Age: 61
female
Priscilla Marie Winans Love, known professionally as CeCe Winans, /ˈwaɪnænz/ (born October 8, 1964) is an American gospel singer. Winans has garnered 15 Grammy Awards, the most for a female gospel singer;[1] 31 GMA Dove Awards, 17 Stellar Awards, 7 NAACP Image Awards, along with many other awards and honors to her credit including being one of the inaugural inductees into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame. Winans is considered one of the greatest[citation needed] gospel artists of all time, and is the most-awarded and best-selling gospel act of all time. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and has 17 million record sales certified by RIAA,[2] and over 19 million estimated in total sales as a solo artist.[3][4] She rose to prominence as a member of the duo BeBe & CeCe Winans; before launching an acclaimed solo career. Billboard magazine lists all of her solo albums as top Gospel, Christian, and R&B music sellers, and six albums as a duo with her older brother, BeBe Winans.[5]
The Book of Ruth is a short biblical narrative set during the time of the judges, focusing on loyalty, kindness, and redemption. After a famine drives an Israelite family to Moab, Naomi is left widowed along with her two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah. Naomi returns to Bethlehem, urging the younger women to stay behind, but Ruth famously pledges her unwavering loyalty to Naomi and to Naomi’s God. In Bethlehem, Ruth supports them by gleaning leftover grain in the fields, where she comes under the protection of Boaz, a wealthy and honorable relative of Naomi’s late husband. Through Naomi’s guidance, Ruth approaches Boaz as a potential “kinsman-redeemer,” someone who can legally restore the family line and property. Boaz agrees to marry Ruth after another closer relative declines, securing Naomi’s family’s future. The book concludes with Ruth and Boaz’s marriage and the birth of their son, Obed, who becomes the grandfather of King David. In this way, Ruth—an outsider and a foreigner—is woven into Israel’s sacred history, highlighting themes of faithfulness, inclusion, and God’s quiet providence working through ordinary acts of devotion.
