The Sweet Inspirations are an American R&B girl group from Newark, New Jersey, founded by Cissy Houston, mostly known for their work as backup singers on studio recordings for other R&B and rock artists but also a Grammy-nominated recording act in their own right.
The group's origins went back to the late 1950s when the Gospelaires, a group which included siblings and future soul stars Dionne Warwick and sister Dee Dee Warwick as well as Sylvia Shemwell and another future soul star Doris Troy and was an offshoot of the Drinkard Singers, began a professional career as session vocalists. Cissy Houston later replaced Dionne in 1961 with Troy later being replaced by Myrna Smith in 1962 while Dee Dee was eventually replaced by Estelle Brown in 1963.
Their biggest hit was aptly titled "Sweet Inspiration", which reached the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 and later earned them a Grammy Award nomination, notably making them just the third all female vocal group in history to earn a Grammy nomination. They were also known for their rendition of "I'm Blue", which was the b-side of "Sweet Inspiration" and later was sampled famously by Salt-N-Pepa's hit "Shoop". Following their first couple of months performing with Presley in Las Vegas, Houston left the group to raise her family and forge a successful solo career while the rest of the group carried on with Presley and as a recording act.
The history of the Sweet Inspirations started at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey during the 1950s where Emily "Cissy" Drinkard was the Minister of Music leading several youth choirs. Among the young singers she mentored were her preteen nieces Dionne, Dee Dee, Judy Guoins and Sylvia Shemwell and their friend Doris Troy. By 1954, Judy had joined Cissy Drinkard's sibling gospel group the Drinkard Singers. Both Judy and Sylvia had been adopted by Cissy's sister Lee, another member of the Drinkard Singers and mother of Dionne and Dee Dee.
By 1958, Dionne, Dee Dee, Sylvia Shemwell and Doris Troy agreed to form the group the Gospelaires and eventually opened for the Drinkard Singers, finding success at the Apollo Theater in 1959 and were at this point being managed by Cissy's then-boyfriend John Russell Houston Jr. That year, while at the Apollo, a record label scout approached them backstage looking for background singers for a session for a musician named Sam "The Man" Taylor to which the Gospelaires agreed to sing on. Following that session and another with The Drifters, the group became professional session vocalists. By September 1961, John Houston Jr. convinced Cissy to join a session for Ronnie Hawkins after Dionne began working with Burt Bacharach, which led to Cissy Drinkard, who would later go by the name of Cissy Houston, officially joining the group. Within a couple of years, Dee Dee and Troy all left the group. Houston eventually replaced them with Myrna Smith, a New Hope choir member, and 17-year-old Estelle Brown, which formed the nucleus of the Sweet Inspirations. [2]
In a recording session on March 28, 1967, the group provided the backup vocals for Van Morrison on his classic hit "Brown Eyed Girl".[3] It was released in June 1967 and rose to No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.[4] In October 2007, Morrison was awarded a Million-Air certificate by BMI for 8 million air plays of "Brown Eyed Girl".[5] Shortly afterwards, the group, who were now known under the nickname "The Group", was approached by Jerry Wexler to sign a recording deal with Atlantic Records, the parent label of Morrison's Bang label under the condition they sign as The Inspirations. After discovering that another group went by that name, Wexler added "Sweet" in front of the name.
The Sweet Inspirations recorded by themselves for the first time in April 1967 for Atlantic Records.[2] That session produced the first two singles released by Atlantic, a version of "Why (Am I Treated So Bad)," a song previously recorded by The Staple Singers and a soulful version of "Let It Be Me", a French song which had been a pop and R&B hit for Betty Everett and Jerry Butler in 1964. Though their first singles were only minor hits with "Let It Be Me" peaking inside the R&B top twenty, Atlantic was committed to the group, and an August session in Memphis yielded the bulk of songs used for the group's self-titled debut album, released in the late fall of 1967. Within a month of their chart climb, the group began work on their second album – a gospel record entitled Songs Of Faith & Inspiration. It was released in 1968 under the name "Cissy Drinkard & The Sweet Inspirations."
Shortly after cutting the gospel set, the Sweet Inspirations were back in Atlantic's studios to record their third album, What the World Needs Now is Love,[2] recorded at Muscle Shoals, Alabama with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. The late April 1968 session produced a version of The Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody", which became the group's fourth R&B chart hit, and a version of The Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody," which gave the group a charted, though minor hit.
In 1969, the group recorded their fourth album, Sweets for my Sweet. The Sweet Inspirations also began recording and touring with Elvis Presley as both background singers and his warm-up act,[2] as well as doing occasional live dates with Aretha Franklin.[3] The association with Presley became well-publicized as he routinely introduced the Sweet Inspirations (along with the TCB Band members, the J. D. Sumner & Stamps Quartet, and Kathy Westmoreland) on his telecast concerts and live recordings. The Sweet Inspirations worked with Presley until his death in 1977.
Houston's last recording session with The Sweet Inspirations was in October 1969, since she wanted to pursue a solo career and concentrate on her family. The session produced the group's biggest R&B hit in some time. A Gamble & Huff composition, "Gotta Find Me A Brand New Lover" appeared on the group's fifth album Sweet Sweet Soul.
Later years
The remainder of the album was recorded in November 1970, with Shemwell, Brown, Smith, and new member Ann Williams, a friend of Brown's who stayed for what turned out to be the group's last full Atlantic album. Also included from that set are "That’s The Way My Baby Is", and "Flash In The Pan". A final Atlantic session in June 1970 brought the group (now a trio with Brown, Smith, and Shemwell) its last two singles for the label; "This World" (from the musical The Me Nobody Knows), and "Evidence".
In 1973, Brown, Smith, and Shemwell recorded an album for Stax Records.[2] By 1979, Estelle Brown had quit the group and was replaced by Gloria Brown, who toured with them but did not sing on the Sweet Inspirations’ last LP, Hot Butterfly, on RSO Records, with singer Pat Terry featured on the actual recording.[2] They group broke up shortly thereafter. In 1978, the group sang backing vocals on Frankie Valli's No.1 hit "Grease" from the film of the same name. In 1979, the group toured with The Bee Gees during their U.S. Spirits Having Flown Tour singing backup.
The Sweet Inspirations (Estelle Brown, Smith, and Shemwell) got back together again in 1994, with new member Portia Griffin. They performed at Elvis Presley tribute shows,[2] and released new material in 2005. Shemwell suffered a stroke in 2001, which forced her into early retirement. They also recorded choir backing for The Killers' 2004 recording, Hot Fuss, on songs "Andy, You're a Star" and "All These Things That I've Done". Shemwell died on February 13, 2010.
In March 2010, while on a European tour for Elvis: The Concert, Smith developed pneumonia. Once back in the U.S., her condition continued to deteriorate, as she suffered kidney failure, further complicated by a severe stroke. By October 2010, she was a patient at the Canyon Oaks Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Canoga Park, California.[3] She died on December 24, 2010.[8] Ann Williams died on October 1, 2013.[9]
Smith was replaced with Los Angeles–based singer Kelly Jones; as of March 2011[update], the Sweet Inspirations are continuing to perform backup vocals with Elvis: The Concert and continue to do many concerts worldwide with Elvis Presley Enterprises' first ever "Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist", Shawn Klush,[10] sometimes as a duo and other times as a trio.
On October 7, 2024, group founder Cissy Houston died in her sleep from complications of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 91 in her home of Newark, New Jersey, leaving Estelle Brown as the only surviving member of the original group.
In 2014, Houston and Brown accepted the Sweet Inspirations' induction into the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame, the same night Houston's daughter, Whitney, was posthumously inducted.
Members
Current members
Estelle Brown – contralto/2nd alto (1967–1979, 1994–present)[11]
