CeCe Winans American Singer Born 1964 in Detroit

Early life

CeCe Winans was born Priscilla Marie Winans on 8 October 1964 in Detroit, into the family associated with the Winans gospel group. Her parents belonged to the Church of God in Christ and listened mainly to gospel music at home. She sang her first solo at the age of eight.

Career

In 1981 Winans travelled to Charlotte, North Carolina, to sing on the Christian television program The PTL Club. There she and her older brother BeBe became a duo after audiences responded warmly to their version of "Up Where We Belong", reworked with lyrics for a Christian audience. In 1984 they released their first album, Lord Lift Us Up, on PTL Records. Their second album, BeBe & CeCe Winans, arrived in 1987. Billed as BeBe & CeCe Winans, they released nine gold and platinum recordings, and their album Different Lifestyles sold more than a million copies.

Her solo career opened with Alone in His Presence in 1995, which earned a Grammy Award and two Dove Awards. In 1996 she recorded "Count on Me" with Whitney Houston for the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack; it reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified gold in the United States. Everlasting Love followed in 1998 and included her best-charting solo singles, "Well Alright" and "Slippin". The same year she issued a Christmas album, His Gift.

In 1999 she started her own recording company, PureSprings Gospel, and released Alabaster Box on it, with some production by Fred Hammond. She followed with the self-titled CeCe Winans in 2001 and Throne Room in 2003. A 25-city tour with the group Anointed in 2004 offered free admission and was released as the concert DVD Live in the Throne Room. Purified appeared in 2005, with her nephew Mario Winans among its producers and her son and two of her sisters contributing. Thy Kingdom Come was released on 1 April 2008 and featured the single "Waging War".

Winans and her brother reunited for the album Still in October 2009, issued by Malaco Records, which included guest appearances by Marvin Winans and Mary Mary. From 2012 to 2014 she appeared with BeBe as a judge on the BET gospel competition Sunday Best. Her tenth album, Let Them Fall in Love, came in 2017. In 2021 she released her first live worship album, Believe for It. Her single "Goodness of God" was introduced on 14 September 2022, and she released "I've Got Joy" in 2022 as well.

On 26 April 2024 she released the live album More Than This, which reached number one on Billboard's gospel and Christian album charts. Its single "That's My King" topped the gospel airplay chart. She promoted the album on national television, including The Kelly Clarkson Show and The Jennifer Hudson Show, and sang "Goodness of God" on the season finale of American Idol. Later in 2024 she hosted a documentary titled The Carols of Christmas for Our Daily Bread Ministries. A 2026 album, The Hymns, is also part of her discography.

She has also written four books: the memoir On a Positive Note (2000), the devotional Throne Room: Ushered Into the Presence of God (2004, with Claire Cloninger), Always Sisters (2007, with Claudia Mair Burney), and Believe for It: Passing on Faith to the Next Generation (2024).

Recognition

Winans has received 18 Grammy Awards, more than any other female gospel singer, including two for Let Them Fall in Love, three for Believe for It in April 2022, and Best Gospel Album and a contemporary Christian music award for More Than This and "That's My King" at the 2025 ceremony. Her 18th came in 2026 for "Come Jesus Come", a track featuring Shirley Caesar. She has won the GMA Dove Award for Vocalist of the Year. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and on the Music City Walk of Fame in Nashville, was among the first inductees into the Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame in Atlanta, has been inducted into the GMA Dove Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and received the Aretha Franklin Icon Award at the Stellar Awards.

Public roles

In 2012 she became a founding pastor of Nashville Life Church in Nashville.