Priscilla “CeCe” Winans, the multi-award-winning gospel singer, church cofounding pastor and YouTube show host whose been-there-done-that career spans decades, said she had not planned to go on tour anymore, especially after not having done one in quite some time.
But she is expected to pack church venues starting this month as she kicks off her 21-city “Believe For It” tour. The bestselling female gospel recording artist of all time is set to take the stage Sept. 23 at Calvary Church in Naperville. It will be the third stop on the tour she says is more about inspiring people to be hopeful.
“I’m real excited to just worship with people,” the 57-year-old Detroit native told Pioneer Press, referring to the tour.
Winans said she will be performing “some of the old stuff” as well as songs off her latest “Believe For It” project, which picked up the Best Gospel Album Grammy in April. The title is for both the album and a song on it.
“It’s really challenging people to have faith, to remember to have hope, not to give up,” she said, describing the message of “Believe For It.”
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Calvary Church, located about 35 miles west of the city in Naperville, is part of the Chicago market Winans says has been good to her over the years.
“I just want to invite Chicago to come out, and come out expecting to be blessed,” she said. “I want them to come in one way and leave out another way.”
Winans has enjoyed an enduring career, one that started out as one half of the duo with her brother Benjamin “BeBe” Winans when she was 17. She hails from a stalwart family of gospel music, the daughter of the legendary “Mom and Pop” Winans, and sister to Marvin, Carvin and Ronald Winans who made up the group The Winans.
She is also close family friends with the late vocal diva Whitney Houston and her mother, Sissy.
“I am totally blessed and totally humbled by how people continue to embrace what we do and allow us to literally be the soundtrack of their lives,” she said of her own and her family’s legacy in the industry. “But I really think it’s really what we sing about. Gospel music is something that is always relevant. It never gets old because it’s a message of hope … a message of love.”
Cece Winans also cofounded Nashville Life Church, in Nashville, with her husband of 38 years, Alvin Love Jr. There, the couple’s son, Alvin Love III, serves as the lead pastor.
Additionally, Winans has 15 Grammy Awards — including ones she picked up this year with wins for “Believe For It”— best gospel album, and best gospel performance/song for “Never Lost.” She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is represented on the Nashville Music City Walk of Fame.
She has sung in the room with or at the request of several U.S. presidents, including both Bushes and Barack Obama, and even for the Pope — among other leaders and dignitaries. And she co-host the “GENERATIONS” YouTube show with her mother, Delores Winans, and daughter, Ashley Philips.
She realizes that her industry presence has been a longtime one, going 40 years strong — and continuing — as evidenced by the new album along with the accolades and acclaim it has received, as well as the highly anticipated tour.
“I don’t take it for granted,” she said about her following and mainstay career success. “I think it’s just the good news that I sing about that people love to embrace.”
She counts among her trophies Stellar and Dove awards, and keys to cities. But her best achievement so far “is my walk with the Lord” and her family.
Winans has been married 38 years to “a nice guy,” Alvin Love Jr. She also points to her adult son and daughter “who I’m extremely proud of … they’re good, they’re good people.”
And her joy is evident as she mentions “the apple of my eye right now,” her grandson Wyatt, who is daughter Ashley Philips’ baby.
“It just takes life to another whole level. I am so in love with him,” she said of her first grandson, born Christmas Day 2020.
Her performance at Calvary Church, with its state-of-the-art auditorium that offers theater seating to accommodate more than 1,100 people, follows the venue trend of the tour: mostly houses of worship, not arenas, civic centers or stadiums — although the capacity of some of the churches, including Calvary, rival that of some amphitheaters.
But, Winans says she has an affinity for churches.
“I am a firm believer of the local church,” she said. “For me, that’s where I get filled up. That’s where I get strength … and that’s how I’ve stayed focused all these years.
Also, she said the church scenes are complements to the new album, which includes such song titles as “I’ve Got Joy” and “Goodness of God.”
The “Believe For It” album was released in 2021, and, she said, was part of her message and appeal for hope in the face of trying times — during a national health emergency crisis but also in people’s personal lives.
“Life brings a lot of challenges. A lot of people are hurting, a lot of people are discouraged. And a lot of people are in a good place. No matter where you find yourself, you gotta keep believing. When you believe it brings hope,” she said.
And as the world continues to emerge from the early years of the pandemic, with the loss and changes that came with it, Winans says the album, song and tour looks to lift people as they also face a myriad other life circumstances.
Though she sings about “the good news,” offers anthems of reverence to her faith, and spreads messages of hope and empowerment, Winans became ensnared in a bit of controversy and drew harsh criticism from social media followers in 2020 when she did a COVID-19 PSA for the Trump administration. Then-Surgeon General Jerome Adams had asked the gospel music legend to lend her iconic presence to what was said to be an awareness campaign.
Many fans didn’t like that Winans had a seeming attachment to then-President Donald Trump. She told Pioneer Press her aim and purpose for doing the PSA was misunderstood.
“When you’ve been out here as long as I’ve been out here you know you’re going to have some people who agree with you and some people who don’t,” she said. “During that time, it was such a rough time, politically. Period. Doing the PSA was something I only did to try to help the situation. We were losing so many people” to COVID-19 deaths.
“You always want people to understand your heart and your mind. Sometimes you’re going to be able to do that, sometimes you’re not.”
Though Winans says she will continue to sing as long as she can, touring may not be part of the future to-do. However, she hopes to reconnect with her brother BeBe for a project or performance — and fans do too.
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“We’ll see. That would be fun,” she said about a possible reunion with her also-famous and revered brother. “That’s always the question. … I hope so. But nothing’s in the plans right now.”
Cece Winans
When: 7 p.m. Sept. 23
Where: 9S200 Illinois Route 59, Naperville
Tickets: $25-$40
Information: cecewinans.com/events/
Rhonda Gillespie is an editor for Pioneer Press.