Early years

He received his first contract offer at the age of seven, which his aunt turned down. He joined the church choir and became music director of the Mt. Rose Baptist Church adult choir at the age of eleven.

Despite his strict religious upbringing, Franklin rebelled in his teenage years, and in an attempt to keep him out of trouble, his great aunt 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 behavioral problems proved otherwise.

After the shooting death of a friend, Franklin returned to the church, where he began to direct the choir once 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 Biggham. Impressed, Biggham enlisted him to lead the DFW Mass Choir in a recording of Franklin's song "Every Day with Jesus." This led to Biggham hiring Franklin, just 20 years old at the time, to lead the choir at the 1990 Gospel Music Workshop of America Convention, a major industry gathering.

Professional background

Kirk Franklin & The Family (1990s–2000)

In 1993, the group, now known as "Kirk Franklin & The Family," released their debut album, ''Kirk Franklin & The Family''. It spent almost two years on the Gospel music charts and charted on the R&B; charts, eventually earning platinum sales status. It remained at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart for 42 weeks. It was the first gospel music album to sell over a million units.

Two years later, after releasing a 1994 Christmas album entitled ''Kirk Franklin & the Family Christmas'', the group released ''Whatcha Lookin' 4'' in 1995. The album was certified 2x platinum and earned Franklin 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, and charting at No. 1 on the R&B; Singles Airplay chart for 2 weeks, even making it in to the Top 40. ''God's Property from Kirk Franklin's Nu Nation'' was No. 1 on the R&B; Albums chart for 5 weeks, No. 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 November 2, 1998, God's Property sued 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.

''The Nu Nation Project'' was released in 1998. The first single, an interpretation of the Bill Withers song "Lean on Me" and produced by Franklin and pop producer Dan Shea, 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, and the album contained a version of another Withers song "Gonna Be a Lovely Day". ''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. This saw the end of the "Kirk Franklin & The Family" records, as Kirk went on to become a solo artist, except for his CD Kirk Franklin presents 1NC, which he did in collaboration with One Nation Crew, and was released that same year.

On January 16, 2010 at the 25th Annual Stellar Awards show taping, in Nashville, Tennessee, Kirk Franklin & The Family reunited briefly on stage to perform songs made popular by them in the 1990s.

Solo artist (2000–present)

2002's ''The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin'' topped the Gospel Albums chart for 29 weeks, was No. 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, Crystal Lewis, 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 and Platinum on by the Recording Industry Association of America. It made No. 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 2006, Kirk Franklin won two 2007 Grammy Awards for ''Hero''. Additionally, ''Hero'' was the 2007 Stellar Awards CD of the Year.

Kirk Franklin's 10th album, ''The Fight of My Life'', was released in the United States on . The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at No. 33 with 74,000 copies sold in the first week. It reached No. 1 on both the Billboard Top Gospel and Top Christian albums charts, and also peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Top R&B;/Hip-Hop Albums Chart. The first single, "Declaration (This is It)," was released on and peaked at No. 35 on the Billboard Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs Chart. The album features guest appearances from Rance Allen, Isaac Carree, TobyMac, Da' T.R.U.T.H., Doug Williams, and Melvin Williams. The song "Jesus" was released as the album's second single in 2008 and was sent to Urban AC radio on July 15, 2008. In January 2010 after Haiti had a devastating earthquake, Kirk Franklin got an ensemble of gospel artists together to sing the song he wrote, called "Are You Listening". They included: Yolanda Adams, Jeremy Camp, Shirley Caesar, Dorinda Clark-Cole, Natalie Grant, Fred Hammond, Tamela Mann, David Mann, Mary Mary, Donnie McClurkin, Bishop Paul S. Morton, J. Moss, Smokie Norful, Marvin Sapp, Karen Clark-Sheard, Kierra Sheard, BeBe Winans, Cece Winans, and Marvin Winans.

Kirk is currently host and co-executive producer of the BET original series, "Sunday Best." Kirk Franklin's eleventh studio studio album called ''Hello Fear'' was released on March 22, 2011. The first single off the album is "I Smile", which peaked at No. 85 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it his first appearance on that chart in 6 years. On the album he features the likes of Marvin Sapp, Mali Music, Marvin Winans, John P. Kee and Rance Allen.

Personal life

Discography

Awards

References

Further reading

External links

Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:African American musicians Category:American Christians Category:Musicians from Texas Category:People from Fort Worth, Texas Category:Interscope Records artists Category:American gospel singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Performers of Christian hip hop music Category:GospoCentric artists

Biography

Early years

Comedy career

In 1997, Harvey continued his work in stand-up comedy, touring as one of the Kings of Comedy, along with Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley and Bernie Mac. The comedy act would later be put together into a film by Spike Lee called ''The Original Kings of Comedy''. DVD sales of ''The Original Kings of Comedy'' and ''Don't Trip, He Ain't Through With Me Yet'' increased Harvey's popularity. Harvey released a hip hop and R&B; audio CD on a record label he founded, and authored a book, ''Steve Harvey's Big Time''. That title was also used as the name of Harvey's comedy and variety television show (later renamed ''Steve Harvey's Big Time Challenge'') which aired on The WB network from 2003 until 2005. Harvey also launched a clothing line which features the line of dress wear. In 2005 he co-starred in the movie ''Racing Stripes''. He had appeared in the 2003 movie ''The Fighting Temptations'' alongside Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyoncé Knowles.

In 2008, Harvey hosted the Disney Dreamers Academy with Steve Harvey, a teen-focused personal and professional enrichment event that took place January 17–20, 2008 at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Harvey along with a team of judges chose 100 teens to attend the event.

Radio host

''The Steve Harvey Morning Show''

Television roles

''Family Feud''

Film roles

You sitting up there talking to a dude and he tells you he’s an atheist, you need to pack it up and go home. You talking to a person who don’t believe in God . . . what’s his moral barometer? Where’s it at? It's nowhere.

Later that year, on May 30, Harvey appeared on an episode of Larry King Live guest hosted by Joy Behar. During that interview, Harvey reiterated his assertion that women should not date atheists, who he claimed have "no moral barometer". Harvey stated that he refuses to speak to anyone claiming to be an atheist, who he said are "idiot(s)". Harvey went on to suggest that modern astrophysics and evolutionary biology are without merit by saying

You can't just tell me it spun out of a gastrous [sic] ball and then all of a sudden we were evolved from monkeys. Why we still got monkeys? [sic]

In August 2011 on his radio show, Harvey called Cornel West and Tavis Smiley "Uncle Toms" because they have criticized President Barack Obama.

Awards

References

External links

Category:1957 births Category:African American comedians Category:African American film actors Category:African American television actors Category:African American writers Category:American Christians Category:American comedians Category:American game show hosts Category:American radio personalities Category:American stand-up comedians Category:Christian creationists Category:Family Feud Category:People from Cleveland, Ohio Category:Living people Category:People from McDowell County, West Virginia Category:Radio personalities from Chicago, Illinois Category:Radio personalities from Dallas, Texas Category:Radio personalities from Los Angeles, California Category:Radio personalities from West Virginia Category:Radio personalities from Atlanta, Georgia