Families abound in gospel music, from the Staple Singers to the O’Neal Twins. But there’s never been a gospel family quite like the Winans, who blended a contemporary R&B sound with a religious fervor into an empire of multiple recording acts and Grammy winners, from the original brother quartet the Winans to the brother-sister act BeBe and CeCe Winans. Even the parents eventually recorded (and got a Grammy nomination) as Mom and Pop Winans.
Benjamin “BeBe” Winans, 53, says it was never his intention to tell the whole story of the remarkable family in his new musical “Born for This: The BeBe Winans Story,” a co-production with the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta that kicked off Arena Stage’s season with original songs and family hits.
“If you tell the whole story about my family, we’d be in the theater for a couple of weeks,” he says.
Instead, he concentrates on the rise of his own duo act with his sister, Priscilla Marie Winans, 51, better known as CeCe, when they left Detroit for the Carolinas in the early 1980s to join the “Praise the Lord” telecast. “It’s a coming-of-age story,” Winans says.
Working with Charles Randolph-Wright, whose previous work includes the crowd-pleasing “Motown the Musical,” Winans says when “Born for This” premiered in Atlanta in April, “I had a nervous group of people named Winans, because I just didn’t allow any of them to have a script or to have any idea of what I was doing.
“But all were very proud and pleased at what I had created,” he says.
Not surprisingly, the production stays in the family, with the parts of BeBe and CeCe being played by a brother-and-sister nephew and niece, Juan and Deborah Joy Winans. “It was like watching me and my sister at that age of 17 and 16,” BeBe Winans says.
In hopes of untangling the large and complicated gospel family history, we have attempted this family tree, whicht leaves out those not in the recording industry. “We’re talking about 34 nieces and nephews and about six or seven great nieces and nephews,” BeBe Winans says.
“Music is definitely in our DNA,” he says, “but not all of us are doing it as a 9 to 5.”
Born for This: The BeBe Winans Story Through Aug. 28 at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW. $50-$99. Call 202-488-3300 or visit arenastage.org.
David and Dolores Winans
"Mom and Pop" Winans, as they were known, raised a family of 10, each of whom was involved in the recording business. They met as part of the Lucylle Lemon Gospel Chorus in Detroit in 1950 and were married in 1953. He worked a series of jobs from car salesman to taxi driver to barber and janitor before beginning to preach in 1969. They encouraged their sons to sing in church; eventually, he became their manager. The couple recorded their own Grammy-nominated gospel album "Mom & Pop Winans" in 1989. He died in 2009 at 74; she is 79 and lives in Detroit.
David Winans II
The eldest of the Winans siblings, at 61, is the one who never sang professionally. Instead, he played electric guitar and bass for a number of progressive rock and Christian groups, is well known around the Detroit music scene and currently performs in a quartet called David Winans’ Pi.
The Winans
Ronald Winans, Carvin Winans, Marvin Winans, Michael Winans
The four-member group that became the Winans — the second through fifth siblings in the family — began singing in church and were discovered by legendary gospel singer Andrae Crouch, who signed them to Light Records. Their debut "Introducing the Winans," in 1981, crossed over on R&B radio, reaching the Top 20 with "Ain't No Need to Worry" featuring Anita Baker, and "It's Time" with Teddy Riley. They released 10 albums through 2000, winning six Grammys. Later, Ronald Winans recorded a series of albums called "Ron Winans Family & Friends" and opened a chain of restaurants with Gladys Knight, Gladys & Ron's Chicken & Waffles; he died of a heart attack in 2005 at 48.
Daniel Winans
A solo artist, Daniel Winans, 56, has released a half-dozen gospel albums, the latest of which, in 2014, is titled “Family.” The title track to his 1987 album “Brotherly Love” won the Grammy for best contemporary gospel song. He also sang at Whitney Houston’s wedding to Bobby Brown.
BeBe and CeCe Winans
The youngest brother of the family, Benjamin, and first daughter, Priscilla, were teamed by televangelist Jim Bakker for his “PTL Club” broadcast in 1982, where they became established as solo and duo acts. Their mix of gospel and R&B sent them to the top of both charts and earned them a Grammy in 1991 with the album “Different Lifestyles,” which featured Mavis Staples and MC Hammer. He went on to release a number of solo albums (which won three more Grammys) and hosts a Sirius XM show “The BeBe Experience” and is music director for the new series “Greenleaf” on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN television channel. CeCe’s solo work earned her seven Grammys. Among her best known songs is a duet with Whitney Houston, “Count on Me,” from the “Waiting to Exhale” soundtrack. The BeBe and CeCe reunion album in 2009, “Still,” earned two more Grammys.
Angie and Debbie Winans
The youngest siblings in the family first joined forces as teenage backup singers for BeBe and CeCe before releasing their first Grammy-nominated duo album in 1993, on which Whitney Houston was background singer. The duo also won a slot on Houston’s national tour that year. The two sang backup for brother Daniel Winans and wrote for their siblings. Debbie, 44, also got a cosmetology degree and styled hair for record company photo shoots. Today, Debbie Winans-Lowe is part of the team at Bethel World Outreach Church in Brentwood, Tenn., with her husband, Pastor James Lowe. Angie Winans, 48, has moved into smooth gospel jazz. Her son, Ryan Caldwell, was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays, BeBe Winans says, “but he’s also an incredible saxophonist.”
3 Winans Brothers
The pair of twins in the Winans — Carvin and Marvin Winans, 58 — joined with younger brother BeBe Winans for a trio recording “Foreign Land” in 2014, featuring the singles “If God Be for Us” and “Move in Me.” A Louie Vega remix of the track “Dance” featuring the Clark Sisters became a popular soulful gospel dance tune last year. Carvin went on to write and record, earning a Grammy. Marvin concentrated on being pastor at the Perfecting Faith Church in Detroit, where he has recorded with its choir.
Winans Phase 2
A quartet of teenage cousins — Marvin Winans Jr., Carvin Winans Jr., Michael Winans Jr. and Juan Winans (another son of Carvin Sr.) recorded their first album in 1999. Titled “We Got Next,” it kicked off with the single “I’m a Winans Too” and included a cover of the Bee Gees’ “Too Much Heaven.” It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard gospel chart. Marvin Jr. went on to be a solo gospel artist.
Juan Winans
The former member of Winans Phase 2, Juan Winans, 34, wrote songs subsequently recorded by Mary Mary, Heavy D, Michelle Williams and Michael Bolton before releasing his solo album, “Spectrum,” this year. He stars as his uncle BeBe Winans in the musical “Born for This” at Arena Stage.
Deborah Joy Winans
The daughter of Carvin Winans Sr., Deborah Joy, 31, went into acting before she got serious about singing. She portrays her aunt CeCe Winans in “Born for This,” a role she also played in the Angela Bassett-directed TV movie, “Whitney.” She also co-stars in the series “Greenleaf” that premiered June 21 on the OWN television channel.
Vickie Winans
The ex-wife of Marvin Winans, 62, kept the name and became a recording artist in her own right, releasing 20 albums, the latest of which is the gospel “How I Got Over.” More recently she has turned to comedy, releasing two DVDs, “Hilarious & Unplugged, Vol. 1 and 2.” She and Marvin divorced in 1995.
Mario Winans
Vickie Winans’s son from her first marriage, Mario Winans is mostly known for his R&B work as a producer at P. Diddy’s Bad Boy label. His biggest hit, “I Don’t Wanna Know,” came on his second album in 2014. His first album was on the Motown label in 1997. He won a Grammy for co-producing CeCe’s song “Pray” in 2006.
Jim and Tammy Faye Bakk er
It may not be well known that the couple from the “PTL Club” established BeBe and CeCe as a musical act. “A lot of people don’t know if it wasn’t for him, there would be no BeBe and CeCe,” BeBe Winans says. Bakker remains mostly known for a 1987 sex scandal that doomed the ministry, and the nearly five years he spent in jail for accounting fraud two years later. She was known, on the other hand, for her makeup and crying jags. Bakker was granted parole in 1994, remarried in 1998 and restarted his TV ministry in 2003. He attended the premiere of “Born for This” in Atlanta; Tammy Faye died in 2007.
Whitney Houston
One of the biggest selling artists of all time had a close connection to several members of the Winans family over the years. They sang with her, and sometimes she sang backup for them; several Winans sang at special occasions, from her wedding in 1992 to Bobby Brown to her funeral in 2012. A 1995 duet with CeCe Winans, “Count on Me,” was a Top 10 hit from the “Waiting to Exhale” soundtrack. She was so close to the family, BeBe Winans says, “she was a Winans.”
