BeBe and CeCe Winans were born into a family of gospel singers that in the 1980s and 1990s produced no fewer than four celebrated gospel acts: The Winans, Daniel Winans & the Second Half, and, themselves, BeBe and CeCe. Benjamin “BeBe” Winans, born September 17, 1962, and Priscilla “CeCe” Winans, born October 8, 1964. Both Winans were born in Detroit, Michigan. BeBe Winans was the youngest of the seven Winans sons; CeCe was the first of their three daughters. To keep their kids off the streets of Detroit, the Winans made it a point to take them to their Pentecostal church regularly. As in many churches, singing together was a large part of the worship experience, and like so many other singers, BeBe and CeCe Winans got their start in their local church choir.
Father David Winans did not only sing in the choir, he was also a member of a four-man singing group, the Noble Aires. He knew discipline was important if one wanted to succeed as a singer. The four eldest Winans brothers David, Ronald, Carvin, and Marvin formed the gospel quartet the Testimonials in the early 1970s. Even as teenagers, the only music BeBe and CeCe were allowed to listen to at home was gospel music. However, growing up in Detroit in the late 1970s, it was nearly impossible for them not to be influenced by musicians from outside the gospel realm like the Temptations, and Stevie Wonder.
In the late 1970s, BeBe and CeCe, together with their older brothers Michael and Daniel, formed their own group, the Winans, Part 2 and started performing at church and family events. While BeBe was sure that he wanted to sing for a living, CeCe didn’t go for a career as a singer at first, opting instead to study cosmetology. However, in 1981, Howard McCrary, musical director of the religious TV program The PTL Club and a friend of the Winans, invited BeBe and CeCe to sing in the show. The siblings moved from Detroit, Michigan to the PTL campus in Charlotte, North Carolina and performed five years on the television show hosted by Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. Impressed by their background vocals, PTL’s label signed BeBe and CeCe to their first recording contract and in 1984 the singing siblings recorded a duet titled Lord Lift Us Up, which became a hit on mainstream radio and the duo caught the attention of several record labels.
They went on to sing as the gospel duo BeBe and CeCe Winans. Thanks to BeBe’s big, deep voice that managed to be tender and powerful at the same time and CeCe’s rich alto, they were in demand from a variety of churches. In early 1984, 18-year-old CeCe Winans left PTL and moved from Charlotte, North Carolina, back to Detroit. She got married in June to Alvin Love, a sales account executive, and opened her own beauty salon. BeBe ventured into commercial jingles. With the new found attention, BeBe and CeCe were the first Black artists signed to Sparrow Records in 1985 and then had the opportunity to complete full-length albums. The debut record gave them their first R&B hit, “I.O.U. Me”, which topped R&B and inspirational charts.
Delighted by the high quality of their recorded work, Sparrow president Bill Hearn asked Capitol Records if they were interested in BeBe and CeCe’s music. They were, and the gospel duo signed a second contract with the major label. Supported by two record labels, BeBe and CeCe Winans entered into the most dynamic phase of their career, one which would take them to the top of contemporary gospel and R&B.After the duo signed with Capitol Records, their debut album BeBe & CeCe Winans was released in 1987 on the Sparrow/Capitol label. Producer Keith Thomas collaborated with the duo on the full vocal arrangements which were then sung by other Winans family members, including brother Marvin. The self-titled BeBe and CeCe Winans album rose to number 12 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart and in 1988, BeBe and CeCe won a Dove award for New Artist of the Year and a Stellar award for Best New Gospel Artist.
In addition, BeBe starred in the Broadway musical Don’t Get God Started in 1987. The tour for their first album included mainly neutral concert halls–rather than traditional gospel venues–where BeBe and CeCe could freely perform their music. Their lyrics were often ambiguous and lacked the strong Christian messages that most pastors required for their churches. The duo also toured with Sandi Patti and with The Winans. On a trip to Poland and Russia, their religious music even received a positive review in a communist newspaper. With the release of their second LP Heaven, they remained steadily popular with R&B audiences, spawning 3 R&B hit singles including two No. 1 singles. The pair became the first Gospel artists to see their album reach No. 1 on the Billboard sales charts in 1988. The title track also reached No. 12 on the Billboard R&B singles chart. Other hits from the album included “Lost Without You” and “Celebrate New Life“.
BeBe and CeCe’s next album, Different Lifestyles, was another ambitious project that saw them pushing into other genres, characterized by the New York Times’ Michael Eric Dyson as “a curriculum of musical diversity–from rap and uptempo rhythm-and-blues to a sample of a gospel shout.” They also included a star-studded lineup of guest artists, including Luther Vandross, M.C. Hammer, and Mavis Staples of the Staple Singers. The first single from Different Lifestyles, “Addictive Love,” was an immediate hit among radio programmers across the nation. The album eventually reached number one on the Billboard R&B charts. Following the release of Different Lifestyles, BeBe and CeCe set off on a year of hectic touring which left them feeling exhausted. They took a year off from performing and recording. Their next album, released on Sparrow/Capitol in 1993, was their first Christmas album, appropriately entitled First Christmas.
In 1996, BeBe released his first solo album, BeBe Winans, to mixed reviews on Atlantic Records. CeCe Winans’ solo career took off right from the start. Her husband Alvin quit his position at Xerox and became her business manager. CeCe’s first solo release, “Alone in His Presence”, went gold in 1995 and was awarded a Grammy as the year’s best contemporary soul gospel album. In 1996, CeCe was the first Black female to win the Dove Award for female vocalist of the year. She hosted her own television show, CeCe’s Place, on the interfaith cable channel Odyssey Network, and authored her autobiography, “On a Positive Note: Her Joyous Faith, Her Life, and Her Everyday Blessings“. As a duo, BeBe and CeCe Winans’ accolades include three Grammy Awards, nine Dove Awards, two NAACP Image awards, two Soul Train Music Awards, numerous Stellar Awards, three Gold albums, and one Platinum album. BeBe and CeCe Winans received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011 and are 2015 Gospel Music Hall of Fame Inductees.