The Sweet Inspirations are an American R&B girl group from Newark, New Jersey, founded by Cissy Houston, and Sylvia Shemwell originally to sing background for Judy Clay. 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.
From 1963 until 1967, the group, known informally as "The Group", would back up several important artists in the soul, pop and rock genres, most prominently Aretha Franklin, Solomon Burke, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Van Morrison, Dusty Springfield and Elvis Presley.