Happy Birthday to the great Marvin Winans, born March 5, 1958. As the lead singer of the legendary Gospel singing group the Winans, Marvin Winans established for himself a permanent place in the annals of Gospel Music. After the retirement of the group in the early 90s, Winans became most known as the pastor of Detroit’s Perfecting Church, and continued to record sporadically with his choir. He also occasionally performed with members of his family, including a few reunion concerts with the Winans.
In 2004, Marvin began the process of writing and recording his first solo crossover Gospel album. Like his ministry, his approach to the album was to have a means of expression musically for his experiences, and to spread the message that with strength of faith, people can get through difficult times, as he had.
A bigger leap than recording the album over the next three years with producer Tommy Sims was making the decision to release it independently, via sister CeCe’s Pure Spring Gospel Records. The CD, Alone But Not Alone was released on June 25, 2007 to glowing reviews and strong fan interest — an amazing feat for an artist who hadn’t recorded a major record in over a decade. 2007 also found Winans working on building a new, larger Perfecting Church in Detroit and beginning work with other artists as a producer.
By Chris Rizik
