Cissy Houston, mother of Whitney Houston, was a much in-demand backup singer who also won two Traditional Soul Gospel Grammy Awards.

Cissy became a member of the Sweet Inspirations in 1963, joining her niece Dee Dee Warwick while replacing another niece, Dionne Warwick, who left the group for a solo career.

The Sweet Inspirations' hit "(Gotta Find) A Brand New Lover" was their most successful R&B single and Houston's final recording with the group before she left to spend more time with her family. However, Cissy continued as a backup vocalist, collaborating with such artists as Paul Simon, John Prine, Linda Ronstadt, Bette Midler, niece Dionne, and daughter Whitney

To hear the Sweet Inspirations sing "(Gotta Find) A Brand New Lover," go here. In the chapters, you'll see a public domain image of the four singers, from left to right: Sylvia Shemwell, Cissy Houston, Myrna Smith and Estelle Brown (Cissy is in the lower left corner). Credited to Atlantic Records, the photo appeared in Billboard in May 1967. It's available on Wikimedia Commons here.

Also in the chapters, the black and white photo of Houston performing in 1975 is credited to Tom Marcello Webster, New York, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, available on Wikimedia Commons.

The 1996 photo of Houston in this episode's thumbnail is attributed to Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel, Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

This tribute is one of 41 stories that Sheldon Zoldan, a longtime journalist, has written and recorded in honor of the music notables who passed away in 2024. He's written tributes for other years as well. You can listen to the ones from 2023 on Everyday Creation. We'll have the 2022 tributes available later this year.

Sheldon also is the creator of Song of the Day, a story that he sends by email to a list of subscribers. To get on his subscriber list, email shzoldan@comcast.net with the subject line ADD ME TO SOTD.

This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Audible, iHeart and Spotify.

In college, Kris Kristofferson was a Rhodes scholar and a Golden Gloves boxer who also happened to play guitar and write music. After Oxford, he moved to Nashville to pursue songwriting and eventually managed to gain Johnny Cash's attention by delivering a demo tape by helicopter to Cash's home. Cash ended up recording Kristofferson's song "Sunday Morning Coming Down," which became a hit.

So began Kristofferson's wildly successful career that included starring roles in movies.

The image in this episode's chapters and thumbnail is from the cover of the 2010 unauthorized biography of Kristofferson by Stephen Miller, who also wrote "Johnny Cash: Life of an American Icon." It's available on Kindle and in paperback.

To watch Kristofferson and Cash performing "Sunday Morning Coming Down," go here. The clip is from Johnny Cash's Christmas show in 1978.

This tribute is one of 41 stories that Sheldon Zoldan, a longtime journalist, has written and recorded in honor of the music notables who passed away in 2024. He's written tributes for other years as well. You can listen to the ones from 2023 on Everyday Creation. We'll have the 2022 tributes available later this year.

Sheldon also is the creator of Song of the Day, a story that he sends by email to a list of subscribers. To get on his subscriber list, email shzoldan@comcast.net with the subject line ADD ME TO SOTD.

This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Audible, iHeart and Spotify.

Multi-instrumentalist J.D. Souther achieved his greatest musical success by writing songs for the Eagles and other 1970s rock stars. It was Souther who suggested that Linda Ronstadt hire Glenn Frey and Don Henley for her back-up band. That connection eventually led to the formation of the Eagles.

Souther released his own albums to modest success. His biggest hit single was "You're Only Lonely" in 1979. You can hear the song by going to the official audio. In the chapters for this episode, you'll see an image of the "You're Only Lonely" album cover. That album and his LP "Midnight in Tokyo," which is pictured in the thumbnail and the chapters, are available on Amazon Music.

To learn more about Souther and see some great portraits of him, visit his website.

This tribute is one of 41 stories that Sheldon Zoldan, a longtime journalist, has written and recorded in honor of the music notables who passed away in 2024. He's written tributes for other years as well. You can listen to the ones from 2023 on Everyday Creation. We'll have the 2022 tributes available later this year.

Sheldon also is the creator of Song of the Day, a story that he sends by email to a list of subscribers. To get on his subscriber list, email shzoldan@comcast.net with the subject line ADD ME TO SOTD.

This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Audible, iHeart and Spotify.