Bebe and Cece Winans talk about their gospel sound and famous family - singing duo - Cover Story

Jet, Jan 25, 1993 by Clarence Waldron

BeCe and CeCe Winans of the

famed Winans singing family believe that gospel "is good news music and everybody likes to hear good news,' they recently told JET while discussing their contemporary gospel sound and close family ties.

And that's what the brother and sister duo believes has won them an amazing crossover following. Bringing good news and messages hope, joy and love in a hip style has made Bebe and CeCe one of the hottest singing groups on the contemporary Christian music scene today.

With hits like It's OK, Addictive Love, I'll Take You There with Mavis Staples and Hold Up the Light with Whitney Houston, they have made all record charts - contemporary gospel to pop and soul.

BeBe, 30, and CeCe, 28, are the seventh and eighth of 10 children in the famous Winans gospel family. CeCe is married to a sales account executive and has two children, Alvin III, 6 and Ashley, 4. BeBe is also married and lives just a few miles away from sister CeCe in Nashville.

Their older brothers are the world famous Winans, Marvin, Carvin, Ronald and Michael), who were the first family members to make their name in contemporary gospel.

Brother Daniel Winans is a Grammy-winning solo artist; two sisters (Angie, Debbie) have formed their own new group, Sister; and another brother, David, plays the guitar.

The entire family, including Mom and Pop Winans, recently completed their second U.S. tour.

They say there's nothing like working with family. "We're family," CeCe proudly says. "It's more of an advantage than a disadvantage, because you know each other and you know you love each other and that love brings you back every time." She notes, "If this one (family member) makes you mad, it's like, So what, hell get over it.' But whereas if it's a stranger, somebody who is not family, it doesn't happen like that."

She credits her parents for rearing them to believe in the importance of family. "Our parents taught us that at a young age that you need one another and if you fall out, you come back together, you apologize and you go ahead, life goes on.

"And it's because of them, that all of us, not just BeBe (Benjamin) and myself, we have a close bond. We really don't argue that much. We're not the Brady Bunch, we're not the Brady Bunch by a long shot," she laughs. But we are real with each other. We're able to be honest with each other."

Despite their phenomenal popularity, the modest duo won't take credit for bringing a new sound to gospel music. Says CeCe, whose real name is Priscilla, "When we came out everybody was going this is something new and different, contemporary gospel music.' And we said, |Thanks for the credit of giving to us that this is something that we created, but it was nothing that we really created."

She explains, "As young people growing up in church, we always loved synthesizers. We were just lovers of music and we went into the studio and did simply music that we loved and put positive words and messages to it."

They grew up in Detroit listening to such contemporary gospel performers as Andrae Crouch, Rance Allen, the Hawkins Family and others. "That's what we grew up on so to us it (contemporary gospel) was nothing new."

BeBe and CeCe first appeared as a duo in 1982, singing a gospel rendition of Up Where We Belong as part of the PTL singing group. They left long before the notorious PTL sex scandal involving Jim and Tammy Bakker.

They said working with the PTL was a rewarding experience. "That was a wonderful stepping stone," remembers BeBe. "It taught us how to perform. It's not easy to stand up in front of a television camera knowing that two million people or so are watching you... We learned how to really carry ourselves stage wise and that is still part of us."

Their 1987 hit album, BeBe and CeCe Winans introduced them to a mainstream audience. With hits such as I. O. U. Me and Love Said Not So, they were an instant hit with music lovers everywhere.

They followed that success up with their 1988 album Heaven with the hit singles Heaven, Meantime, Lost Without You and Hold Up the Light.

Summing up their goal as gospel performers, CeCe says, "We're two people who love music and we're singing to try to help as many people as we can."

BeBe wants people to hear "the good news" in their music and believe that God is always there.

He explains, "I'm human. I make mistakes and I go through problems. I have hurts. I feel pain. I understand; even with the Christian beliefs that I have, I understand what people go through because I'm simply a human being. And I want people to understand and get through my music that there is a source of strength and that is the strength of the Lord; that they can depend on, that I depend on. And it brings me through, it makes everything all right. In the midst of sorrow, I can have joy and that's something that everyone can have. And that's simply why we continue to sing what we sing."