Marvin L. Winans was born to David and Delores Winans on March 5, 1958. He was the youngest of twins and the fourth of 10 children. He was also the founding member of the quartet The Winans, which included the brothers Marvin, Carvin, Ronald and Michael. They laid the foundation for the rest of the family groups to come. Later, their mother and father began performing as Mom and Pop Winans. Daniel and Vickie as well as brother and sister Bebe and Cece also formed their own group. In later years their sons have banded together to form the group Winans Phase II. Since they started, the music of the Winan family has been realized as groundbreaking music with an incredible ability to cross over genres and generations.Though he definitely had the talent and ability to go out on his own, Marvin did not chose to pursue a solo career until recently, preferring instead to offer his gifts to groups. During the years he has worked with numerous musical talents. He is known as an impeccable lyricist and composer. His humility in not going out on his own right away has caused his work to become even more significant, allowing him to influence a whole generation of new musicians.From their start in 1981, the Winans have been applauded, raised eyebrows and influenced change in Gospel and Soul music, even extending their influence into R&B. Flinging open the doors of the music world, the Winans laid the groundwork for groups and artists such as Mary Mary, Kirk Franklin, Fred Hammond and Commissioned. They can now be seen as one of the biggest names in Gospel music history and are now considered to be the royalty of that genre. When they first burst onto the stage with their hit album Introducing the Winans which featured the amazing and almost entirely a cappella song, "The Question Is," people began taking notice. They haven't stopped since then.
