Winans, CeCe and BeBe

views updated

BeBe and CeCe Winans

Gospel singers

In the music industry, the term “crossover” has both positive and negative connotations. To musical purists, it implies a watering-down of some musical form to make it more commercial—in other words, selling out. To people on the business side, however, crossover refers to the successful marketing of a musical product to an audience that extends beyond the artist’s natural one. BeBe and CeCe Winans represent a crossover success story in the best sense of the word. They have managed simultaneously to remain true to their gospel roots and to appeal to a much broader pop music audience, for whom the word “gospel” had long meant commercial poison. Since the release of their debut album in 1987, BeBe and CeCe have taken both the pop and gospel music worlds by storm with the soulful Christian music that they grew up on.

BeBe (Benjamin) and CeCe (Priscilla) Winans were born in Detroit, the seventh and eighth children of what has become the most celebrated musical family in the history of contemporary gospel music. Their parents, Delores and David (Mom and Pop) Winans, met while singing with the Lemon Gospel Chorus. Mom and Pop married in 1953, and quickly began producing a new generation of talented singers. Four of their older sons, Ronald, Carvin, Marvin, and Michael, formed The Winans, a Grammy-winning group which attained world-class status in its own right. The Winans family was close-knit, and Delores and David—who have themselves maintained performing careers—raised their children in a rigid, Christian atmosphere. The children were not allowed to go to parties or movies, and no secular music was played in the house.

Began Career as “Winans Part 2”

While they insist that they are equally close to all of their siblings, BeBe and CeCe, because of their closeness in age, began singing together early on. After they graduated from high school together—CeCe was promoted a grade—CeCe attended cosmetology school and eventually opened her own hair salon. BeBe, on the other hand, chose to focus single-mindedly on music. As four of their older brothers began to gain exposure as The Winans, BeBe & CeCe sought to make their own mark with a more contemporary sound. They joined with another older brother, Daniel, to form The Winans Part 2 in the late 1970s. Andrae Crouch, the gospel star who had initially discovered The Winans, eventually noticed that their kid siblings could sing a little, too, and he hired BeBe and CeCe to sing backup for him.

In 1982 the duo took a job performing with the PTL Singers in Charlotte, North Carolina. With PTL, BeBe and CeCe were able to hone their stage skills, and also to gain national exposure through frequent television appearances and tours. They scored their first radio hit, a cover version of the pop song “Up Where We Belong,” while still performing with PTL. As their audience grew,

At a Glance …

Born Benjamin (BeBe) Winans, 1962, and Priscilla (CeCe) Winans, 1964, both in Detroit, MI; son and daughter of David (a minister, barber, and gospel singer) and Delores Winans (a medical transcriptionist and gospel singer); BeBe married Debbie; CeCe married Alvin Love (a sales account executive); CeCe’s children: Alvin III, Ashley Love. Religion: both Christian.

Began singing together with brother David as The Winans Part 2; launched career as duo with The PTL Singers, 1982; released first album, BeBe and CeCe Winans, 1987; numerous television appearances, including The Tonight Show, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, Martin, Sesame Street, and the 1994 Grammy Awards telecast; tours include Winans One Family World Tour, 1992; Young Messiah Tour, 1993; and 1994 four featuring “The Sounds of Blackness;” CeCe has also established a solo recording and concert career, 1995-; BeBe has starred in a run of the off Broadway musical Your Arms Too Short to Box with God.

Awards: Soul Train Music Award, Best Gospel Album of the Year, for Heaven, 1990; Stellar Award, Best New Gospel Artist, 1988, Best Performance by Group or Duo, Album of the Year, Contemporary, Song of the Year, Contemporary, and Best Inspirational Gospel Performance, 1990; NAACP Image Award, Best Gospel Artist, 1990, 1992; Dove Award, New Artist of the Year, 1988, Group of the Year, 1990, 1992, Contemporary Album of the Year, 1990, Female Vocalist of the Year, 1996; Grammy Award, Best Soul Gospel Vocal Performance, Female, for “For Always,” 1988, Best Gospel Vocal Performance, Male, for “Meantime,” and Best Gospel Vocal Performance, Female, for “Don’t Cry,” 1990, Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album, for Different Lifestyles, 1992, Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album (CeCe only), for Alone in His Presence, 1996; Motor City Music Award, Outstanding Gospel Recording, Outstanding Gospel Soloist, Duo or Group, 1992.

Addresses: Record company —Sparrow Records, EMI Christian Music Group, P.O. Box 5085, 101 Winners Circle, Brentwood, TN 37024-5085.

BeBe and CeCe began receiving calls from churches all over the country, and soon they were being noticed by record companies as well.

The duo signed with the Christian label Sparrow—which up to then did not have a single black artist on its roster—and produced its debut album, BeBe & CeCe Winans, in 1987. When executives at Sparrow heard the results, they were convinced that the recording had commercial potential beyond the Christian market. They took the recording to Capitol Records, and Capitol agreed to assist with distribution. The album was a hit with mainstream and gospel audiences alike. With several family members singing background parts, the recording sold well on both the R&B and Inspirational charts, and it earned the duo several Grammy nominations and a handful of Dove awards for Christian music. Two singles, “I.O.U. Me” and “For Always” received loads of radio airplay.

Second Album Soared Heaven-ward

The pair’s follow-up album, Heaven, released in 1988, faired even better. Heaven became the first gospel recording since Aretha Franklin’s Amazing Grace (1972) to reach the top ten on Billboard’s R&B charts and to go gold (100,000 copies sold). The album featured a guest performance by superstar and close friend Whitney Houston. For Heaven BeBe and CeCe received four Grammy Awards, an NAACP Image Award, scads of other honors, and a level of mainstream acclaim that had probably never before been lavished on a performing entity working so clearly within the Gospel idiom.

Even bigger things were in store for the duo’s next project, the 1991 release Different Lifestyles. The album became the first gospel project to rise to the top of Billboard’s R&B and Gospel album sales charts. With Different Lifestyles, BeBe and CeCe further developed their unique line-walk between mainstream and gospel sounds. Their music is slickly produced and very contemporary, while their message is unapologetically religious. They are people who take their Christianity seriously, and see their talent as a gift from God, to be used for spreading God’s word. And of course it didn’t hurt to have such luminaries as Whitney Houston (again), Hammer, and Luther Vandross showing up in supporting roles. Again, numerous honors and awards ensued, including another Grammy and another NAACP Image Award.

Grammy Parade Continued for CeCe

In 1993 BeBe and CeCe released First Christmas, and BeBe tried his hand at producing. His production credits included the Whitney Houston hit “Jesus Loves Me” from the soundtrack for the film The Bodyguard. The following year, the duo was back in the studio for its next album, Relationships, which produced another handful of crossover hit singles. Over the next couple of years, it was CeCe’s turn to break out as a star in her own right, although she had no intention of dissolving the duo. Her duet with Houston, “Count On Me” from the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack reached the top of Billboard’s R&B charts and cracked the Top Ten on the pop charts. In 1996 CeCe released her first solo album, Alone In His Presence. Her solo debut earned a Grammy for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album, and established CeCe as a major star apart from her stellar family. The BeBe and CeCe duo also released a Greatest Hits album in 1996, much to the relief of fans who may have suspected that the separation was permanent.

Meanwhile, BeBe has continued to pursue his interest in producing the recordings of others, and he also began work on a solo project of his own. Both BeBe and CeCe have also dabbled in stage acting, and CeCe made several nonsinging television appearances. Although each half of the team will likely continue to seek an individual identity, it is as “BeBe and CeCe” that the two have made a permanent mark on the direction of gospel music—a mark that their fans hope still has some growing to do.