Cissy Houston, Jonathan Singer - How Sweet The Sound: My Life With God And Gospel
STYLE: Biography and Autobiography RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 79513-BOK425 LABEL: FORMAT: Book General book
Reviewed by Tony Cummings
This autobiography (written with Jonathan Singer - author of Where Jesus Walked) was published in 1998 but is still an essential read if you are (a) a big fan of New York pop music of the '60s/'70s, Cissy having sung on the "symphonic soul" concoctions of composers like Leiber & Stoller and Bacharach & David; (b) a big fan of Elvis Presley (though in truth Cissy's revelations/memories of when Cissy and her fellow Sweet Inspirations backed The King are rather limited); (c) a student of the development of gospel music into soul (there are many fascinating stories of Cissy's early years with the Drinkard Singers and the internal battles as Cissy slowly comes to terms with singing "secular" music; and (d) a fan of Whitney Houston (Cissy's wayward daughter wrote a foreword to this volume and there's plenty of material about Whitney's childhood and the development of her precocious talent). The most surprising and effective part of How Sweet The Sound are the early chapters, documenting graphically the appalling racism that Cissy's parents endured in Georgia and the necessary relocation of the Houstons to Newark, New Jersey where the godly family were confronted by the sin and sleeze of big city life. Patriarch Nitch Houston comes over as a courageous man of extraordinary Christian faith as he fought to establish a new life for his family in Newark. Later chapters on the birth and growth of the Drinkard Singers are equally informative and colourfully told. With Cissy's entrance into R&B and pop the information becomes a little more sparse - no doubt there were simply too many recording sessions for anyone to keep a detailed record of all that went on - though there are some colourful little vignettes of Leiber & Stoller, Gary Sherman, Bert Russell and many other musicians and producers who helped create a new approach to popular music. And so the story continues, Cissy writing easily and eloquently about her love of the Lord and the love of her husband John who in later life was to treat her so callously. The book ends with a lengthy reminiscence of a dinner run by The Rhythm And Blues Foundation who honoured Cissy amongst a bevy of her peers and a Coda where Cissy talks about the unexpected chance to record her 1996 gospel album 'Face To Face'. As it turned out, there's still more to be told (like the indefatigable prayer warrior Cissy getting 1,500 of the saints to pray for Whitney in a Harlem church in 2007). If you haven't yet caught up with this volume, there's much here to inform, fascinate and inspire you.
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