No matter when, where or to whom they were born, the one thing most women can collectively relate to is pain: the pain of poverty, the pain of childbirth and the pain of a broken heart. On her forthcoming August 2006 CD release, “Woman to Woman: Songs of Life” (Destiny Joy/Verity Records), gospel superstar Vickie Winans speaks to these issues with a staggering 30-song collection that she has been developing for almost a decade.

The double CD will be Winans’ first project since her 2003 Grammy-nominated “Bringing it All Together” CD which won five Stellar awards and spawned the radio smashes “Shake Yourself Loose,” “We Need A Word From the Lord” and “Shook.” One half of the project will be traditional gospel songs recorded at Chicago’s Salem Baptist Church on Mother’s Day 2006. The other fifteen songs will be recorded in studio with a bevy of top songwriters and producers. The first single “It’s Alright” is a funky jam that is being serviced to gospel and urban radio formats in January 2006. The mammoth project shows just how far and how much Winans has come in her twenty-year career.

Born the seventh of twelve children on October 18, 1953 in Detroit to housewife Mattie & brick mason Aaron Bowman, Winans’ childhood was filled with church and music. She began singing at the age of eight at the International Gospel Center Church in Ecorse, MI. As a teenager, she sang with the group, International Sounds of Deliverance. Later she joined Winans Part II with BeBe, CeCe & Daniel Winans with Marvie Wright. In her autobiography CeCe Winans wrote, "Spunky" Vickie Bowman, with her high soprano voice, brought much drama to our ensemble and could just plain sing like someone crazy…[She] didn’t mind taking the mike, strutting across the stage, and rearing back with all her might to bellow out a song. She kept the group in stitches with her hilarious sense of humor.” They had a friendly rivalry with CeCe’s brothers’ group, the Testimonial Singers. Eventually, Vickie Winans would marry the group’s lead singer, Marvin Winans.

After Winans II broke-up, Vickie Winans went solo. Marvin and Vickie produced her first cd “Be Encouraged” for Light Records in 1985. The LP was an instant hit with radio smashes such as “You Turn Me,” “First Trumpet Sound” (to the tune of Gladys Knight’s “Midnight Train to Georgia”) and what would become Winans’ signature tune: her spine-tingling rendition of Dottie Rambo’s “We Shall Behold Him” which was a melismatic masterpiece. From the beginning, Winans’ was a star attraction. She made her own glamorous stage costumes and had an engaging personality that drew the audience into her confidence. Winans’ reputation continued to grow and MCA Records soon signed her with hopes of crossing her over to the pop charts. However, the executive who signed her left the company and the new executives didn’t know how to market her, so her debut CD “The Lady” failed to find the audience it deserved in spite of beautiful songs such as “Just When” and the inspirational dance tune, “Don’t Throw Your Life Away.”

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