Dionne Warwick Is 'Deeply Saddened' By the Death of Aunt Cissy Houston: 'She Is in a Much Better Place'

Dionne Warwick is speaking out following the death of her aunt Cissy Houston.

Warwick, 83, shared a statement with X on Tuesday, Oct. 8, a day after Cissy died at her home in Newark, NJ while under hospice care for Alzheimer’s disease. She was 91 years old.

“However, I am very saddened, as it is comforting and comforting to know that my Aunt Cissy died peacefully and is in a much better place,” Warwick wrote. “I saw your condolence messages. Thank you on behalf of the family. ❤️”

Both Cissy and Warwick started out as singers in the family gospel group the Drinkard Singers, which was managed by Warwick’s mother Lee, who was Cissy’s sister.

“While I called her Aunt Cissy,” Warwick told PEOPLE in 2022. “Because we were so close in age, I always looked at her as a big sister. It was heaven when we all sang together.”

Warwick recalled that Cissy had an “amazing voice” — one that was passed down to her daughter Whitney.

Cissy Houston, Whitney Houston’s mother and Grammy-winning singer, has died at 91.

Cissy Houston, Whitney Houston and Dionne Warwick in 1987. Vinnie Zuffante/Getty

“Whitney came exactly as we all did, in the church choir. It was just preordained, she was going to sing,” Warwick said. “Her fate was the same as the rest of the family. It was as if God pointed his finger at us and said ‘Let the messengers do what they have to do’.”

A year after Whitney’s death, in 2012, Cissy published a book Remembering Whitney, for which Warwick wrote the preface.

“[Cissy] she may have felt like an older sister to us, but she never let us forget that she was our aunt. She was a strong young woman then, and now she is a strong woman full of love,” the singer wrote. “Cissy always wanted the best for everyone in her family. She always gives encouragement and support, and on many occasions she tried to give advice.”

Cissy later thanked Warwick in the acknowledgments section of the book for “her support over the years”.

Cissy Houston in New Jersey in May 2016.

Dave Kotinsky/Getty

Cissy’s death was announced in a statement shared by her daughter-in-law, Pat Houston, who said the family had “lost the matriarch of our family.”

“Mother Cissy was a strong and tall figure in our lives,” the statement said. “A woman of deep faith and conviction, who cared deeply about her family, service and community. Her musical and entertainment career spanning more than seven decades will remain in our hearts. Her contributions to popular music and culture are unparalleled. We are blessed and grateful that God allowed her to spend so many years with us and we are grateful for all the many valuable life lessons she taught us. May he rest in peace with his daughter, Whitney and granddaughter Bobbi Kristina and other cherished family members.”

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Source: HIS Education