The hooks, harmonies, riffs and rhythms behind most of the greatest songs in the history of pop music aren’t solely derived from the stars who perform them. They’re anchored in the soulful sounds of background singers who weren’t properly recognized.
Darlene Love sang background for songs like Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life” and the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby.” Merry Clayton sang background for the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” and Ringo Starr’s “Oh My My.” But their offerings remained anonymous for most of their career. Then there’s Cissy Houston, another often unknown voice behind many hits — including Glady Knight & the Pips’ “Midnight Train to Georgia.” When it came to background singers, Houston was among the best. The New Jersey native died while under hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease on Oct. 7. She was 91.
But her contribution to creating perhaps the greatest pop hit that centers on Georgia should be remembered.
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Houston’s storied history as a vocalist is often an afterthought amid a celebrated musical bloodline. She’s the aunt of pop legend Dionne Warwick, the cousin of opera great Leontyne Price and, of course, the mom of one of the most lauded singers of all time, Whitney Houston. Her solo career never reached the same heights as her family. But her influence is just as impactful.
Her musical roots lie in her family’s 1950s gospel group the Drinkard Singers (Houston was born Emily Drinkard in 1933). They were the first gospel group to perform with Mahalia Jackson and the first gospel group to sign with RCA Records. Houston garnered more success as a member of another group, the Sweet Inspirations.
In the 1960s, the quartet became an in-demand backing group to some of pop’s biggest stars. The Sweets are there with Aretha Franklin for “(You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman.” They’re with Jimi Hendrix for “Burning of the Midnight Lamp.” They’re with Dusty Springfield on “Son of a Preacher Man.” They were the heart and soul of Elvis Presley’s iconic Vegas run in the 1970s.
It’s that prolific work that led her to be the original voice behind “Midnight Train to Georgia.” And it all started from a conversation. Jim Weatherly, the writer of the song, called his buddy, actor Lee Majors, in 1970. At the time, Weatherly and Majors were in a flag-football league together.
Majors was dating Farrah Fawcett in the days before her “Charlie’s Angels” fame. Fawcett answered the phone and told Weatherly that Majors wasn’t at home. She was packing to see her parents, leaving on a midnight plane to Houston.
“What a great line for a song, I thought,” Weatherly previously said about the hit.
He wrote the song “Midnight Plane to Houston” in 45 minutes. A few years later, he sent the song to Cissy Houston, who changed the title to its current name.
“It was a country ballad that told a good story about two people in love,” Houston told the Wall Street Journal in 2013. “But I wanted to change the title. My people are originally from Georgia (her parents were from Blakely, to be exact) and they didn’t take planes to Houston or anywhere else. They took trains. We recorded the single in Memphis in 1972 with a country-gospel thing going, and I arranged the background singers. But Janus, my label, didn’t do much to promote it and we moved on.”
That’s when Weatherly sent the song to Gladys Knight and the Pips. The song became the group’s first No. 1 hit, later winning a Grammy. Rolling Stone included the hit in its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. It’s one of Knight’s most defining tracks.
“Cissy was a force and was fierce in her passions and life,” a rep for Gladys Knight said in an email to the AJC about Houston. “She let her faith lead her and was a role model in so many ways. May she rest in peace and be reunited with so much of her family in her passing and may her love and music comfort her loved ones.”
Houston may not have had the multiple No. 1 songs or embraced the glitz and glamour of the limelight, but she was a star in her own right. Her voice helped shaped the superstardom others. She wasn’t just Whitney Houston’s mom, but she was a robust vocal coach who helped hone one of the greatest voices of generation. And she wasn’t just the aunt of Dionne Warwick. She was her role model.
“I’m so deeply saddened,” Warwick said in a statement about Houston’s death. “However, knowing that my Aunt Cissy died peacefully and that she is in a much better place, is a consolation and comfort to me.”
Cissy Houston was an innovator (and two-time Grammy winner) whose career has underpinned the history of popular music. That shouldn’t be forgotten.
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