Heaven is the third studio album by the Christian gospel music duo BeBe & CeCe Winans, released on November 16, 1988 by Sparrow Records and Capitol Records.
Heaven would be a very successful album for the duo earning them their first Gold record by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) as well as Grammy and Dove Awards. The title song served as the album's first single doing well on both CCM and mainstream R&B radio stations. The song is ranked at number 45 from CCM Magazine's 2006 book The 100 Greatest Songs in Christian Music. Other hits followed like "Lost Without You" and "Celebrate New Life."
Once again produced by Keith Thomas, Heaven features American R&B superstar and family friend Whitney Houston on the tracks "Celebrate New Life" (Houston even appears on the music video) and "Hold Up the Light." BeBe and CeCe also do a cover of Simon & Garfunkle's 1970 classic "Bridge Over Troubled Water." The album topped the Top Gospel Albums, climbing to number 3 on the Top Christian Albums, number 10 on the Top R&B/Hop Hop Albums and number 95 on the Top 200 Albums charts in Billboard magazine, making their first appearance on the latter. Heaven is ranked at number 37 by CCM in their 2001 book The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music.
Track listing
All songs were written by BeBe Winans and Keith Thomas, except where noted.
1. Heaven -4:44
2. Celebrate New Life (featuring Whitney Houston) -3:48
3. Lost Without You -4:15
4. You (BeBe Winans, Mervyn Warren, Mark Kibble, Michael Lawrence) -4:49
5. Wanna Be More (BeBe Winans) -4:43
6. Hold Up the Light (featuring Whitney Houston) (BeBe Winans, Percy Bady) -4:55
7. Meantime -5:10
8. Don't Cry -4:22
9. Trust Him -4:34
10. Bridge Over Troubled Water (Paul Simon) -3:53
11. Heaven (extended mix) -6:09
Gold certified in 1989.
Accolades
Grammy Award -Best Gospel Performance, Male ("Meantime" by BeBe Winans)
Best Gospel Performance, Female ("Don't Cry" by CeCe Winans)
Dove Award -Group of the Year
Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year (Heaven)
Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year ("Heaven")
NAACP Image Award -Best Gospel Artist
Soul Train Music Award -Best Gospel Album (Heaven)
Radio singles
Hot R&B/Hip Songs
1989 "Celebrate New Life" (featuring Whitney Houston) -#4 Christian CHR, #25
Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs
1989 "Lost Without You" -#1 Christian CHR for 4 weeks, #1 Christian AC for 2 weeks,
#8 Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs
1989 "Bridge Over Troubled Water" -#27 Christian AC
1989 "Don't Cry" (CeCe Winans) -#11 Christian AC
1990 "Meantime" (BeBe Winans) -#15 Christian CHR, #2 Christian AC
1990 "You" -#24 Christian CHR, #37 Christian AC
Previous release: BeBe & CeCe Winans (1987)
Next release: Different Lifestyles (1991)
Watch the music video of "Heaven" here:
Watch the music video of "Celebrate New Life" featuring Whitney Houston here:
Watch a live performance of "Lost Without You" at the 1989 Stellar Awards here:
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