Kirk Franklin

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Kirk Franklin (born January 26, 1970(1970-01-26) in Fort Worth, Texas) is an American Gospel music singer and author and is most notably known as the leader of urban contemporary gospel choirs such as the Family, God's Property and 1NC (One Nation Crew).

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early years

A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Kirk was raised by his great aunt, Gertrude Franklin after having been abandoned as a baby by his mother. Gertrude collected and resold aluminium cans to raise money for Kirk to take piano lessons from the age of 4. Kirk excelled in music, able to read and write music by ear. He received his first contract offer at the age of 7 which his aunt turned down.^[2]. He joined the church choir and became music director of the Mt. Rose Baptist Church adult choir, at the age of eleven.

Despite his strong religious upbringing Kirk rebelled in his teenage years, and in an attempt to keep him out of trouble, Gertrude arranged an audition for him at a professional youth conservatory associated with a local university. He was accepted and while his life seemed to be on track for a while, the announcement of a girlfriend's pregnancy and his eventual expulsion from school for behavioural problems proved otherwise.

After the shooting death of a friend, ^[3]Franklin returned to the church, where he began to direct the choir again. He also co-founded a gospel group, The Humble Hearts, which recorded one of Franklin's compositions and got the attention of gospel music legend Milton Bigham. Impressed, Bigham enlisted him to lead the DFW Mass Choir in a recording of Franklin's song "Every Day with Jesus." This led to Bigham hiring Franklin (at just twenty years old) to lead the choir at the 1990 Gospel Music Workshop of America Convention, a major industry gathering. ^[2]

[edit] Musical career

[edit] Kirk Franklin & The Family (early 90's - 2000)

In the early 90's he organized "The Family", a seventeen-voice choir, formed from neighbourhood friends and associates. In 1992, Vicki Mack-Lataillade, the co-founder of fledgling record label, GospoCentric heard one of their demo tapes and was so impressed she immediately signed up Kirk & The Family to a recording contract.

In 1993, the group, now known as, Kirk Franklin & The Family, released their debut album, Kirk Franklin & The Family. It spent almost 2 years on the gospel charts, also charted on the R&B charts (very rare for a Gospel artist), and went platinum. It stayed at #1 on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart for 42 weeks, into 1995. ^[4]. It was also the first gospel music album to sell over a million units.

While this album established Kirk Franklin as a major gospel music star, his fusion of secular and traditional gospel sounds started controversy that would follow him all his career.

Two years later, after releasing a successful 1994 Christmas album, simply titled Christmas, the group released it's sophomore release Whatcha Lookin' 4 in '1995. The album was hugely successful, certified 2x platinum and earned Kirk his first Grammy award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album.

1997 brought another album, a collaboration with the vocal ensemble God's Property, aptly named God's Property from Kirk Franklin's Nu Nation. The lead single, "Stomp", featuring Cheryl "Salt" James (of Salt-N-Pepa), was a huge hit, enjoying heavy rotation on MTV and other music channels, charting at #1 on the R&B Singles Airplay chart for 2 weeks, and even making it in to the Top 40. God's Property from Kirk Franklin's Nu Nation was #1 on the R&B Albums chart for 5 weeks, #3 on the Pop charts, and would go on to be certified 3x platinum. It also brought Franklin another Grammy for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album as well as three Grammy nominations.

On Nov 2, 1998, God's Property sued Kirk Franklin. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that Franklin induced God's Property founder Linda Searight into signing an "onerous and one-sided" contract with B-Rite Music. ^[5].

The Nu Nation Project was released in 1998. ^[6] The first single, "Lean on Me", controversially featured several mainstream artists, including R. Kelly, Mary J. Blige and Bono of U2. Together with Crystal Lewis, and the Family, "Lean On Me" and the second single "Revolution" (featuring Rodney Jerkins) were considerable hits. The Nu Nation Project went on to top the Billboard Contemporary Christian Albums chart for 23 weeks and the Billboard Gospel Albums chart for 49 weeks, and brought Franklin his third Grammy.

In, 2000, The Family filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit for royalties for their work on The Nu Nation Project against Franklin and GospoCentric Records.^[7]. This saw the end of the "Kirk Franklin & The Family" records, as Kirk went on to become a solo artist.

[edit] As a Solo Artist(2000 - date)

In 2001, Franklin ventured into new territory, scoring and producing the soundtrack for the film Kingdom Come. The soundtrack featured gospel artists Jill Scott, Mary Mary and 1NC, as well as secular artists AZ Yet, Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men and others. A notable song from the soundtrack was "Thank You" (Kirk Franklin feat Mary Mary).

2002's The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin topped the Gospel Albums chart for 29 weeks, was #1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and was certified Platinum. The album featured collaborations with Bishop T.D. Jakes, Shirley Caesar, Tobymac, Jaci Velasquez, Papa San, Alvin Slaughter, and Yolanda Adams. This was Kirk's first major release not to garner him a Grammy Award.

On October 4, 2005 Hero was released in the United States. The album was certified Gold on December 2, 2005 (2005-12-02) and Platinum on December 14, 2006 (2006-12-14) by the Recording Industry Association of America ^[8]. It was #1 on both the Billboard Top Christian and Top Gospel albums. The first single, "Looking for You", was a hit, as was the follow-up "Imagine Me", which made it onto the R&B Charts. In December of 2006, Kirk Franklin won two 2007 Grammy Awards, for Hero. Additionally, Hero was the 2007 Stellar Awards CD of the Year. ^[9]

Kirk Franklin's 10th album, The Fight of My Life, was released in the United States on December 18, 2007 (2007-12-18). The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at #33 with 74,000 copies sold in the first week. ^[10]. It reached #1 on the Top Gospel and Top Christian albums charts and #7 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart. ^[11][12] The first single, "Declaration (This is It)," was released on October 23, 2007 (2007-10-23) and reached #53 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart^[12]. The album features guest appearances from Rance Allen, Isaac Carree, tobyMac, Da' T.R.U.T.H., Doug Williams, and Melvin Williams.

[edit] Personal life

On 20 January 1996, Franklin married long time friend Tammy Collins.^[2] When they wed, they had each had one child from previous relationships: Kirk's son Kerrion, born in 1988, and Tammy's daughter Carrington, born in 1989.^[13]. Together, they have had two children: Kennedy, born in 1997 and Caziah, born in 2000.^[14]

[edit] Struggle with pornography

In 2006, Franklin appeared together with his wife on The Oprah Winfrey Show on the subject of pornography. During the show, entitled Famous Gospel Singer Admits His Addiction to Porn, he admitted to struggling with a porn-addiction for many years. Franklin had informed his wife of his addiction after first having proposed to her to share the pornography together, which she rejected. Kirk stated in the interview that he sought help through Christian counseling and finally considers himself to be free from his addiction. As of the interview, he had been clean for over five years. ^[15][14]

[edit] Discography

Main article: Kirk Franklin discography

[edit] Awards

Main article: Kirk Franklin awards

[edit] Billboard chart history

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles

[edit] Additional reading

• Franklin, Kirk [1998-10-1]. Church Boy. Thomas Nelson. ISBN 0849940508. 
• Waldron, Clarence (2007-10-29), “Kirk Franklin's new mission: finding gospel's next superstar and boosting the music's appeal”, Jet (Magazine/Journal) 112 (17): 60(5) 
• Slagle, Dana (2005-12-26), “Kirk Franklin healed from 20-year addiction; filled with Christmas joy”, Jet (Magazine/Journal) 108 (26): 52(6) 
• “Kirk Franklin's Joyful Noise”, Guideposts, 1997 

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Kirk Franklin music videos on Yahoo! Music
• Kirk Franklin at the Internet Movie Database
• Kirk Franklin at Allmusic
• One Nation Crew at Allmusic
• Kirk Franklin at MySpace

[edit] References