BeBe Winans at Prospect Park

The Winans are to gospel music royalty what the Jacksons were to pop and the Johnny Cash and June Carter families were to country music. The two younger Winans siblings, BeBe and CeCe Winans, made an initial splash in 1984, as background vocalists for Jim Bakker's television show, The PTL Club. After five years on the show, BeBe and CeCe left to pursue a full-time singing career and recorded six albums together. BeBe and CeCe opted for solo careers in 1995, but reunited in 2009 to record the album Still. Benjamin "BeBe" Winans has recorded seven solo albums, and was the host of the weekly  syndicated BeBe Winans Radio Show and then The BeBe Experience for Sirius/XM Radio. BeBe also authored a book about his close friend Whitney Houston, entitled The Whitney I Knew, which will be on sale on July 31.

Gospel music has no shortage of great vocalists, but Bebe Winans ranks among the best, evidenced at his concert in Prospect Park tonight. Winans is gifted with a distinctively masculine and soulful singing voice, and this velvet tenor gave his 30-year catalog of songs new life. He danced to his music and charmed his audience with amusing anecdotes about his early bed time and how couple always want him to sing at their weddings. He also shared how his faith helped him cope with the loss of his father. In the end, the 50-year-old impressed with his modesty, in that he did not show off his talents, but simply used them to provide an uplifting evening for his audience.