Inside Whitney Houston's mother Cissy's surprising bond with Elvis Presley

When news broke of Cissy Houston's death, aged 91, many people knew her as Whitney Houston's mom. Cissy passed away the morning of October 7 in her New Jersey home while under hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease, according to her daughter-in-law Pat Houston.

While known for her talented daughter, she was a singer within her own right who played an important role in music history beyond her role in Whitney's life.

© L. Busacca

As a backing vocalist, Cissy performed alongside a number of utterly iconic singers, from Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding, to Dusty Springfield. But one of the most iconic musicians she worked with was the King of Rock and Roll himself: Elvis Presley.

Here's all you need to know about the former singer's relationship with Elvis.

Playing in The Sweet Inspirations

© Gilles Petard

Not long before she was set to give birth to Whitney, Cissy formed The Sweet Inspirations with her niece Dee Dee Warwick and Doris Troy. Sylvia Shemwell, Estelle Brown and Myrna Smith would later form the remaining lineup under a contract with Atlantic Records.

© MediaPunch

Throughout the mid-sixties, The Sweet Inspirations were the go-to backing vocalists, performing for icons of the era such as Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Dusty Springfield, and even Cissy's niece Dionne Warwick — who is incredibly famous within her own right.

© L. Busacca

You can hear Cissy's vocals as part of the group on Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl", and on the descant for Aretha Franklin's "Aint No Way." They even sang backing vocals on "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" for Jimi Hendrix.

Touring with Elvis

© Michael Ochs Archives

The Sweet Inspirations joined Elvis on his comeback in Las Vegas, as he returned to the stage through the summer of 1969. It seems that the "Jailhouse Rock" singer was so impressed by his backup singers he would introduce them at every show: "They really live up to their name, ladies & gentlemen: The Sweet Inspirations!"

Cissy said that after the shows, they "would jam with him for an hour, singing gospel. He really loved it, had a feel for it and was tickled to have four 'church sisters' backing him up."

© Bettmann

Her husband reportedly gave him the affectionate nickname 'Elvis Pretzel', and the King was so grateful for Cissy that he gave her an engraved bracelet with her real name on the outside, and his pet name for her on the inside: 'Squirrelly.'

© Getty Images

She would later say of him: "Elvis loved gospel music. He was raised on it. And he really did know what he was talking about. He was singing Gospel all the time – almost anything he did had that flavour. You can’t get away from what your roots are."

It was while Cissy worked as one of Elvis's backup dancers that a young Whitney got to meet the King, no doubt an iconic moment.

"It was one of those moments that I won't forget as a kid," she told Access Hollywood. "It wasn't like, 'Hi Mr. Elvis, nice to meet you,' we didn't do that. We just sat back and looked at him. Amazing to look at."