BeBe Winans

A widely respected and highly popular singer, producer and songwriter, Benjamin 'BeBe' Winans is one of the most successful members of the famous gospel singing Winans family, immersed in gospel music from the day he was born in Detroit in 1962. His parents Delores and David Winans were both gospel singers, releasing records under the name of Mom and Pop Winans and his elder brothers Ronald, Marvin, Carvin and Michael became a successful act under the name of The Winans, crossing gospel with R&B, while BeBe was still at school. His first foray into performance came with his sister CeCe as part of the group The PTL Singers, on the Christian TV show The PTL Club, recording their first album together 'Lord Lift Us Up' in 1982. They subsequently became a successful crossover duo receiving heavy airplay on Christian radio stations and topping the R&B Charts in 1987 with 'I.O.U Me', which was nominated for a Grammy. They went on to have a series of hits including 'I'll Take You There' featuring Mavis Staples and 'The Blood' featuring MC Hammer, while BeBe also gained great respect as a producer and songwriter, working with Whitney Houston on the soundtrack of the movie 'The Bodyguard' and going on to write material for Gladys Knight, Bobby Brown and the Clark Sisters as well as his own sisters Angie and Debbie Winans. In 1997 he released his first self-titled solo album, which included the international crossover hit 'I Wanna Be the Only One', featuring British soul group Eternal, which topped the Singles Chart in the UK. This led to a deal with Motown, resulting in the successful 2000 album 'Love and Freedom'. Three years later he launched his own label, The Movement Group, and took the unusual step of recording a seasonal album 'My Christmas Prayer' sold exclusively in Starbucks coffee shops. He also made his film debut in a 2004 re-make of the movie 'The Manchurian Candidate' starring Denzel Washington. He went on to pay tribute to Martin Luther King on the album 'Dream' sampling the voice of King on the single 'I Have a Dream' and duetted with Angie Stone on 'Miracle of Love'. He also presented his own radio show, wrote a memoir about his close friend Whitney Houston and became a celebrity judge on the talent show 'Sunday Best'. In 2017 he turned his extraordinary life into a musical 'Born for This', directed by Charles Randolph-Wright.

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