The singer is releasing his latest record 'Cool Gospel' on June 27 featuring contributions from members of his family

NEED TO KNOW

Carvin Winans is a member of the legendary Winans gospel music family
His latest album Cool Gospel is his first solo release since 2019
Winans will be touring with the Detroit Gospel Legends starting this October

Singer Carvin Winans of the Winans, the popular gospel quartet, says he is excited about his upcoming solo album, Cool Gospel, which he feels is his best work to date. The project not only allowed him to work with talented people, but it featured contributions from members of Winans’ immediate family.

"My wife [Chérie] was a co-writer on some of these songs,” Winans, 67, a five-time Grammy winner, tells PEOPLE. “My two sons Carvin Jr. and Juan wrote a song for the record. My youngest daughter Laylah also collaborated on one of the songs. So it was just a fun project for me, and I learned so much from some of these producers that I had a chance to work with.”

His first release since his 2019 solo debut In the Softest Way, Cool Gospel, due Friday, June 27, is a mixture of old school R&B and modern hip-hop-styled grooves and beats with a strong spiritual and optimistic message. Winans feels that the theme of Cool Gospel could be summed up in the track “You Gotta Believe.”

"The Bible says ‘If you doubt, you're damned,’” Winans says. “So you gotta believe in things that you ask for. You gotta believe that things are going to get better, no matter what it looks like.”

The infectious “God Still Working On Me” was the first single released from the album and reached number one on Billboard's Gospel Airplay chart. “There's a saying in the church: ‘I'm not where I want to be, but I'm definitely not where I used to be,’” he says. “If God is working on you, at some point He’s gonna finish that work. God should be working on all of us and cleaning us up and changing our habits and ways. But He can only do that if you allow him to, because He's not going to force himself on anybody. If you allow him to do it, he will continue to work on you.”

The anthemic and inspirational “Sing Forever,” which closes out the record, was co-written by Winans’ sons Carvin Jr, and Juan. “I want to sing as long as God keeps me with this ability to sing, and then our children after us can keep the torch going,” Winans says of that track.

The singer, who resides in Riverside County in Southern California, also gives a shout-out to his famous family’s legacy with the line “Winans forever” on the track “Family Is Family.” “Family is everything to me,” Winans says. “My dad was like that. I miss my dad so much. I thank God my mom is still here… Family is very important to the structure of this world."

Earl Gibson/BET/Getty (L-R) Singers Carvin Winans, BeBe Winans and Marvin Winans of 3 Winans Brothers perform onstage during the 2014 Soul Train Music Awards at the Orleans Arena on Nov. 7, 2014 in Las Vegas

Carvin is one of 10 children in the esteemed Winans gospel music family that includes the namesake quartet featuring himself and his brothers Marvin, Ronald and Michael, and the equally successful sibling duo of BeBe and CeCe. Raised in Detroit, Carvin and his siblings were born into gospel music through their father and mother, David and Delores Winans.

“I tell people all the time: growing up in the Winans home, I didn't think it was anything abnormal,” Winans says. “I thought that every family at a certain time ate their dinner, gather the kids around the piano. and has a sing-along...My mom and dad saw this talent in their kids. It wasn't until I got into the business and stood from the outside looking in and realized, ‘No, no, we weren’t a normal family.’ God had really put his hand on us and called us to this music business to make a difference.”

Winans has been singing in the family since he was 4 years old, which he didn’t initially like growing up. “At times, we couldn't go outside to play with our friends because my dad had us rehearsing,” he says. “Then [when I turned] 13, he said, ‘I ain't going to make y'all do this no more.’ So I was glad, but then it was a little too late because we all got bit by that bug. We realized, ‘Man, we can really sing.’ We never thought we would do it for a living. But I just fell in love with singing.”

Raymond Boyd/Getty Singers Carvin Winans, Marvin Winans, Michael Winans and Ronald Winans of The Winans poses for photos at Apostolic Church of God in Chicago, in December 1995

Since their formation in the early 1980s, the Winans quartet has released several albums that reached the Billboard gospel chart. They also appeared as backing vocalists on Michael Jackson’s number one hit “Man in the Mirror” from his 1987 Bad album.

“After we left Light Records, we went to Quincy Jones, who signed us to an incredible record deal [with Qwest]," recalls Winans. "He came to our manager and said that Michael wanted us to be on this song, "Man in the Mirror."”

“So we met him in Westwood Studios,” Winans continues. “He had Bubbles [the chimp] with him. He was just an amazing person to work with. We were in this small room — me, my brothers and Quincy, and we were learning the song. Michael would whisper to Quincy, we would get to serve part what he wanted, and Quincy would relay that to us. After a couple of times of doing that, he stopped to do it again the third time. And Marvin stopped him and said, ‘Michael, we're right here, so just tell us what you want.’ That kind of broke the ice. He laughed, and then he began to tell us how we reminded him so much of the Jackson family.”

In addition to his work with the Winans, Carvin has forged a career as a songwriter for such artists as Regina Bell, Peabo Bryson and most notably Whitney Houston on the song “Love Is.”

“I had done a demo, and she listened to it and fell in love with it,” he recalls. “She said, ‘Oh my gosh, Carvin, hold this song for me. I'm going to do it.’ I held that song for two years, and she did it just like she promised. It was supposed to be on the [1990] I'm Your Baby Tonight album, and they basically put it in the vault. As time went on, Whitney passed and it broke all of our hearts.”

“Then I got a call years after that from Sony,” he adds, “and they sent me a tape of her talking about the song "Love Is.” It had brought me to tears because she was in a photo shoot and she was telling people, ‘Oh, Carvin Winans wrote this song for me.’ She just started singing a cappella, and it was just amazing. I mean, it gave me chills. They brought it out of the vault and said, ‘Whitney loved the song.’ I did a remix on it and they put it out last year. Of course, Whitney could sing anything. So it was an honor to do that.”

Following the death of his brother Ronald in 2005, which effectively ended the Winans’ career as a quartet, Carvin is now concentrating on his solo work. “I learned so much from my brothers singing with them for years,” he says. “We had that family harmony, so nobody really could come from the outside and fix that. And then BeBe and CeCe had their own career at the time. My brother Daniel had his own career."

"So when Ronald left, that chapter was over," he adds. "We did the one thing with Marvin and BeBe, but then God said it's my turn. So that's what I've been doing. I can't sit on this gift. I really wanted to stop singing, period. But He wouldn't let me.”

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Gabe Ginsberg/FilmMagic Cherie Winans (L) and her husband, Carvin Winans of 3 Winans Brothers arrive at the 2014 Soul Train Music Awards at the Orleans Areana on Nov. 7, 2014 in Las Vegas

Meanwhile, Winans — who is married to wife Chérie and a father to six kids — Carvin Jr., Juan, Ian, Laylah, Shanniah and Deborah Joy — will be hitting the road as a member of the Detroit Gospel Legends tour starting this October.

“To be honest, I think I'm probably singing just as good as I did back in the day,” he says, “because God has blessed me to take care of myself, and he's blessed me to preserve my gift and to be able to, I don't change keys when it comes to songs now. I do them in the original keys. And I'm able to hit every note, thank God. I may make mistakes here or there, or I might crack here and there, but for the most part, He's got me in good voice and ready to do what I need to do."