Biography of Kirk Franklin
BIOGRAPHY OF KIRK FRANKLIN
Since his debut 1993’s Kirk Franklin & the family, Kirk Franklin has been one of the brightest stars in contemporary gospel music. The album spent 100weeks on the gospel charts [some of those on the top], crossed over to the R&B charts and became the first gospel debut album to go platinum. His second album, Kirk Franklin and the family Christmas, became the genre’s first Christmas album to make it to the number one, and his 1996 album Whatcha lookin’ 4 went gold as soon as it was distributed. With such phenomenal success, it is small wonder that some have hailed him as ‘the garth brooks of the gospel.’ Still, despite adulation and brouhaha, Franklin remains a humble, devout Christian eschewing the title ‘entertainer’ in favour of labeling himself as just a church boy.’
Franklin’s road to the top though sweet was far from smooth. Abandoned by his mother and never having known his father, Franklin was reared by his aunt Gertrude, a deeply religious woman who raised him as a strict Baptist. When he was four, she paid for his piano lessons by collecting aluminum cans. The lessons were money well spent, for Franklin was a natural musician who could sight read and play by ear with equal facility. At age 11, he was leading the Mt. Rose Baptist Church adult choir near Dallas. Despite, or because of, his church background, Franklin began rebelling in his teens and getting into trouble until one of his friends was accidentally shot and killed at age 15.
Realizing that he had chosen a bad road, Franklin returned to the fold and began composing songs, recording and conducting. Since 1991, he has been backed up by his 17-member choir, the Family, a group comprised of friends and associates from his younger days. Support from his pastor, his wife Tammy, who he married in early 1996, and the four children they brought to their marriage help keep Franklin close to his religious core, and he returned in 1998 with Nu Nation Project. The album
Since his debut 1993’s Kirk Franklin & the family, Kirk Franklin has been one of the brightest stars in contemporary gospel music. The album spent 100weeks on the gospel charts [some of those on the top], crossed over to the R&B charts and became the first gospel debut album to go platinum. His second album, Kirk Franklin and the family Christmas, became the genre’s first Christmas album to make it to the number one, and his 1996 album Whatcha lookin’ 4 went gold as soon as it was distributed. With such phenomenal success, it is small wonder that some have hailed him as ‘the garth brooks of the gospel.’ Still, despite adulation and brouhaha, Franklin remains a humble, devout Christian eschewing the title ‘entertainer’ in favour of labeling himself as just a church boy.’
Franklin’s road to the top though sweet was far from smooth. Abandoned by his mother and never having known his father, Franklin was reared by his aunt Gertrude, a deeply religious woman who raised him as a strict Baptist. When he was four, she paid for his piano lessons by collecting aluminum cans. The lessons were money well spent, for Franklin was a natural musician who could sight read and play by ear with equal facility. At age 11, he was leading the Mt. Rose Baptist Church adult choir near Dallas. Despite, or because of, his church background, Franklin began rebelling in his teens and getting into trouble until one of his friends was accidentally shot and killed at age 15.
Realizing that he had chosen a bad road, Franklin returned to the fold and began composing songs, recording and conducting. Since 1991, he has been backed up by his 17-member choir, the Family, a group comprised of friends and associates from his younger days. Support from his pastor, his wife Tammy, who he married in early 1996, and the four children they brought to their marriage help keep Franklin close to his religious core, and he returned in 1998 with Nu Nation Project. The album