Juan Winans is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and a third-generation member of the Winans family.
Family and early life
Juan Winans was born in Detroit, Michigan, on July 24. The second child of four (Carvin Jr., Deborah Joy Winans & Ian) born to
Carvin Winans (b. 1958)
and Deborah Kerr Winans. His paternal grandparents, David (April 20, 1934 – April 8, 2009)
and Delores Winans (September 22, 1936) met each other in 1951, at the ages of 17 and 16 while singing in the Lemon Gospel Chorus. They married two years later; the marriage lasted nearly sixty years, producing ten children.
Mom & Pop Winans, as they would come to be known, had seven sons, David Jr, Ronald, Carvin, Marvin (
Marvin Winans), Michael, Daniel, Benjamin (
BeBe Winans), then three daughters, Priscilla (
CeCe Winans), Angelique, and Debra. Both David's father and grandfather were preachers in the Pentecostal church, and he himself raised his ten children in a strict religious home. They taught their children how to sing and they honed their skills performing quartet music at their great-grandfather's church. However, it was not until 1980 that Marvin, Carvin, Michael and Ronald were discovered by
Andrae Crouch, who signed them to
Light Records as
The Winans.
On January 1, 1981, Juan's father, Carvin Winans along with three of his brothers released their debut album, Introducing The Winans,
Music career
Winans Phase 2
In the winter of 1997 the Winans were asked to compose and perform a theme song for a Detroit NBC affiliate. They approached their sons about recording the song with them. It was during this time that Juan first expressed an interest in pursuing music, stating in a 1999 interview for CCM magazine, "I don't think I ever aspired to sing before we put this group together".
[ Winans Phase 2 Biography TodaysChristianMusic.com ] He, along with his older brother, Carvin and two cousins, Marvin Winans Jr and Michael Winans Jr., formed the group Winans Phase 2. In the following year they signed a record deal with Myrrh/
Epic Records and began working on their debut album, entitled
We Got Next, released in August 1999 with tracks from
Rodney Jerkins, Narada Michael Walden, and Babyface. The album debuted at No. 1 on the
Billboard Top Gospel Album's chart,
and sold over 250,000 copies in the U.S. It was nominated for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album at the 42nd Grammy Awards.
However they lost the award to
Yolanda Adams.
The group was also featured on several national television shows including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Donnie & Marie,
Soul Train,
[ Soul Train - Season 31, Episode 28: Winans Phase 2/ Soluna/ Ms. Jade - TV.com] and the Queen Latifah show. In the spring of 2000 the group performed to crowds in the United Kingdom, Germany, and
Amsterdam, promoting the release of
We Got Next. A 2002 40-city tour by the entire Winans Family marked the unexpected end of the group.
Juan has never publicly spoken about why Winans Phase 2 never recorded again. However, former members Marvin and Michael have cited "internal problems",[[3] ] as reasons for the group's breakup.
2003-2007
In 2003 Winans returned to the studio to record background vocals for his uncle BeBe Winans Christmas album
My Christmas Prayer.
[[4] ] The following year he relocated to Nashville to concentrate on songwriting.
Later in 2004, Juan is credited with singing background vocals on Michelle Williams album, Do You Know, and Smokie Norful's Nothing Without You.
In 2005 Winans, along with Babyface, provided backing vocals for the song "I Said I Love You" from the Kirk Whalum release The Songs of Babyface.
Since 2008–present
In 2008 Winans co-wrote the song "Seattle"
for Gospel/R&B duo
Mary Mary for their platinum selling fourth studio release,
The Sound. The album proved to be their best charting album to date, debuting No. 7 on the
Billboard 200, No. 2 on the US R&B chart, and topping the Gospel and Contemporary Christian Music charts. The album held the No. 1 position on the
Billboard Gospel Albums chart for over six months after its release.
Winans also collaborated with
Heavy D on his
Grammy Awards nominated album,
Vibes, co-writing
and singing background vocals for the song "No Matter What".
The following year Winans composed the lyrics for and produced the song "Need You To Fall"
Winans once again teamed up with Warryn Campbell and Mary Mary on their fifth studio release, Something Big, co-writing "Catch Me" and "Never Wave My Flag". The latter was performed by the group on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno March 31, 2011.
Winans has been credited with providing music for the movie Jumping the Broom.
In 2011, Juan, along with Warryn Campbell, composed and produced the songs, "Marchin' On", and disco era remake, "Dr. Love" for Jessica Reedy's debut album, From The Heart. He is also listed as a songwriter on the song "Best Man", from the Dawkins & Dawkins release, From Now On, and Heavy D's, "Put It All on Me", from the album entitled Love Opus, singing background on the latter.
2012 began with another Campbell/Winans collaboration, writing and producing "You Should Know" for Essence Music Festival winner, Greta Prince.
Juan is also featured as a songwriter on Beth Hart's newest release Bang Bang Boom Boom, co-writing the song "With You Everyday" with Hart. The album was released on April 2, 2013.
In 2022 and 2023, respectively, Juan co-wrote the Erica Campbell hit songs "Positive" and "Feel Alright". Both became Billboard number one's on the Gospel Airplay chart and yielded two consecutive Grammy Award nominations for Winans as a songwriter.
Personal life
In September 2007, Winans married Contemporary Christian Music artist, Lisa Kimmey, formerly of the award winning singing group Out Of Eden. They share a child, Sophia, born in 2010. The couple separated in 2023 and subsequently divorced.
Discography
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Erica Campbell (2023) Feel Alright (Blessed) (Composer)
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Erica Campbell (2022) Positive (Composer)
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Juan Winans (2022) Tell That feat. Mr. Talkbox (Artist/Composer)
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Juan Winans (2021) Never On My Own feat. Deborah Joy Winans (Artist/Composer)
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Juan Winans (2020) It Belongs To Me with Lisa Winans feat. Marvin Winans
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Juan & Lisa Winans (2019) A Little Soul For Christmas (Artist/Composer)
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Smokie Norful (2014) Love (Composer)
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Beth Hart (2012) With You Everyday (Composer)
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Q Parker (2012) The Manual (Composer)
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Tristan Wilds (2012) Remember, Remember EP, Cold/Composer, producer
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Heavy D (2011) Love Opus (Composer/Vocalist)
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Dawkins & Dawkins (2011) From Now On (Composer)
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Jessica Reedy (2011) From The Heart (Composer/Producer)
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T.D. Jakes (2011)Sacred Love Songs Vol. 2 Closer (Composer)
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Mary Mary (2011) Something Big (Composer)
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(2010) Sun (Composer)
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Michael Bolton (2009) One World One Love (Composer/Producer)
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Mary Mary (2008) The Sound/Composer
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Heavy D (2008) Vibes/Composer, Vocalist
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Marvin Winans (2007) Alone But Not Alone (Vocalist/Arranger)
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BeBe Winans (2007) Cherch (Vocalist)
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Matt Redman (2006) Beautiful News (Vocalist)
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Out of Eden (2006) (Engineer/Vocal Producer)
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V Three (2006) V3 (Composer/Arranger)
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Kirk Whalum (2005) Songs of Babyface (Vocalist)
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BarlowGirl (2004) ( BarlowGirl) (Vocalist)
-
Michelle Williams (2004) Vocalist
-
George Huff (2004) My Christmas EP (Vocalist/Arranger)
-
Smokie Norful (2004) Nothing Without You (Vocalist)
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BeBe Winans (2003) My Christmas Prayer
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BeBe Winans (2002) Live & Up Close (Vocalist)
-
Winans Phase 2 (1999) We Got Next (Artist/Composer)
