David 'Pop' Winans Sr. dies at 74; patriarch of gospel music family, The Winans

David "Pop" Winans Sr., the Grammy-nominated patriarch of the award-winning gospel music family, died Wednesday (April 8th, 2009). He was 74.

A statement from his family said he died at a Nashville hospice, where he had been since January after suffering a heart attack and stroke in October.

In 1999, Winans was nominated for a Grammy Award 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 -- Carvin, Marvin, Michael and Ronald -- performed as the Winans, recording such songs as "Ain't No Need to Worry," featuring Anita Baker.

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 was born April 20, 1934, in Detroit and began singing with a gospel quartet at age 18. He met Delores while both were singing in the Lemon Gospel Choir. They were married in 1953 and had 10 children. Their son Ronald died in 2005.

Winans was a preacher at a Pentecostal church in Detroit, but also worked as a car salesman, taxi driver, custodian and barber. After four of his children signed a recording contract, he was their manager for awhile. "We were oriented to gospel music, and we taught our children nothing but the ways of the Lord," Winans told the Washington Post in 1992. "I never let them go to shows or even to the theater; I never let them get involved with any other activity but church."

Memorial services are planned Tuesday and Wednesday at Perfecting Church in Detroit, where Marvin is the senior pastor.