BeBe & CeCe Winans

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

BeBe & CeCe Winans is an American Gospel music brother and sister duo. BeBe (Benjamin) & CeCe (Priscilla) Winans are the seventh and eighth of "Mom" and "Pop" Winans ten children, most of whom have had successful Gospel music careers.

[edit] Musical career

The cover of Lord Lift Us Up (1984))

While BeBe & CeCe were in high school, four of their elder brothers formed the successful Gospel music group The Winans. Initially known as The Winans Part II, BeBe & CeCe first appeared in the public eye when they debuted in 1982 as part of the singing group The PTL Singers on the long running popular Christian television show Praise The Lord.^[1] They were introduced by Jim Bakker by their childhood nicknames and recorded their first album Lord Lift Us Up as a duo for PTL Records.

[edit] Self-titled debut

BeBe & CeCe left the PTL Singers in 1987 to pursue a musical career and that same year, Sparrow Records offered the two siblings a Gospel recording contract. Their mainstream debut release was the self-titled album BeBe & CeCe Winans. It was produced by Keith Thomas, who had at that time also produced Amy Grant and Vanessa L. Williams. The debut record gave them their first R&B hit "I.O.U. Me," topped R&B and inspirational charts and generated Grammy nominations, Dove and Stellar Awards. CeCe also earned a Grammy for "Best Soul Gospel Performance, Female" for the song "For Always."^[1]

They were one of the first African American artists to receive significant airplay on CCM radio stations and the second African American artists to receive the Dove Award in the Group of the Year category.

[edit] Heaven

They also remained steadily popular with R&B audiences as well, spawning 12 R&B hit singles including 2 #1 singles. The pair became the first Gospel artists to see their album reach #1 on the Billboard sales charts in 1988 after the release of their second LP Heaven. The title track also reached #12 on the Billboard R&B singles chart.^[2]

Other hits from the album included Lost Without You, and Celebrate New Life.^[3].

The album reached the R&B Top Ten, went to #95 on the Pop Charts and was certified Gold.^[4]

[edit] Different Lifestyles

BeBe & CeCe had their biggest success with the release of their 1991 album Different Lifestyles featuring the singles "Addictive Love" and a cover of The Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There" featuring Mavis Staples. Both singles topped R&B charts. ^[5] Rapper MC Hammer also made an appearance on the single "The Blood" at the height of his career.

[edit] First Christmas

The release of Lifestyles was followed by a holiday release titled First Christmas in 1993. This album showcased BeBe's production skills and led to him doing production work with Whitney Houston on the soundtrack for the movie The Bodyguard as well as production and writing music for artists such as Gladys Knight, Bobby Brown, The Clark Sisters and his younger sisters Angie & Debbie Winans.

[edit] Relationships

1994 saw the release of their last studio album Relationships, featuring the notable singles "If Anything Ever Happened To You," "Love Of My Life," and "Stay With Me." This album conveyed a more personal approach, in CeCe's words: "A lot of people think we're supposed to be perfect, but we're people too, we go through hurt [and] pain. We get songs through experiences and as we reveal these things, people are touched."^[1]

As a duo BeBe and CeCe Winans' accolades include 5 Grammy Awards, 8 Dove Awards, 2 NAACP Image awards, a Soul Train award, and over a dozen Stellar Awards, 12 charting R&B singles as well as numerous #1 singles on Christian radio, 3 Gold albums and 1 Platinum album.

[edit] Solo Careers

In 1996 they officially parted ways to work solo careers and other areas of interest. Both artists have gone on to have successful solo careers, receiving numerous awards and accolades. To date, BeBe has released 6 solo albums, while CeCe has released 8.

BeBe & CeCe Winans have only recorded together twice since 1996; once on "What A Child", a duet from CeCe's Christmas album His Gift, and once on "Tonight Tonight", a duet from BeBe's 2000 album Love & Freedom.

[edit] Still

In 2007, CeCe Winans' website confirmed a reunion album scheduled for a late 2009 release.^[6] The new CD entitled Still is scheduled for release October 6, 2009 on BeBe & CeCe's own record label B&C Records, distributed by Malaco. The album's lead single "Close To You," released June 2009, remained at #1 on gospel radio charts for several weeks.^[7] The Album reached #1 on the Gospel Album Charts, #2 on the R&B Charts and #14 at the Billboard Pop Albums. The latter position was a career high for the duo. ^[8]

[edit] Discography

Albums

• Lord Lift Us Up (PTL Records, 1984)
• BeBe & CeCe Winans (Sparrow/Capitol, 1987)
• Heaven (Sparrow/Capitol, 1988)
• Different Lifestyles (Sparrow/Capitol, 1991)
• Frst Christmas (Sparrow/Capitol, 1993)
• Relationships (Sparrow/Capitol, 1994)
• Greatest Hits (Sparrow/EMI, 1996)
• The Best Of BeBe & CeCe Winans (Sparrow, 2006)
• Still (B&C/Malaco, 2009)^[6] #1 (Gospel), #2 (R&B), #12 (US Pop Albums)

Singles

• "Up Where We Belong" (1984)
• "Stand On The Rock" (1984)
• "I.O.U. Me" (1987)
• "Love Said Not So" (1987)
• "Call Me" (1987)
• "Heaven" (1988)
• "Celebrate New Life" (with Whitney Houston) (1988)
• "Meantime" (1989)
• "Lost Without You" (1989)
• "Addictive Love" (1991)
• "I'll Take You There" (with Mavis Staples) (1991)
• "Different Lifestyles" (1991)
• "It's O.K." (1991)
• "Silent Night, Holy Night" (1991) REISSUE
• "The Blood" (with MC Hammer) (1992)
• "Depend On You" (1992)
• "Jingle Bells" (1993)
• "Count It All Joy" (1994)
• "If Anything Ever Happened To You" (1994)
• "Love Of My Life" (1994)
• "Stay With Me" (1995)
• "Feels Like Heaven (With You)" (1996)
• "Close To You" (2009)

Music Videos

• "Heaven"
• "Celebrate New Life"
• "Addictive Love"
• "I'll Take You There"
• "It's O.K."
• "Jingle Bells"
• "If Anything Ever Happened To You"
• "Love Of My Life"
• "Feels Like Heaven (With You)"
• "Close To You" (Gospel #1, #21 Heatseekers, #38 R&B)

[edit] Popular culture influence

• One of the duo's signature songs, Heaven, was remade by Destiny's Child member Michelle Williams featuring Carl Thomas on her 2002 Gospel album Heart to Yours.^[9]
• On the Disney Channel's animated television show The Proud Family, the youngest children in the family are twin toddlers named BeBe and CeCe.^[10]
• Both appear on the television series "Martin" on the titled episode "Go tell it on the Marin" (1994)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• BeBe & CeCe Winans at Allmusic