David “Pop” Winans Sr., the Grammy-nominated patriarch of the award-winning gospel music family, died last Wednesday. He was 74.
A statement from a Los Angeles public relations company representing the family said he died at a Nashville hospice, where he had been after suffering a heart attack and stroke last October.
In 1999, Winans was nominated for a Grammy for his solo CD “Uncensored.” He and his wife Delores, known as Mom Winans, were nominated for their CD “Mom & Pop Winans” in 1989. She was at his bedside when he died, the statement said.
He was the father of BeBe and CeCe Winans, known for their hits “Addictive Love” and “I’ll Take You There.” Four other children — Michael, Marvin, Carvin and Ronald — performed as The Winans, recording such songs as “The Question Is” and “Tommorrow.”
In recent years, Mom and Pop Winans appeared regularly at Benny Hinn crusades and on The Trinity Broadcasting Network’s “Praise the Lord” program.
David Winans, a native of Detroit, began singing with a gospel quartet at age 18.
He later worked as a car salesman, taxi driver, custodian, barber and also was a preacher. After four of his children signed a recording contract, he was their manager.
David Winans also helped start youth groups in Detroit. The Winans had 10 children. Son Ronald died in 2005.
Memorial services were held this week at Perfecting Church in Detroit where son Marvin is pastor.
Rev, Jesse Jackson reminisced about his last talk with Winans, in which they discussed some of the singers they both knew: Sam Cooke, James Cleveland, Ira Tucker, Claude Jeter and others.
“Pop was part of that era,” Jackson said. “But those singers were trees. Pop planted a forest.”
