CeCe Winans Seizes the Spotlight as a Solo

CeCe Winans, whose revival-like concert Wednesday night at the Wilshire Ebell Theater celebrated Jesus and her first album without brother BeBe--definitely in that order--could not be more different from the other famous female half of a brother-sister duo who recently released a solo album.

Karen Carpenter mustered the courage to record a solo album, only to shelve the completed project so as not to overshadow the next Carpenters album. (It has been released posthumously.) In contrast, CeCe Winans reveled in the spotlight Wednesday, quickly developing an intimate rapport with the audience.

Whereas Carpenter used her solo shot to explore topics of sexuality that were anathema to the Carpenters, Winans’ album and accompanying tour are, if anything, more emphatically gospel-themed than her work with BeBe. “We have come for no other reason than to lift up the name of the Lord,� Winans told the gathered acolytes, posed before a banner celebrating Revlon’s sponsorship of the tour.

Backed by a spunky five-brother band called the Katinas and a husky-voiced soul gospel singer named Kelli Williams, Winans alternately exhorted the enthusiastic crowd with song and talk. Her soaring vocals were well suited to her inspirational message, whether wrapped in the swing-era stylings of “Blessed Assurance� or the mainstream soul of “Count On Me,� her hit duet with Whitney Houston, which she performed with an undermiked Williams.

It may as well have been Sunday at church. Even during “Count On Me,� the only arguably secular moment of the evening, a video played as part of a campaign to get audience members to pledge $20 a month to help feed starving children in Africa. Tithing, perhaps?