CeCe Peniston was born in the USA, Dayton, Ohio and moved to Phoenix, Arizona at the age of 9. She attended Trevor Browne High School in Phoenix and later took to entering beauty pageants where she was crowned Miss Black Arizona in 1989. CeCe's music career began in 1990 when she signed to A&M Records and got her initial exposure doing featured vocals on female rapper Overweight Pooch's 1991 single "I Like It".

Peniston released her debut album, Finally, in 1992. The album, released on A&M Records, sold over three million copies worldwide. Her first single, "Finally", achieved #1 chart status on three Billboard charts and also hit No. 2 in the UK. In the U.S. her album went No. 70 on the Billboard 200 and No. 10 in the UK. "Finally" (the single) was re-released in Europe in 1997 as a remix, reaching No. 26 on the UK singles chart. "Finally" was also used in the cult Australian film The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert as well as the television show The L Word (Season 2, Episode 5) and over 30 compilations of hit dance music.

"We Got A Love Thang" (co-written by Chantay Savage) was Peniston's second single from the album, and reached #20 on the U.S. charts. It reached #1 on Billboard's dance chart, as did her third single, "Keep On Walkin'. Both singles were also Top 10 hits in the UK, with "We Got A Love Thang" reaching #6 on the UK Singles Chart. She also released the singles "Inside That I Cried",and "Crazy Love". She won the Billboard Awards for Top Dance Artist and Top New Artist of 1992 and at the end of 1993 Finally (the album) was certifed Gold or Platinum in the UK, U.S., Germany, Spain, Korea, Australia, South Africa and Italy.

In the summer of 2008 the song was remixed by Kam Denny & Paul Zala under the title "Finally 2008" for the Bimbo Rock record label. The remix gained underground house music popularity and spent several days at No. 1 as the most downloaded track on Beatport.

Peniston's long awaited followup Thought 'Ya Knew arrived January 25, 1994. The set spawned three #1 dance/club play hits with "I'm In the Mood", "I'm Not Over You", and "Hit By Love". She was named Billboard Magazine's #1 Dance/Club Play artist of 1994. However, the album largely fell victim to record company mismarketing and did not become the major hit in the US that it could have been. Overseas however, the set did well, spawning an additional single "Keep Givin' Me Your Love" which was included on the US soundtrack of the movie Ready To Wear (Pret-A-Porter).

Between releases, Peniston made a classy jazz cameo on "Don't Forget The Love" from Jeff Lorber's West Side Stories album and recorded the gospel album Good News In Hard Times as a member of The Sisters of Glory. The Sisters of Glory included Albertina Walker, Thelma Houston, Phoebe Snow, Lois Walden, and Peniston. The album featured Peniston's solo performances of "How I Got Over" and "Precious Memories".

Her third album, I'm Movin' On, pointedly aimed for the R&B audience. Released in September 9, 1996, the set featured a noticeably slimmed-down Peniston adorning the cover. "Movin' On" cracked the Top 40 on the R&B charts. As with the previous release, while the album's progress stalled out in the US, a David Morales remix of "Somebody Else's Guy" became a surprise hit in the UK the following year. Two remixes of the song, originally popularized by Jocelyn Brown, spawned the imported Best Of CeCe Peniston album in 1998.

In June 2005, Peniston appeared on NBC's Hit Me Baby One More Time singing Faith Hill's "There You'll Be" and her own "Finally". In 2007, Peniston featured on one track on the Full Flava album, Music Is Our Way Of Life. CeCe's track was a cover of the Brand New Heavies song You Are The Universe, co-written by Siedah Garrett.