From Mississippi Clarion-Ledger:
The soulful gospel of brother-and-sister duo BeBe and CeCe Winans has a sound like silk – bold and vibrant with a thread that’s stirring, sumptuous and strong.
The chart-topping, multi-award-winning (Dove, Stellar, Grammy) pair reunited after 15 years pursuing successful solo careers. Their Oct. 6 release of “Still” has resonated with fans, with hits such as “Close to You,” “Grace” and most recently, “Never Thought.”
“We’ve been wanting to do it for a long time – never meant for so much time to go by before we got in the studio,” CeCe Winans said by phone, laughing. “When we finally got it finished, we looked at each other, it’s like, ‘wow, it’s done, we did it.'”
The long-promised reunion brought new strengths to the duo.
“One of the great things about getting older is that you are supposed to get better at certain things, which you do,” CeCe said, joking that, “we didn’t wait too long that it started going the other way.
“I think we’re both better at what we do. We understand who we are and whose we are,” bringing more wisdom, richness and wealth to the table, such as BeBe’s songwriting, she said.
“He’s been through some rough things but God has shown himself faithful. Through all the things we’ve had to walk through, God has been faithful and you bring that all back. And so I think it makes it stronger than before.”
Fan response amazes them both. “The love that has been shown is really overwhelming. It really makes you want to cry,” CeCe said. “They’ve waited and they’ve waited with excitement. Started getting a little attitude, we were taking too long,” she added, laughing. “But once we delivered, they are there.”
“Close to You” reigned in the urban contemporary chart’s Top 10 for almost eight months. “Grace” found a steady anchor in the Top 5 on the gospel charts and “Never Thought” has started to move up on the urban adult contemporary format.
“When you hear it, you smile. And I think everybody could use a smile,” CeCe said of Never Thought. “The Bible tells us … happy is he who trusts in the Lord. And that’s just where true happiness is because he does the impossible.”
Bebe Winans said, “Some people go through divorce and they think the world is over and boom, they fall in love again, get married and are very happy. Some people lose loved ones. And you go through the darkest times … and you can’t see further ahead. You just feel like life is done.
“But when you have the assurance that we have – and that is ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’ … you get to that place on the other side of the tragedy and you look back and say, ‘wow. I’m glad I didn’t give up on that.’ And they arrive at a stronger place of confidence, happiness and pure joy.
“That’s the message we want to send to everyone who’s going through the trying times: Don’t give up. God’s grace is enough.”
