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Priscilla Marie Love, (born October 8, 1964) known professionally by her stage name as CeCe Winans, () is an American Gospel music singer who has received 18 Grammy Awards, the most for any female gospel singer; 36 GMA Dove Awards, 28 Stellar Awards, 7 NAACP Image Awards, 6 Billboard Music Awards, and many other awards and honors including being one of the inaugural inductees into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame in Atlanta. She is the best-selling and most awarded female gospel singer of all time, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and on the Music City Walk of Fame in downtown Nashville.
Winans has 19 million record sales certified by RIAA, making her one of the best-selling gospel music artists. She first rose to prominence during the 1980s as a member of the double platinum selling gospel duo BeBe & CeCe Winans with her brother, BeBe Winans, before launching her own solo career. Billboard magazine lists all of her solo albums as top Gospel, Christian, and R&B music sellers, and six albums as a duo with her older brother Bebe.
In 1999, Winans started her own recording company, PureSprings Gospel. Her first album on the label was Alabaster Box in 1999. Some production was done by gospel singer and musician Fred Hammond. It included a guest appearance by Take 6. In 2000 she released a concert VHS titled Live at the Lambs Theater in New York. The concert contained songs from her previous albums. Winans released her next album, the self-titled CeCe Winans, in 2001. The single "Anybody Wanna Pray" included a guest appearance by GRITS. The second single, "Say A Prayer" crossed over into the Contemporary Christian music market.
Winans took a two-year break from releasing music and returned in 2003 with Throne Room. The first 1,000 copies were issued with a bonus CD that contained exclusive interviews with the artist, the making of the CD, some touring footage, and the music video "More Than What I Wanted" (which came from the 2001 release). In 2004, the 25-city tour Throne Room with the group Anointed featured free admission and was followed with a DVD release of the concert recorded in Tennessee. Live in the Throne Room contained tracks from all of Winans's albums. Around September 2004, she had what she thought was flu but turned out to be a serious stomach infection and was hospitalized immediately for surgery. Due to an extended recovery time, the second half of the Throne Room Tour was postponed to early 2005.
Winans' seventh album Purified was released in 2005. Her nephew Mario Winans was one of four producers. Her son Alvin III co-wrote several songs on the album, and her younger sisters Angie and Debbie performed. CeCe Winans' collection of Top Ten R&B radio hits includes "Count On Me", her duet with Whitney Houston, from the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack. The single was certified Gold in the US and reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 4 on the Adult Contemporary chart, and No. 8 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart.
Winans released her eighth album, Thy Kingdom Come on April 1, 2008, featuring the single "Waging War". On October 6, 2009, a BeBe & CeCe reunion album named Still was released by Malaco Records, and features collaborations with Marvin Winans and contemporary gospel sister duo Mary Mary. On December 23, 2010, Winans, along with Bebe and Mary Mary, featuring the West Angeles Choir, performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. From 2012 to 2014, Winans was a judge on BET's gospel singing competition Sunday Best, along with her brother BeBe.
In 2017, Winans released a tenth album, Let Them Fall in Love, for which she won two Grammy Awards for Best Gospel Performance/Song and Best Gospel Album. In 2021 she released her first live worship album, Believe for It, which won her three additional Grammy Awards (including Best Gospel Album) in April 2022. Her latest single called "Goodness of God" debuted on September 14, 2022. On April 26, 2024, CeCe Winans released her most anticipated second live album 'More Than This' which went to number one on Billboard Top Gospel Album Charts, Top Christian Album charts, while the single 'That's My King' shot to number one on the Hot Gospel charts and the 1 Gospel Streaming Song. To promote her album, she appeared and sang on The Kelly Clarkson Show, The Jennifer Hudson Show, and on the season finale of American Idol singing 'Goodness of God' with contestant Roman Collins
Her 2024 Album "More Than This" won Best Gospel Album at the 67th Grammy Award 2025. She also won for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance / Song at the 67th Grammy Award 2025 with a song titled "That's my King."
Winans was a close friend of Whitney Houston and godmother to her daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown. On February 18, 2012, Winans performed the songs "Don't Cry for Me" and "Jesus Loves Me" at Houston's funeral, at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey.
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