Kirk Franklin Biography Essay
Kirk Dwayne Franklin, born Kirk Dwayne Smith on January 26, 1970 in Fort Worth, Texas to a teenage mother. He never knew his father and his mother struggled caring for him and gave him up for adoption. At the age of three he was adopted by his great aunt Gertrude Franklin, who had cared for him since birth and the only mother figured he had known. Gertrude recognized Franklin’s gifts and talents at a young age and encouraged his development and growth. Detriment to provide Franklin with the musical foundation and training he needed to enhance his talents, she and Franklin recycled cans and newspapers in order to pay for his piano lessons. He was extremely advanced at an early age and by the age of four he was a trained pianist and played regularly at his church. His obvious talent brought a lot of attention to him and also led to a recording contract offer at the age of seven. Gertrude
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concerned that he was too young to handle such a big responsibility at such a young age turned down the offer but continued to encourage him along his musical journey. It wasn’t long before Franklin was leading the adult choir at Mount Rose Baptist Church, an eleven year old in charge of people 60 and older.
Although Franklin was very active in church he was also attracted to the street life, being the only child in the home with an older woman Franklin desired to just be a kid. When he was around a group of his peers he began to act out and rebel out of fear of being called a “church boy”. Franklin never wanted the accreditation of being a hardcore gangster he just perpetrated one so the other kids wouldn’t see him as weak. Although he wasn’t considered hardcore gangster by the street standards, he hung around the wrong crowd smoked marijuana and was involved in a few fist fights. It wasn’t until, at the age of 15, Franklin witness his friend die of an accidental shooting that he realized the street life wasn’t for him and decided to change. The death of his friend had profound implications for the direction Franklin life took and his return to church. A few years after Franklin returned to church he was faced with another life alternating event fatherhood. At the age of 18 Franklin became a father to a baby boy Kerrion, with his teenage girlfriend and left her to care for their child alone for several years. Franklin realized he was wrong for abandoning his child as his mother had abandoned him, and began to step up as a father. With being a better father came focus and ultimately he focused totally on his music.
Franklin co-founded the group The Humble Hearts, which recorded a demo tape that impressed the gospel legend and producer Milton Biggham. Biggham and the DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth) Mass Choir recorded Franklin song Every Day with Jesus, this led to Franklin being hired by Biggham at the age of 20. DFW Mass Choir went on to record other songs by Franklin including I Will Let Nothing Separate Me on the Choir’s 1991 release and Another Chance on the 1993 release. This created the opportunity for him to lead the choir at the 1990 GMWA (Gospel Music Workshop of America) a convention in which all of the industry greats participate.
Wanting to have full creative control and the desire to perform his own material he put together the group, The Family, in 1992 which consist of a 17 voice choir. The group was given the name, The Family, because it was the extended family Franklin never had and the family he always wanted. Franklin searched for a record deal and even turned down an offer with Savoy Records, but it wasn’t long before the right offer came along from Gospo Centric record label. Kirk Franklin and The Family released their debut album Kirk Franklin and The Family in 1993 which was recorded at Grace Temple Church in Forth Worth Texas.
Franklin refused to omit Jesus and the Lord from his song lyrics to reach mainstream fame as other gospel artist had done in the past. His music was different from the traditional gospel music it incorporated some of the secular styles and Franklin was aware of the difference and stood behind his work. At first the album did quite well for a gospel album, and then Drew Dawson a deejay in Virginia played, Why We Sing, on a regular basses on his urban radio program. Other secular station caught on and began to play the song on their stations also. Franklin stood out because of what he was doing with gospel music was out of the normal and no one else had that sound. It became the first gospel album to sell over a million units; the album included the hit songs Why We Sing, and He Can Handle It. Spending nearly two years on the Gospel music charts and charted on the R&B charts it earned platinum status. It also was No. 1 on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart for 42 weeks. "Gospel needs an edge," he stated in the Michigan Chronicle, "so that it will receive the same type of respect that other types of music get. For so long gospel didn 't get much respect from the industry." He also noted that his approach attracted the youth. "A lot of Christian young people are saying, 'Man, this music that we like to listen to on the urban stations is real funky and it 's jammin ' but a lot of the songs are so nasty. Can y 'all give us something we can play in our Jeeps and ride down the street and pump to but it 's talking about Jesus? '" Not only was his music different his concerts and shows were different from the normal gospel concerts as well. He requested lights, and special effects he wanted to put on shows like no one else in gospel music had.
Franklin continued down his path of gospel first and implementing change he shocked the gospel world with his second album it was not so much the music as it was the record label that produced the album. Franklin entered into a new production deal with Mack-Lataillade’s company B-Rite Records which is distributed by the very controversial Interscope Records. Interscope Records was known for the rap label Death Row and the home of the rock group Nice Inch Nails. The second album entitled Kirk Franklin and the Family Christmas was released in 1994 the shortly are they released Whatcha Lookin’ 4 in 1995. The third album Whatcha Lookin’ 4 went double platinum and earned him his first Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album.
Franklin was gaining a lot of success and wanted someone to share it with he hated being single. Although his music had a hip hop feel he still considered himself a “church boy” and wanted his life to reflect his music. In 1996 Franklin married his soul mate Tammy Renee Collins, former member of the R&B group Ashanti. The two became and instant family which included Franklin’s son and Collins seven year old daughter, they later had two children together.
After his union to Collins Franklins was right back to work this time collaborating with a different ensemble God’s Property creating Kirk Franklin and God’s Property Nu Nation. Their hit single was Stomp featured Cheryl James, better known as Salt from the hip hop group Salt N Pepa, made it to number 1 on the R&B chart and remained their for two weeks. The song even made it onto the Top 40 list, and the album was number 1 on the R&B charts for five weeks, it even made it to number 3 on the pop chart. The music video was in heavy rotation on a number of the music channels including MTV. This album surpassed the others in sale it became triple platinum. This album gained Franklin three Grammy nominations and won him another Grammy for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album.
After this great success and what seemed to be a great partnership, God’s Property filed a lawsuit against Franklin in the Los Angeles Superior Court.
The suit filed on November 2, 1998 alleged that Franklin persuaded the founder of God’s Property, Linda Searight, into signing a one sided contract with B-Rite Music. No letting the suite stop Franklin from doing what he does best he released the The Nu Nation Project which consisted of a number of collaboration with artist of different genres, the first single Lean on Me a different arrangement of Bill Withers Lean on Me. This single was produced by pop producer Dan Shea, and featured R. Kelly, Mary J. Blige, Bono and Franklin’s originally group The Family. The second single Revolution also featured The Family and Rodney Jerkins, and a hit on the album. The album also included another rewrite of Withers songs, Gonna Be a Lovely Day, and won Franklin this third Grammy. The Nu Nation Project was number 1 on the Billboard Conterporary Christian Albums chart for 23 weeks, and number 1 for 49 week s on the Billboard Gospel Alums
chart.
After his success with the The Nu Nation Project album Franklin found himself facing another lawsuit, this time from The Family. The Family was seeking royalties for work done on The Nu Nation Project from Franklin as well as Gospo Centric Records. This was the end of Kirk Franklin and The Family and the beginning of Franklin’s solo career.
As a solo artist Franklin produced the soundtrack for the movie Kingdom Come. 2002 Franklin released his first solo album The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin which went platinum but was also the first release not to win a Grammy Award. The second solo project Hero which was released October 4, 2005 went platinum and won him two Grammy Awards and a Stellar Award for CD of the Year. Two years later Franklin released The Fight of My Life which sold 74,000 copies in the first week.
In 2010 after hearing about the tragedy in Haiti Franklin arranged and ensemble of gospel artist which included Yolanda Adams, Jeremy Camp, Shirley Caesar, Dorinda Clark-Cole, Karen Clark- Sheard, Kierra Sheard, Natalie Grant, Fred Hammond, Tamela Mann, David Mann, Mary Mary, Donnie McClurkin, Bishop Paul S. Morton, J. Moss, Smokie Norful, Marvin Sapp, BeBe Winans, Cece Winans, and Marvin Winans. Together they sang a song Franklin wrote Are You Listening.
Franklin attributes his drive and his desire to constantly improve his music to being abandon by his mom; he feels as though no matter how many records he sell his work is never good enough and always needs improvement. Being abandon was an issue Franklin struggled with and as a result began to look for love and acceptance in the wrong place. A number of people in this industry find themselves addicted to drugs and alcohol but Franklin suffered with another addiction, pornography. Although Franklin has recovered from his addiction he still takes things one day at a time and stays clear of certain places and situations, just as any other recovering addict. Today Franklin embraces a name in which he acted out as a teenager to prevent from being called; church boy a name he often refers to himself. Franklin is the host and co-executive producer of the BET series Sunday Best, and his most current album was released March 22, 2011 entitled Hello Fear, with the first single being I Smile. He is currently touring and will be in Chicago Friday November 18, 2011.
Work Cited
Franklin, Kirk (1998) [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
The Official Kirk Franklin Site. http://www.kirkfranklin.com/biography
concerned that he was too young to handle such a big responsibility at such a young age turned down the offer but continued to encourage him along his musical journey. It wasn’t long before Franklin was leading the adult choir at Mount Rose Baptist Church, an eleven year old in charge of people 60 and older.
Although Franklin was very active in church he was also attracted to the street life, being the only child in the home with an older woman Franklin desired to just be a kid. When he was around a group of his peers he began to act out and rebel out of fear of being called a “church boy”. Franklin never wanted the accreditation of being a hardcore gangster he just perpetrated one so the other kids wouldn’t see him as weak. Although he wasn’t considered hardcore gangster by the street standards, he hung around the wrong crowd smoked marijuana and was involved in a few fist fights. It wasn’t until, at the age of 15, Franklin witness his friend die of an accidental shooting that he realized the street life wasn’t for him and decided to change. The death of his friend had profound implications for the direction Franklin life took and his return to church. A few years after Franklin returned to church he was faced with another life alternating event fatherhood. At the age of 18 Franklin became a father to a baby boy Kerrion, with his teenage girlfriend and left her to care for their child alone for several years. Franklin realized he was wrong for abandoning his child as his mother had abandoned him, and began to step up as a father. With being a better father came focus and ultimately he focused totally on his music.
Franklin co-founded the group The Humble Hearts, which recorded a demo tape that impressed the gospel legend and producer Milton Biggham. Biggham and the DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth) Mass Choir recorded Franklin song Every Day with Jesus, this led to Franklin being hired by Biggham at the age of 20. DFW Mass Choir went on to record other songs by Franklin including I Will Let Nothing Separate Me on the Choir’s 1991 release and Another Chance on the 1993 release. This created the opportunity for him to lead the choir at the 1990 GMWA (Gospel Music Workshop of America) a convention in which all of the industry greats participate.
Wanting to have full creative control and the desire to perform his own material he put together the group, The Family, in 1992 which consist of a 17 voice choir. The group was given the name, The Family, because it was the extended family Franklin never had and the family he always wanted. Franklin searched for a record deal and even turned down an offer with Savoy Records, but it wasn’t long before the right offer came along from Gospo Centric record label. Kirk Franklin and The Family released their debut album Kirk Franklin and The Family in 1993 which was recorded at Grace Temple Church in Forth Worth Texas.
Franklin refused to omit Jesus and the Lord from his song lyrics to reach mainstream fame as other gospel artist had done in the past. His music was different from the traditional gospel music it incorporated some of the secular styles and Franklin was aware of the difference and stood behind his work. At first the album did quite well for a gospel album, and then Drew Dawson a deejay in Virginia played, Why We Sing, on a regular basses on his urban radio program. Other secular station caught on and began to play the song on their stations also. Franklin stood out because of what he was doing with gospel music was out of the normal and no one else had that sound. It became the first gospel album to sell over a million units; the album included the hit songs Why We Sing, and He Can Handle It. Spending nearly two years on the Gospel music charts and charted on the R&B charts it earned platinum status. It also was No. 1 on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart for 42 weeks. "Gospel needs an edge," he stated in the Michigan Chronicle, "so that it will receive the same type of respect that other types of music get. For so long gospel didn 't get much respect from the industry." He also noted that his approach attracted the youth. "A lot of Christian young people are saying, 'Man, this music that we like to listen to on the urban stations is real funky and it 's jammin ' but a lot of the songs are so nasty. Can y 'all give us something we can play in our Jeeps and ride down the street and pump to but it 's talking about Jesus? '" Not only was his music different his concerts and shows were different from the normal gospel concerts as well. He requested lights, and special effects he wanted to put on shows like no one else in gospel music had.
Franklin continued down his path of gospel first and implementing change he shocked the gospel world with his second album it was not so much the music as it was the record label that produced the album. Franklin entered into a new production deal with Mack-Lataillade’s company B-Rite Records which is distributed by the very controversial Interscope Records. Interscope Records was known for the rap label Death Row and the home of the rock group Nice Inch Nails. The second album entitled Kirk Franklin and the Family Christmas was released in 1994 the shortly are they released Whatcha Lookin’ 4 in 1995. The third album Whatcha Lookin’ 4 went double platinum and earned him his first Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album.
Franklin was gaining a lot of success and wanted someone to share it with he hated being single. Although his music had a hip hop feel he still considered himself a “church boy” and wanted his life to reflect his music. In 1996 Franklin married his soul mate Tammy Renee Collins, former member of the R&B group Ashanti. The two became and instant family which included Franklin’s son and Collins seven year old daughter, they later had two children together.
After his union to Collins Franklins was right back to work this time collaborating with a different ensemble God’s Property creating Kirk Franklin and God’s Property Nu Nation. Their hit single was Stomp featured Cheryl James, better known as Salt from the hip hop group Salt N Pepa, made it to number 1 on the R&B chart and remained their for two weeks. The song even made it onto the Top 40 list, and the album was number 1 on the R&B charts for five weeks, it even made it to number 3 on the pop chart. The music video was in heavy rotation on a number of the music channels including MTV. This album surpassed the others in sale it became triple platinum. This album gained Franklin three Grammy nominations and won him another Grammy for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album.
After this great success and what seemed to be a great partnership, God’s Property filed a lawsuit against Franklin in the Los Angeles Superior Court.
The suit filed on November 2, 1998 alleged that Franklin persuaded the founder of God’s Property, Linda Searight, into signing a one sided contract with B-Rite Music. No letting the suite stop Franklin from doing what he does best he released the The Nu Nation Project which consisted of a number of collaboration with artist of different genres, the first single Lean on Me a different arrangement of Bill Withers Lean on Me. This single was produced by pop producer Dan Shea, and featured R. Kelly, Mary J. Blige, Bono and Franklin’s originally group The Family. The second single Revolution also featured The Family and Rodney Jerkins, and a hit on the album. The album also included another rewrite of Withers songs, Gonna Be a Lovely Day, and won Franklin this third Grammy. The Nu Nation Project was number 1 on the Billboard Conterporary Christian Albums chart for 23 weeks, and number 1 for 49 week s on the Billboard Gospel Alums
chart.
After his success with the The Nu Nation Project album Franklin found himself facing another lawsuit, this time from The Family. The Family was seeking royalties for work done on The Nu Nation Project from Franklin as well as Gospo Centric Records. This was the end of Kirk Franklin and The Family and the beginning of Franklin’s solo career.
As a solo artist Franklin produced the soundtrack for the movie Kingdom Come. 2002 Franklin released his first solo album The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin which went platinum but was also the first release not to win a Grammy Award. The second solo project Hero which was released October 4, 2005 went platinum and won him two Grammy Awards and a Stellar Award for CD of the Year. Two years later Franklin released The Fight of My Life which sold 74,000 copies in the first week.
In 2010 after hearing about the tragedy in Haiti Franklin arranged and ensemble of gospel artist which included Yolanda Adams, Jeremy Camp, Shirley Caesar, Dorinda Clark-Cole, Karen Clark- Sheard, Kierra Sheard, Natalie Grant, Fred Hammond, Tamela Mann, David Mann, Mary Mary, Donnie McClurkin, Bishop Paul S. Morton, J. Moss, Smokie Norful, Marvin Sapp, BeBe Winans, Cece Winans, and Marvin Winans. Together they sang a song Franklin wrote Are You Listening.
Franklin attributes his drive and his desire to constantly improve his music to being abandon by his mom; he feels as though no matter how many records he sell his work is never good enough and always needs improvement. Being abandon was an issue Franklin struggled with and as a result began to look for love and acceptance in the wrong place. A number of people in this industry find themselves addicted to drugs and alcohol but Franklin suffered with another addiction, pornography. Although Franklin has recovered from his addiction he still takes things one day at a time and stays clear of certain places and situations, just as any other recovering addict. Today Franklin embraces a name in which he acted out as a teenager to prevent from being called; church boy a name he often refers to himself. Franklin is the host and co-executive producer of the BET series Sunday Best, and his most current album was released March 22, 2011 entitled Hello Fear, with the first single being I Smile. He is currently touring and will be in Chicago Friday November 18, 2011.
Work Cited
Franklin, Kirk (1998) [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
The Official Kirk Franklin Site. http://www.kirkfranklin.com/biography