Cece and Bebe Winans
African American gospel music is a spiritual style of music that is rooted in the solo and responsive church singing of the African American South. The genre emerged in the 1920s from negro spirituals and jubilee quartet songs with a heavy rhythmic and harmonic influence from blues and jazz.
Cece and Bebe Winans are a brother and sister gospel due from Detroit, Michigan. Cece and Bebe Winans were not the first in their family to see the spotlight; Their four older brothers formed a successful group called the Winans, which ultimately led to Bebe and Cece following in there footsteps. In 1982 they made there first debut as part of a group called the PTL singers, which performed on the show called the PTL Club. They also recorded their first album Lord Lift Us Up for PTL records.
Bebe and Cece left the PLT singers in 1987 to pursue a career outside of the group. They were signed by Sparrow Records under a Gospel recording contract. Their mainstream debut release was named Bebe and Cece Winans. Their song “I.O.U. Me”, soared to the top of R&B charts and landed them Grammy Award nominations. During this time Cece also landed a Grammy for best soul gospel performance by any female that year for the song “For Always”.
The duo continued released three albums in the 90’s including Different Lifestyles in 1991, First Christmas in 1993, and Relationships in 1994. They released their final album to date Still 15 years later in 2009. They also collaborated with other stars, such as Whitney Houston, Marvis Staples, and MC Hammer. From their First Christmas album Bebe was able to showcase his production skills. This allowed him to do production work with Whitney Houston soundtrack for the movie The Bodyguard, writing and production for Gladys Knights, Bobby Brown, The Clark Sisters, and his two younger sisters.
Bebe and Cece had continued success throughout their whole career obtaining various awards along the way. Their awards included four Grammy Awards, nine GMA Dove Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, and two Soul Train Music Awards.
