Exclusive- Marvin Winans Interview

As told to Hasan James

Marvin Winans is what we call a Singer’s singer. He is one- fourth of the group, The Winans and Senior Pastor of Perfecting Faith Church in Detroit, Michigan. The Winans were discovered by the legendary Andrae Crouch in the late 1970’s and since then the group has scored multiple Number One hits, 6 Grammy Awards, Gold records and has become one of the most successful families in gospel music. As a solo artist, Marvin Winans released his first solo album, “Alone But Not Alone” in 2007 and gave the world a classic album for the ages.

Last month, Pastor Marvin Winans was the victim of a car jacking at a Detroit gas station and in February, Winans administered the eulogy at his good friend Whitney Houston’s funeral. On the eve of his latest project, The Praise and Worship Experience, Root got a chance to speak to one of the greatest voices on this side of Heaven.

Root: Your new project, The Praise and Worship Experience, has a plethora of artists on it, from seasoned to independent to Christian to Gospel. How did you choose who will sing on this project?

Marvin Winans: I chose them by song. I really felt they could deliver each song the way it needed to be delivered. I really wanted Don Moen on this record and he did a great job. I knew Mary Mary would tear up “That’s The Love of God”, I heard Paul Morton sing “Reach Out and Touch” and he did a fabulous job, so based on the song that I felt was designed for singers I asked to sing.

Root: You are not only a great singer but also a great

Song- writer as well. Did you write most of the songs on this new project?

Marvin Winans: Yes I did. I wrote “Eyes On You”, “Heard Your Cry”, “That’s the Love of God”, “Thy Will Be Done”, “Reach Out and Touch”. So yes, I wrote most of it.

Root: You have sold millions of records as part of the group, The Winans, and you have won every award imaginable.

Marvin Winans: You know, that sounds huge and it is. I guess it’s accurate; I have sold millions of albums (Laughter).

Root: Yes it is very accurate (Laughter). In my opinion you are indeed one of the greatest voices of our lifetime.

Marvin Winans: WOW! I don’t agree with that but thank you, I’m very humbled.

Root: When you say the name Marvin Winans, people know you can sing anything! I was actually watching a You Tube clip of a comedian imitating you and he said, “Marvin Winans could sing Mary Had a Little Lamb and make it sound good.” He proceeded to sing and he actually like you.

At this point in your life, why do you continue to do music?

Marvin Winans: I continue to do music because it is what I love and it’s in me. The songs that have been written and have not been heard and the songs that I have yet to write that I feel need to be heard is what motivate me. It’s certainly not for a job but it is more so to sing and give this generation a song. I think as popular as gospel music is, it still lacks in the expertise of song writing, so I just want to inspire the writers of the next generation to put that pen in hand and have thought and completion of that thought in songs that believers will sing for the next 100 years.

Root: Your last project, “Alone But Not Alone”, is actually one of my favorite albums and it was definitely long overdue when it was released. Is it true that those songs were written 10 and 15 years prior to its release?

Marvin Winans: (Laughter). Some of them even longer than that! “Just Don’t Wanna Know” was written in the 90’s, “Alone But Not Alone” was written in the 80’s, “He Brought Joy” was written eight years ago and the song “Try” featuring Kim Burrell, was written in the 80’s as well. The first time I sang “Try” was during a Winans concert and this guy came up to me years later and he remembered when I sang that song at a concert in Ohio in the 80’s. Good songs don’t spoil.

Root: Do you plan on releasing another solo project?

Marvin Winans: Absolutely. We are working on something with BeBe and Carvin now.

Root: How about a Winans reunion?

Marvin Winans: I don’t know about that. It will never be the same without Ronald.

Root: Everyone knows that you come from a huge family where almost everybody can sing, except David.

Marvin Winans: Yeah well David thinks he can sing (Laughter).

Root: You may get in trouble for this but out of all of the Winans family, who is your personal favorite singer?

Marvin Winans: You know……it depends on what I need at that moment and I think that was the strength of even the group, The Winans. If you need somebody to tear a crowd up, then you go with Ronald. If you need electricity and a little falsetto, you go with Carvin. Out of the male vocalists in the family, I think BeBe may have the best voice. My dad was also another one. It just depends on your appetite at the time and what the song called for.

Root: Last month, you were a victim of a car jacking and as soon as I heard about it, I immediately tweeted “Thank God Pastor Winans is alive to tell the story.” That situation could have easily gone another way. What has that incident taught you?

Marvin Winans: It taught me that we must reach our children and we cannot leave it up to the streets to raise them. We cannot even leave them to their own choices  to be made. We have to give direction as parents, especially as men.

Right now I am currently in the midst of evaluations for the Marvin L. Winans Academy of Performing Arts, which is a charter school here in Detroit. We have been here for 15 years and we started with grades K through 5 with 288 students and we are now K through 12 with over 1,300 students. We acquired another school from the Detroit Public School system, which will be the Rutherford Winans Academy with over 300 students. So this is what I have myself engrossed in, trying to reach our young people knowing that there are prisons being built specifically for our children. So we have to grab our incentives, ambitions and dreams and make it one that will cause them to avoid the things that the devil has planned for them.

Root: We are currently working on a documentary entitled: “The 50 Greatest Gospel Acts of All Time” and naturally The Winans is on the list.

Marvin Winans: Really?

Root: Yes, Really!

Marvin Winans: Of All Time?

Root: Yes. We have been working on this over the past year and we are almost done with the documentary. Can you tell us who your Top 5 of All Time is?

Marvin Winans: Although they may not make the list, I would have to say, my parents. If you’re talking “Of All Time”, you gotta go with Sam Cooke, Roberta Martin, Clara Ward, Mahalia Jackson, Andrae Crouch, Walter and Edwin Hawkins and Tramaine Hawkins…..Oh my goodness!