Singer Dee Dee Warwick, a sister of soul legend Dione Warwick and cousin of Whitney Houston, died aged 63. Warwick died Saturday at a nursing home in Essex County, according to Kevin Sasaki, a family spokesman. She had been ill during recent months, he said, and her older sister was with her when she died.

Dione Warwick herself released a statement to thank fans for their prayers. "This morning [Saturday] at 10:00 my beloved sister Dee Dee made her transition. She went peacefully of which I am grateful," the elder Warwick wrote on her Web site.

She is best-known for her hits during the 1960s, including the #13 R&B hit “I'm Gonna Make You Love Me,” co-written by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff and later covered by Diana Ross & the Supremes, The Temptations, and Play. She is also a two time Grammy nominee for "Foolish Fool" and "She Didn't Know".

In more recent times, Warwick returned to sing backing vocals for Dionne in concert in 2006 and was also part of the Family First song in the Tyler Perry movie and soundtrack for 2007's “Daddy's Little Girls.” In February 2008, Dee Dee continued her background vocals for Dionne's one woman show "My Music and Me" in Europe.

A native of Newark, Warwick was born Delia Mae Warrick but changed her name to Warwick in the early 1960s. She began singing with her sister Dionne as a teenager in church in the 1950s when they formed the Gospelaires.