping the needle on black music history. We will see you on the next go round. Peace y'all.
Peace.