About Marvin Winans Sr.

For the past 26 years Marvin Winans' music ministry has engaged thousands of people from around the world and across the generations. As both a lyricist and composer, his songs have touched the souls of a searching generation, and have earned him many awards from his peers in the music industry.

Marvin was raised in a large family headed by a long line of preachers and devout parents. His musical genius became evident at age four when he and his brothers sang at their church's national convention.  His gift for preaching became evident early on, at age 18, when he preached his first sermon. Since 1976, he has been preaching through music and singing the gospel.

Marvin Winans has since preached wherever his Lord calls, which has taken him all around the world. Wherever Pastor Winans goes, his ministry has been accompanied by reports of healings, miracles, and changed lives. But the pastor has influenced even more people from his own pulpit at Perfecting Church, an inner-city congregation on Detroit 's east side. When he is not making music with his brothers and sisters somewhere around the globe, he is ministering to the flock of God which is his charge, bringing them to "perfection."

As the pastor, Marvin Winans, oversees a diverse array of programs, including "Perfecting Outreach," a treatment and rehabilitation program for alcohol abusers and drug offenders; "Perfecting Care," which acts as a shelter of warmth for the homeless and helps them find housing; the "Perfecting Community Developing Corporation." He is proprietor of "Perfect Copies," a full service copy center which trains and employs people from the community, as well as the church. He also founded the "Marvin L. Winans Academy of Performing Arts," a Detroit charter school for grades K-5, which will add one new grade each year for the next seven, until it accommodates K-12.

Marvin unleashed the power of gospel music and preaching in a renewed fight against AIDS with a pilot program that debuted in October of 1997 at Perfecting Church . Detroit was the first of twenty cities to join the "Gospel Against AIDS" effort. His hope is that twenty other cities will follow, all tapping into the energy of black churches through the collaboration of activist Mary Fisher's Family AIDS Network and the Winans, the "First Family of Gospel Music."

As a group, Marvin and his brothers, Carvin, Michael, and Ronald have nine releases and a showcase or two full of music awards. They are four-time winners of Gospel Music Association's Dove Seal, five-time winners of the Grammy Award, and eight-time winners of the Stellar Award. The Winans brothers have been serving up inspirational, hope-filled music for the better part of two decades. Their music typically showcases the many sides of gospel, both lyrically and musically.

The Winans brothers have spread the "good news" to millions of gospel fans and secular R&B listeners alike. Thanks to crossover hits such as "Everyday's the Same," "It's Time," and "Ain't No Need to Worry," have turned black contemporary gospel into a labor of love that has helped to underwrite many of their offstage ministries. This Grammy-winning quartet of brothers have also paved the way for their platinum- selling sibling duet, BeBe and CeCe.

Their 1995 album, Heart and Soul, embodies rich percussion instruments with the powerful message, "Please Believe in Me"; on the same album there's also the encouraging words of "Count It All Joy." As Marvin says of this song, "If God brings you to {a place of suffering}, then he'll bring you through it."

Winans notes that his life in the church can be even more rewarding than his life in on stage. Music is common to both, but "because most of our parishioners are between the ages 18 and 35, what I do there is very hands-on," he explains. "And what we see keeps our songs relevant to the times. We don't just sing at our church. We help, hold hands, and cry with our congregation. We deal with everything between life and death."

Marvin has also released several solo albums - Friends (2001), and Alone But Not Alone (2007).