Cissy Houston, the two-time Grammy-wining gospel singer, mother of the late Whitney Houston, back-up singer for everyone from Elvis Presley and Luther Vandross to Paul Simon and Jimi Hendrix, died today surrounded by family while under hospice care for Alzheimer's disease at her home in New Jersey.

Cissy Houston, a two-time Grammy-winning singer who performed alongside superstar musicians like Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin and the mother of Whitney Houston, has died.

Cissy Houston, who has died aged 91, was the mother of the troubled star Whitney Houston, and a considerable musical talent in her own right – a double Grammy-winning singer of gospel and R&B and a sought-after backing singer for Elvis Presley,