Crossover Gospel Act Is No Sellout : Pop: BeBe Winans, whose ‘Addictive Love’ single with sister CeCe is an R&B; hit, is as devout as ever. The two perform Saturday at Celebrity Theatre.

Once there was an indelible line between gospel and popular music. When artists such as Sam Cooke crossed over to a secular career, they were considered lost by the gospel world. Pop audiences were scarcely more forgiving when Al Green began singing gospel.

That might be starting to loosen up a bit, considering that BeBe and CeCe Winans’ current single of Christian praise, “Addictive Love,” has resided for several weeks at the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s R&B; singles chart. The siblings haven’t reached the top by disguising their intents, either. One of the song’s opening lines declares, “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.”

Speaking by phone from a Nashville studio Monday--as rehearsals went on in the background for a tour that brings BeBe and his sister CeCe to Anaheim’s Celebrity Theatre on Saturday--BeBe speculated on why such a crossover hit is now possible.

“What used to be so different in gospel music, aside from the message in the music, was the production of the music. Then when the record companies started taking gospel music seriously and started giving the production budgets what the mainstream artists had, they saw a difference in sales. And once that happened, they stopped treating gospel artists as limited artists,” Winans said.

“Also, I think there’s been more openness from radio formats, which is exciting to see. And which is needed, because you have so much music these days that is pretty different from the times when Sam Cooke was singing. You have music that is influencing kids to be violent and to throw their lives away. I think formats are opening up to something positive because there is so much negative music going around.

“It’s really affecting a lot of people. People like to say it’s not the music (causing problems). But it is the music. Music is a very powerful tool for encouraging or discouraging young people, and people of all ages. One view that is so important is love. Outside of God’s love, there’s love in a relationship. And we have so many relationships that are just totally physical now. But people can’t help but look at it that way when you’re hearing music such as ‘I Wanna Sex You Up.’ All that’s wanted there is a sexual and physical relationship, and it’s really throwing what love is all about out the window, it seems to me.”

BeBe and CeCe (the childhood nicknames for their actual names, Benjamin and Priscilla) are two of the seemingly infinite number of musical family members. At present nine of the 10 Winans siblings have singing careers: Brothers Marvin, Ronald, Carvin and Michael form the Winans gospel group, while brother Daniel has a solo career, and younger sisters Debbie and Angie have formed a group called Sisters. Their parents also perform and record, as does a sister-in-law, Vicki Winans.

BeBe said sibling rivalry has found no place in his family.

“We’ve always been each other’s fans and critics, and we’ve always encouraged each other. That encouragement has come from childhood on up. My father always told us if one achieves, all of us achieve. That was the law, not just in our minds but in our hearts. We’re with different record companies, and they all try to divide us, and try to say we’ve got the best this and that. But we just call each other and laugh, saying, ‘Here you are blowing us out of the water.’

“When we first cracked the Top 10 of the R&B; singles (chart), my phone was flooded by my brothers congratulating us. Then their (single) ‘It’s Time’ went to No. 5. So we called them. Then when ‘Addictive Love’ went to No. 1, they flooded the phones again, ‘You made it!’ The way we viewed it was (that) one act was chipping in a step, then another took the hammer and knocked down another chip until we reached that plateau.”

Both of the chart-riding Winans groups display a savvy command of modern R&B; sounds, which might seem curious to some, since their pastor father outlawed popular music in their home when they were growing up.

“Well, even though it wasn’t admitted into the house, we still lived in the world,” Winans said. “Especially being raised in Detroit we couldn’t help but hear Stevie Wonder, and being lovers of music, we couldn’t help but listen wherever we were. I was thrilled by those people. I’m a lover of vocalists, so whenever Stevie Wonder opened his mouth, it just blew me away, as did Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight and so on. And we really weren’t missing out on anything in the house, because the people we listened to there, like Andre Crouch, were exciting to us.”

There is little precedent in gospel of duet performances for BeBe and CeCe to follow, he said, so they find their own way.

“There’s just not many duets in contemporary gospel music, but it’s the way we’ve always been together,” he said. “I think you have to use a lot of creativity for the duet format not to become old, so we try to be unpredictable with them.”

In addition to the contemporary music approach on their records--the current “Different Lifestyles” album includes assists from M.C. Hammer, Whitney Houston and Luther Vandross--Winans approaches his lyric writing in an untraditional manner, with an inspiration that goes far beyond the cliches of so much Christian music.

“That’s something that we’ve always been all about. People view gospel in different ways, and the only thing I can say is that when I think of God, Jesus and those things that are most important to me, I write about it, and I write about those things in relationship to my life. There’s a song, ‘It’s OK,’ on the new album, and it’s about my relationship with my wife. There was a time when it looked like my marriage was done, over, four years down the drain. We’ve been together five years now. Everyone goes through a downtime. And I wrote what God meant to me in that time of my life, and how everything turned out to be all right.

“I choose to write about those things that everyone can identify with and tell them what God means to me in that situation, so my songs are kind of ‘easy-listening,’ I guess you could say. We have a message there that even those who don’t want to hear about church can listen to and be uplifted. That’s rewarding to me. That excites me. You get some criticism because some people don’t understand everything, but you’ll never have it where everybody understands. If everybody liked me, I would be scared ,” Winans said with a laugh.

Recently, Amy Grant--whose “Every Heartbeat” is a Top 20 hit--has taken some heat from the gospel community for secularizing her music. Winans isn’t one of those pointing a finger, though.

“Amy’s a good friend of mine. I was with her in the recording studio, and she told me where she was going, and I said, ‘Hey, if this is where you feel yourself being led to, then God protect you, and I’ll love you either/or.’ I’m happy for her success in what she’s doing.

“It comes down to an individual commitment, and my commitment may be different from Amy’s. That doesn’t make me better than Amy, or anyone else who decides to venture out to other things. It’s just important to me that every time I open my mouth and stand on a stage that I take that opportunity to say something that’s going to cause a heart to be lifted or a smile to be granted.”

Winans has a reputation for letting his enthusiasm flow unchecked in performances.

“Yeah, they talk to me about that all the time,” he said, with a chuckle. “They want me to be structured, but it’s not going to work. You can’t structure us. We have a good time when we perform. There’s a freedom (in playing) live. We don’t want it to be just like sitting at home listening to the album. We want to boost the songs to someplace new.”

The current tour, he said, will be “like a family package.” The duo incorporates its supporting artists--rapper Mike’ E and singer Margaret Bell, whom BeBe Winans can’t praise enough--into the show rather than relegating them to opening-act status.

“We encourage people to not show up late for when they think we’re coming on,” Winans said, “because when the curtain goes up it will be BeBe and CeCe on the stage first.”

Plans are afoot, Winans said, to do a true family package: the whole Winans clan on a world tour. He also is busying himself with production work, including producing a track for Bobby Brown featuring “baby sister” Debbie Winans.

“With popularity comes having no time,” Winans said, “I’m looking forward to having time to go swimming again someday.”

* BeBe and CeCe Winans will appear Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Celebrity Theatre, 201 E. Broadway, Anaheim. Tickets: $22.50. Information: (714) 999-9536.