DJ Sir Daniel: Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast.
I'm DJ Sir Daniel.
Jay Ray: 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.
DJ Sir Daniel: Absolutely.
Could we, because Queue Points podcast is the podcast dropping
the needle on black music history.
Jay Ray: Yeah,
DJ Sir Daniel: feel like right about now we could use a little sweet inspiration.
How about you?
Jay Ray: 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.
DJ Sir Daniel: 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.
Jay Ray: have, you may have heard of her.
DJ Sir Daniel: 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.
Jay Ray: Yeah.
DJ Sir Daniel: 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.
So Jerry,
Jay Ray: Yeah.
DJ Sir Daniel: 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.
Jay Ray: Yeah,
DJ Sir Daniel: What they would call her today is she's a vocal, she
would be called a vocal producer.
What do you think?
Jay Ray: 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
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?
DJ Sir Daniel: Yeah.
Yeah.
Jay Ray: 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
DJ Sir Daniel: Yeah.
Silence.
Jay Ray: 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,
DJ Sir Daniel: Yeah.
Jay Ray: 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.
DJ Sir Daniel: Hmm.
Jay Ray: All of the string arrangements, because back then, you know, the
kids had strings in the studio,
DJ Sir Daniel: a whole orchestra.
Jay Ray: orchestra.
All of the string arrangements were done by one Arif Mardin who produced
the Chaka Khan albums as well.
DJ Sir Daniel: Right.
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,
Jay Ray: Yup.
DJ Sir Daniel: to sweets for my sweet on.
And you see on those liner notes.
Jay Ray: Yes.
DJ Sir Daniel: 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,
Jay Ray: Yeah.
DJ Sir Daniel: and isn't, wasn't Dionne one of the original
members of The Sweet Inspirations,
Jay Ray: 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
DJ Sir Daniel: Mm hmm.
Jay Ray: 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.
DJ Sir Daniel: 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?
Jay Ray: Um, I love that song.
It's a, you know, they kind of, it's a rock, little Diddy,
DJ Sir Daniel: Mm hmm.
Jay Ray: 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
DJ Sir Daniel: Yeah,
Jay Ray: and like all these other things that were not what he ended
up becoming super famous for.
DJ Sir Daniel: 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.
Jay Ray: 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,
DJ Sir Daniel: 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
out a gospel choir to bring it on home and get people on their feet.
Jay Ray: 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
DJ Sir Daniel: Yes,
Jay Ray: Yeah.
Yeah.
DJ Sir Daniel: 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.
Jay Ray: Mm
DJ Sir Daniel: She was a disco singer.
She had a
Jay Ray: Yeah.
DJ Sir Daniel: hit
Jay Ray: Yeah.
DJ Sir Daniel: 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
Jay Ray: Yeah.
Yeah.
DJ Sir Daniel: 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.
Jay Ray: 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.
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.
Carl Bean: 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.
Carl Bean: I Saw the lyrics sheet, I said, ain't no need in me questioning God.
Johnnie Ray Kornegay III: Hmm.
Carl Bean: 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?
Carl Bean: 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.
Carl Bean: 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.
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.
Jay Ray: 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.
DJ Sir Daniel: 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.
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.
Jay Ray: Uh huh,
DJ Sir Daniel: 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?
Jay Ray: 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
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If You
DJ Sir Daniel: I have a question.
I have a question.
Um, How is this a transparent document to having trauma about
And I don't any data to that
Jay Ray: store at store.
cuepoints.
com and get yourself some fresh gear last, but not least visit
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com.
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com where you can sign up for our newsletter and read our blog.
We appreciate y'all.
We love y'all.
DJ Sir Daniel: 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,
Jay Ray: My name is Jay Ray y'all.
DJ Sir Daniel: 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.
Jay Ray: Peace.