by Michael P Coleman
Hot on the heels of Bebe Winans’ exceptional new album, the multiple Grammy Award-winner has written his second book, Born For This: My Story In Music.
It’s a good read for the casual Winans follower, while falling a bit short of the great one for which long time fans might hope. Reading it reminded me of listening to one of those old school albums that had several killer singles but a little bit of filler. You know the ones — this book is more Off The Wall or Bad than Thriller.
Some of Born For This’ early chapters read like a love letter to Detroit, our shared home town. Winans also movingly details his relationship with his late brother Ronald, one of the original fraternal quartet that transformed contemporary gospel music and paved the way not just for younger siblings Bebe & Cece, but for artists like Kirk Franklin, Yolanda Adams, Fred Hammond, former in-law Vickie Winans, Mary Mary and countless others.
Winans’ new book includes more than a few surprises, like the story of his father having been born out of wedlock to a father who for years denied him. Bebe revealingly writes of the overt racism he and Cece faced while working with Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s PTL Singers, while writing of the pair’s love for Jim and Tammy Faye.
Winans is also surprisingly transparent in writing about his early desire for fame. While most gospel singers would have insisted that they wanted only to glorify God, Winans was refreshingly honest about his desire to lift his Lord and Savior up while craving the glare of the spotlight that a career in the gospel music industry would ultimately provide.
But just as he did with his physique years ago, Winans could have trimmed some fat from this new book.
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