Kirk Franklin

Emerging as one of gospel's most prominent and lasting figures in the early 1990s, Kirk Franklin first gained notice by directing the Texas-based ensemble the Family. Their debut effort, Kirk Franklin & the Family (1993), not only dominated gospel sales but also reached the R&B and pop rankings after going platinum. That same crossover pull marked later projects with the Family, such as 1996's Whatcha Lookin' 4, and with God's Property on 1998's The Nu Nation Project, before Franklin launched his solo phase with The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin (2002). His habit of teaming with artists across both secular and faith-based scenes, paired with a natural skill for blending vibrant gospel elements with R&B and hip-hop textures, kept drawing broad listeners. Consistent chart presence and multiple Grammy victories followed, highlighted by acclaimed Top 20 releases including Hero (2005), Hello Fear (2011), Losing My Religion (2015), and Long Live Love (2019). His 2022 partnership with Maverick City Music on Kingdom Book One spotlighted mass incarceration, while the encouraging track "Try Love" surfaced in 2023.

Raised in Fort Worth by his Aunt Gertrude after his mother left and without ever meeting his father, Franklin grew up in a devout Baptist home. At age four, she funded his piano instruction by redeeming aluminum cans. A gifted player able to read music at sight or perform by ear, he received his first recording contract at seven, yet his aunt declined the offer. By eleven he was conducting the adult choir at Mt. Rose Baptist Church near Dallas. After a turbulent teenage stretch that included the accidental shooting death of a close friend, he rejoined church life and studied music under Jewell Kelly & the Singing Chaparrals at Oscar Dean Wyatt High School. Around the same time he assembled the gospel outfit the Humble Hearts; their recording of one of his original compositions caught the ear of Milton Biggham, leading to an invitation to direct the Dallas-Fort Worth Mass Choir at the 1990 Gospel Music Workshop of America Convention.

In 1992 Franklin organized the Family, a seventeen-member group drawn from childhood acquaintances. Signed to the new GospoCentric imprint, they issued the landmark Kirk Franklin & the Family in 1993. The set held Billboard's gospel chart for forty-two weeks, crossed into R&B and pop territory, and achieved platinum status. Two years later Kirk Franklin & the Family Christmas arrived, but 1996's Whatcha Lookin' 4 confirmed his stardom. That major crossover success climbed to number twenty-three on the Billboard 200 and earned his first Grammy for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album. The next year he joined Dallas-based choir God's Property for God's Property from Kirk Franklin's Nu Nation, an even bigger hit that topped both gospel and R&B lists, reached number three on the pop chart, and captured a Grammy for Best Gospel Choir or Chorus Album. Issued in 1998, The Nu Nation Project merged the Family, God's Property, and a fresh Franklin-led ensemble called One Nation Crew, while also featuring secular guests Mary J. Blige, R. Kelly, and Bono; the album secured another Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album trophy and marked his last release with the Family.

Over the following years Franklin contributed "Thank You" to the 2001 film Kingdom Come soundtrack, then issued his first solo album, The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin, in 2002. Building on prior momentum, the project reached number four on the Billboard 200 and logged twenty-nine weeks on the Gospel Albums chart. Further commercial peaks arrived with 2005's Hero and 2007's star-studded The Fight of My Life, each yielding consecutive Grammys for Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album and Best Gospel Song ("Imagine Me," "Help Me Believe").

After the 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Franklin gathered a large gospel cast at Nashville's Quad Studios to cut the benefit single "Are You Listening." His 2011 studio set Hello Fear included "I Smile," his first Billboard Hot 100 entry since 2005. More hopeful in outlook than its predecessor, the album topped the gospel chart for multiple weeks, won the Grammy for Best Gospel Album, and saw its title track take Best Gospel Song.

Franklin toured extensively for the next two and a half years, launched his own imprint Fo Yo Soul, and delivered Losing My Religion in November 2015. Despite the title, the project remained firmly rooted in faith. Pre-release single "Wanna Be Happy?" later received Best Gospel Performance/Song. The full album earned Best Gospel Album the following year, while Franklin also collected another Best Gospel Performance/Song award for writing Tamela Mann's "God Provides" and earned two rap nods for his appearance on Kanye West's "Ultralight Beam."

After further touring he co-produced Tori Kelly's 2018 album Hiding Place and inaugurated the Exodus Music & Arts Festival in Dallas. He returned in 2019 with Long Live Love, his seventh Top 20 pop album, which brought his fourteenth and fifteenth Grammys: Best Gospel Album and Best Gospel Performance/Song for "Love Theory." Subsequent collaborations such as "We Win" with Lil Baby for the Space Jam: A New Legacy soundtrack and "Sunday Morning" produced additional nominations for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song. In 2022 he united with Atlanta's Maverick City Music collective to address mass incarceration; together with 1,300 inmates at Everglades Correctional Institution near Miami they recorded the live album Kingdom Book One in March and released it three months later amid a joint thirty-seven-date U.S. tour. The project added three more Grammy wins. Additional non-album tracks, including "Try Love" and "All Things," appeared in 2023.