Mimes Jean and Brigitte Soubeyran

A mime artist (from Greek "μίμος"—mimos, "imitator, actor")^[1] is someone who uses mime as a theatrical medium or as a performance art, involving miming, or the acting out a story through body motions, without use of speech. In earlier times, in English, such a performer was referred to as a mummer. Miming is to be distinguished from silent comedy, in which the artist is a seamless character in a film or sketch.

The performance of pantomime originates at its earliest in Ancient Greece; the name is taken from a single masked dancer called Pantomimus, although performances were not necessarily silent. In Medieval Europe, early forms of mime such as mummer plays and later dumbshows evolved. In early nineteenth century Paris, Jean-Gaspard Deburau solidified the many attributes that we have come to know in modern times—the silent figure in whiteface.

Jacques Copeau, strongly influenced by Commedia dell'arte and Japanese Noh theatre, used masks in the training of his actors. Étienne Decroux, a pupil of his, was highly influenced by this and started exploring and developing the possibilities of mime and developed corporeal mime into a highly sculptural form, taking it outside of the realms of naturalism. Jacques Lecoq contributed significantly to the development of mime and physical theatre with his training methods.^[2]

In film[link]

Mime theatre on Place Georges-Pompidou, Paris 1987.

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Prior to the work of Étienne Decroux there was no major treatise on the art of mime, and so any recreation of mime as performed prior to the twentieth century is largely conjecture, based on interpretation of diverse sources. However, the twentieth century also brought a new medium into widespread usage: the motion picture.

The restrictions of early motion picture technology meant that stories had to be told with minimal dialogue, which was largely restricted to intertitles. This often demanded a highly stylized form of physical acting largely derived from the stage. Thus, mime played an important role in films prior to advent of talkies (films with sound or speech). The mimetic style of film acting was used to great effect in German Expressionist film.

Silent film comedians like Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton learned the craft of mime in the theatre, but through film, they would have a profound influence on mimes working in live theatre even decades after their death. Indeed, Chaplin may be the most well-documented mime in history.

The famous French comedian, writer and director Jacques Tati achieved his initial popularity working as a mime, and indeed his later films had only minimal dialogue, relying instead on many subtle expertly choreographed visual gags. Tati, like Chaplin before him, would mime out the movements of every single character in his films and ask his actors to repeat them.

On stage and street[link]

Mime has been performed onstage, with Marcel Marceau and his character "Bip" being the most famous. Mime is also a popular art form in street theatre and busking. Traditionally, these sorts of performances involve the actor/actress wearing tight black and white clothing with white facial makeup. However, contemporary mimes often perform without whiteface. Similarly, while traditional mimes have been completely silent, contemporary mimes, while refraining from speaking, sometimes employ vocal sounds when they perform. Mime acts are often comical, but some can be very serious.

In literature[link]

Canadian author Michael Jacot's first novel, The Last Butterfly, tells the story of a mime artist in Nazi-occupied Europe who is forced by his oppressors to perform for a team of Red Cross observers.^[3] Nobel laureate Heinrich Böll's The Clown relates the downfall of a mime artist, Hans Schneir, who has descended into poverty and drunkenness after being abandoned by his beloved.^[4] Jacob Appel's Pushcart short-listed story, Coulrophobia, depicts the tragedy of a landlord whose marriage slowly collapses after he rents a spare apartment to an intrusive mime artist.^[5]

Greek and Roman mime[link]

This section requires expansion.

A Mime artist on the Ponte Sant'Angelo

The first recorded pantomime actor was Telestēs in the play Seven Against Thebes by Aeschylus. Tragic pantomime was developed by Puladēs of Kilikia; comic pantomime was developed by Bathullos of Alexandria.^[6]

The Roman emperor Trajan banished pantomimists; Caligula favored them; Marcus Aurelius made them priests of Apollo. Nero himself acted as a mime.^[7]

In non-Western theatre traditions[link]

While most of this article has treated mime as a constellation of related and historically linked Western theatre genres and performance techniques, analogous performances are evident in the theatrical traditions of other civilizations.

Classical Indian musical theatre, although often erroneously labeled a "dance," is a group of theatrical forms in which the performer presents a narrative via stylized gesture, an array of hand positions, and mime illusions to play different characters, actions, and landscapes. Recitation, music, and even percussive footwork sometimes accompany the performance. The Natya Shastra, an ancient treatise on theatre by Bharata Muni, mentions silent performance, or mukabhinaya.

In Kathakali, stories from Indian epics are told with facial expressions, hand signals and body motions. Performances are accompanied by songs narrating the story while the actors act out the scene, followed by actor detailing without background support of narrative song.

The Japanese Noh tradition has greatly influenced many contemporary mime and theatre practitioners including Jacques Copeau and Jacques Lecoq because of its use of mask work and highly physical performance style.

Butoh, though often referred to as a dance form, has been adopted by various theatre practitioners as well.

Notable mime artists[link]

See also[link]

• Corporeal mime
• Dumbshow
• Floating (dance)
• Liquid and digits
• Mummers Play
• Pantomime
• Popping
• Physical theatre
• Turfing

References[link]

External links[link]

Look up mime in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• World Mime Index
• Mime.info, The world of mime theatre. International mime theatre information, including a library, resources, performer contacts, and events calendar.
• MOVEO—International school of corporeal mime and physical theatre in Barcelona—centre for research, creation and training, moveo.cat
• International Theatre School Jacques Lecoq, ecole-jacqueslecoq.com
• London International School of Performing Arts, lispa.co.uk
• Innovo Conservatory of Physical Theatre, innovotheatre.com
• European Mime Index, European Network for the Promotion and Profiling of Visual Theatre

Martin Freeman
Martin Freeman during filming of Sherlock in 2010
Born	Martin John C. Freeman (1971-09-08) 8 September 1971 (age 40) Aldershot, Hampshire, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1997 – present
Awards	BAFTA TV - Best Supporting Actor for Sherlock (2011)

Martin John C. Freeman (born 8 September 1971)^[1] is an English actor. He is known for his roles as Tim Canterbury in the BBC's Golden Globe-winning comedy The Office, John in Love Actually, Arthur Dent in the film adaptation of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dr. Watson in Sherlock and Paul Maddens in Nativity!. He has been cast in the lead role of Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's two-part adaptation of The Hobbit.^[2]

Early life[link]

Martin Freeman was born in Aldershot, Hampshire, the youngest of five children. His father, Geoffrey, a naval officer, and his mother, Philomena separated when Freeman was a child, and when Freeman was ten, Geoffrey died of a heart attack. Freeman was raised Roman Catholic. As a child, Freeman was asthmatic, and had to undergo a hip operation due to a "dodgy" leg. He was schooled at a Catholic comprehensive before attending London's Central School of Speech and Drama.^[3][4]

In an edition of Who Do You Think You Are? aired on 19 August 2009, he discovered that his grandfather, Leonard Freeman, was a member of the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War II.^[5] Private L W Freeman, a Territorial Army volunteer in the 150(N) Field Ambulance Regiment, was killed in Northern France on 24 May 1940 in a Stuka dawn attack. His unit was evacuated from Dunkirk two days later.

Career[link]

Freeman joined a youth theatre group at 15, but it was not until he was 17 that his confidence in his acting had led to the decision to pursue it as a career.^[3]

Freeman has appeared in at least 18 TV shows, 14 theatre productions, and several radio productions. He is notable for his role as Tim Canterbury in The Office. He also appeared in the sitcom Hardware. Additionally Freeman has appeared in several films, including Sacha Baron Cohen's Ali G Indahouse (2002) and Richard Curtis' Love Actually (2003). As well as his various comic roles, Freeman has also appeared in serious dramatic parts. He began to move into more serious dramatic roles on television with his appearance as Lord Shaftesbury in the 2003 BBC historical drama Charles II: The Power and The Passion. He can also be seen making a brief appearance in the first episode of the second series of This Life. Freeman also starred in the BBC's television series The Robinsons and had a cameo performance in episode 1 of Black Books.

He had a cameo in Hot Fuzz (2007), a film written by Shaun of the Dead writers Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, and had a brief non-speaking role in Shaun of the Dead as Yvonne's boyfriend, Declan. He is in the 2007 film The All Together written & directed by Gavin Claxton. He also appeared alongside Roger Lloyd Pack, Jamie Hogarth and Christopher Mellows in the 2007 Bill Kenwright theatre production of The Last Laugh.

He also features in the video for Faith No More's cover of "I Started a Joke". He has recently covered a few shows on BBC 6 Music. In May 2009 he starred in a comedy, called Boy Meets Girl – a four part drama that charts the progress of characters Veronica and Danny after an accident which causes them to swap bodies.^[6]

He has starred in a 48 hour film project entitled 'The Girl Is Mime'.

Freeman plays Dr. John Watson in Sherlock, the BBC contemporary adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes detective stories. The first episode, "A Study in Pink", was broadcast on 25 July 2010 to critical acclaim. For his performance in the role he won the BAFTA award for Best Supporting Actor, 2011.

Freeman will play Bilbo Baggins, the main character in the two-part Peter Jackson film series The Hobbit.^[7][8]

Personal life[link]

Freeman resides in Hertfordshire with his partner,^[9] actress Amanda Abbington, whom he met on the set of Channel 4’s Men Only in 2000. The couple have a son and daughter,^[3][4] and have since appeared in other productions together, including Picking Up The Pieces, The Debt, The Robinsons and the feature film comedy The All Together.

Freeman is a lifelong fan of Motown music and interviewed Smokey Robinson in an edition of The Culture Show aired in October 2009.^[10]

Freeman is a vegetarian.^[11]

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

Television[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Martin Freeman

• Martin Freeman at the Internet Movie Database
• Martin Freeman at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Martin Freeman Massive, online fan community
• Martin Freeman BBC Radio Gloucestershire interview (feb 2007)
• Boy Meets Girl Interview

Les Bubb is a British mime artist.

Career[link]

Les Bubb who was born in Liverpool, started his miming career way back in 1982, where he performed in pubs and cabaret clubs.

He got his big break in 1988, after appearing on Jim Davidson Introduces: New Entertainers, Friday Night Live twice, and on the kids' show Going Live!, all of which he took by storm. Les also appeared on The Famous Compere's Police Ball in 1990.

In 1996, Les was approached by the BBC to write a format for a children's television show, which later became Hububb. Les starred alongside Elaine C Smith, Miltos Yerolemou, Ben Keaton and Nicola Park, with fellow mime artist Emil Wolk.

Les then appeared in the films Invincible, Yam and three Harry Potter films as a voice artist and actor trainer.

He also appeared at Glastonbury 2000, Jim Davidson Presents, I'd Do Anything, Max Headroom, Paramount City, Talking Telephone Numbers and most recently The Slammer. Les still performs on stage.

Les is currently performing with pop band Take That as the role of a professor in the Take That Progress tour of 2011. Les is Performing with Take That most of summer 2011

Filmography[link]

External links[link]

• TV.com : Biography of Les Bubb
• The British Council : Les Bubb in Ankara, Turkey
• Les Bubb at the Internet Movie Database

Marcel Marceau
Photo by Yousuf Karsh
Born	Marcel Mangel (1923-03-22)22 March 1923 Strasbourg, France
Died	22 September 2007(2007-09-22) (aged 84) Cahors, Lot, France
Resting place	Père Lachaise Cemetery
Nationality	French
Alma mater	Charles Dullin's School of Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor, mime artist
Spouse	Anne Sicco (1975-2007) Ella Jaroszewicz (m. 1966) Huguette Mallette (div. 1958)
Children	4

Marcel Marceau (22 March 1923 – 22 September 2007) was an internationally acclaimed French actor and mime most famous for his persona as Bip the Clown.

Early years[link]

He was born Marcel Mangel in Strasbourg, France to a Jewish family. His parents were Ann Werzberg and Charles Mangel,^[1] a kosher butcher. When Marcel was four years old, the family moved to Lille, but they later returned to Strasbourg.^[2] When France entered World War II, Marcel, 16, fled with his family to Limoges.^[2] In 1944 Marcel's father was captured and deported to the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp, where he was killed. Marcel's mother survived.

Marcel and his older brother, Alain, adopted the last name "Marceau" during the German occupation of France; the name was chosen as a reference to François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers, a general of the French Revolution.^[2][3] The two brothers joined the French Resistance in Limoges, where they saved numerous children from the race laws and concentration camps, and, after the liberation of Paris, joined the French army.^[2] Owing to Marcel's excellent command of the English language, he worked as a liaison officer with General George Patton's army.^[2][4] Marcel started miming as a way of keeping children quiet as they were escaping to neutral Switzerland.^[5]

Marceau was demobilized in 1946.^[2] He enrolled as a student in Charles Dullin's School of Dramatic Art in the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre in Paris, where he studied with teachers like Joshua Smith and the great master, Étienne Decroux, who had also taught Jean-Louis Barrault.

Career[link]

Marceau joined Jean-Louis Barrault's company and was soon cast in the role of Arlequin in the pantomime, Baptiste (which Barrault had interpreted in the film Les Enfants du Paradis).^[6] Marceau's performance won him such acclaim that he was encouraged to present his first "mimodrama", Praxitele and the Golden Fish, at the Bernhardt Theatre that same year. The acclaim was unanimous and Marceau's career as a mime was firmly established.

as Bip the Clown

In 1947 Marceau created Bip the Clown and was first played at the Théâtre de Poche (Pocket Theatre) in Paris. In his appearance he wore a striped pullover and a battered, beflowered silk opera hat. The outfit signified life's fragility and Bip became his alter ego, just as the "Little Tramp" became Charlie Chaplin's. Bip's misadventures with everything from butterflies to lions, from ships and trains, to dance-halls or restaurants, were limitless. As a style of Pantomime, Marceau was acknowledged without peer. His silent mimed exercises, which included The Cage, Walking Against the Wind, The Mask Maker, and In The Park, all became classic displays. Satires on everything from sculptors to matadors were described as works of genius. Of his summation of the ages of man in the famous Youth, Maturity, Old Age and Death, one critic said: "He accomplishes in less than two minutes what most novelists cannot do in volumes."

In 1949, following his receipt of the Deburau Prize (established as a memorial to the 19th century mime master Jean-Gaspard Deburau) for his second mimodrama, Death before Dawn, Marceau founded Compagnie de Mime Marcel Marceau, the only company of pantomime in the world at the time. The ensemble played the leading Paris theaters, such as Le Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Le Théâtre de la Renaissance, and the Bernhardt Theatre, as well as other playhouses throughout the world. From 1959 to 1960, a retrospective of his mimodramas, including The Overcoat by Gogol, ran for a full year at the Amibigu Theatre in Paris. He produced 15 other mimodramas, including Pierrot de Montmartre, The Three Wigs, The Pawn Shop, 14 July, The Wolf of Tsu Ku Mi, Paris Cries—Paris Laughs and Don Juan (adapted from the Spanish writer Tirso de Molina).

World recognition[link]

Marceau performed all over the world in order to spread the "art of silence" (L'art du silence). It was the intellectual minority who knew of him until he first toured the United States in 1955 and 1956, close on the heels of his North American debut at the Stratford Festival of Canada. After his opening engagement at the Phoenix Theater in New York, which received rave reviews, he moved to the larger Barrymore Theater to accommodate the public demand. This first US tour ended with a record-breaking return to standing-room-only crowds in San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and other major cities. His extensive transcontinental tours included South America, Africa, Australia, China, Japan, South East Asia, Russia, and Europe. His last world tour covered the United States in 2004, and returned to Europe in 2005 and Australia in 2006. He was one of the world's most renowned mimes.

Marceau's art became familiar to millions through his many television appearances. His first television performance as a star performer on the Max Liebman, Mike Douglas and Dinah Shore, and he also had his own one-man show entitled "Meet Marcel Marceau". He teamed with Red Skelton in three concerts of pantomimes.

Marceau also showed his versatility in motion pictures such as First Class, in which he played 17 roles, Shanks, where he combined his silent art, playing a deaf and mute puppeteer, and his speaking talent, as a mad scientist; as Professor Ping in Barbarella, and a cameo as himself in Mel Brooks' Silent Movie, in which, with purposeful irony, his character has the only audible speaking part, uttering the single word "No!" when Brooks asks him (via intertitle) if he would participate in the film. He also had a role in a low-budget film roughly based on his life story called Paint It White. The film was never completed because another actor in the movie, a life-long friend^[who?] with whom he had attended school, died halfway through filming.

As an author, Marceau published two books for children, the Marcel Marceau Alphabet Book and the Marcel Marceau Counting Book, and poetry and illustrations, including La ballade de Paris et du Monde (The Ballad of Paris and of the World), an art book which he wrote in 1966, and The Story of Bip, written and illustrated by Marceau and published by Harper and Row. In 1982, Le Troisième Œil, (The Third Eye), his collection of ten original lithographs, was published in Paris with an accompanying text by Marceau. Belfond of Paris published Pimporello in 1987. In 2001, a new photo book for children titled Bip in a Book, published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang, appeared in the bookstores in the US, France and Australia.

In 1969, Marcel Marceau opened his first school, Ecole Internationale de Mime, in the Théàtre de la Musique in Paris. The school was open for two years with fencing, acrobatics, ballet and five teachers of Mime.

With President Jimmy Carter, Rosalynn Carter, and Amy Carter, 16 June 1977

In 1978, Marceau established his own school, École Internationale de Mimodrame de Paris, Marcel Marceau (International School of Mimodrame of Paris, Marcel Marceau). In 1996, he established the Marceau Foundation to promote mime in the United States.

In 1995, pop megastar Michael Jackson and Marceau conceived a concert for HBO, but the concert was cancelled because Jackson had collapsed due to a panic attack prior to the concert. In 2000, Marceau brought his full mime company to New York City for presentation of his new mimodrama, The Bowler Hat, previously seen in Paris, London, Tokyo, Taipei, Caracas, Santo Domingo, Valencia (Venezuela) and Munich. From 1999, when Marceau returned with his classic solo show to New York and San Francisco after 15-year absences for critically acclaimed sold-out runs, his career in America enjoyed a remarkable renaissance with strong appeal to a third generation. He latterly appeared to overwhelming acclaim for extended engagements at such legendary American theaters as The Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, demonstrating the timeless appeal of the work and the mastery of this unique artist.

Marceau's new full company production Les Contes Fantastiques (Fantasy Tales) opened to great acclaim at the Théâtre Antoine in Paris.

Personal life[link]

Marceau was married three times: first to Huguette Mallet, with whom he had two sons, Michel and Baptiste; then, to Ella Jaroszewicz, with whom he had no children. His third wife was Anne Sicco, with whom he had two daughters, Camille and Aurélia.^[7]

Death and commemoration[link]

Marcel Marceau in 2004

Marcel Marceau died at the racetrack in Cahors, France, on 22 September 2007 at the age of 84. At his burial ceremony, the second movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 (which Marceau long used as an accompaniment for an elegant mime routine) was played, as was the sarabande of Bach's Cello Suite No. 5. Marcel Marceau was interred in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.^[8] In 1999 New York City declared 18 March "Marcel Marceau Day".

Awards and honors[link]

Marceau was made a commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, an Officer of the Légion d'honneur, and in 1978 he received the Médaille Vermeil de la Ville de Paris.^[9] The City of Paris awarded him a grant which enabled him to reopen his International School which offered a three-year curriculum. In November 1998, President Jacques Chirac made Marceau a grand officer of the Ordre national du Mérite.

Marceau was an elected member of the Academy of Fine Arts Berlin, the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, the Académie des Beaux-Arts of the Institut de France.

Marceau held honorary doctorates from Ohio State University, Linfield College, Princeton University and the University of Michigan. In April 2001, Marceau was awarded the Wallenberg Medal by the University of Michigan in recognition of his humanitarianism and acts of courage aiding Jews and other refugees during World War II.

Marceau accepted the honor and responsibilities of serving as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Second World Assembly on Aging, which took place in Madrid, Spain, in April 2002.

Published works[link]

• Preface to the French high wire artist Philippe Petit's 1985 book, On The High Wire. ISBN 0-394-71573-X
• Foreword to Stefan Niedziałkowski's and Jonathan Winslow's 1993 book, Beyond the Word—the World of Mime. ISBN 1-879094-23-1

Bibliography[link]

• Martin, Ben. Marcel Marceau: Master of Mime, Paddington Press (UK) Limited, 1978. ISBN 0-448-22680-4

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (April 2012)

Wikinews has related news: Mime Marcel Marceau dies at age 84

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Marcel Marceau

• The World of Mime Theatre Library: Marcel Marceau
• Marcel Marceau at the Internet Broadway Database
• Marcel Marceau at the Internet Movie Database
• An Audio Remembrance by Rob Mermin former student of Marceau
• Marcel Marceau at Find a Grave
• Obituary in The Times
• Marcel Marceau at Facebook
• Brilliant Careers: Marcel Marceau at Salon.com
• MOVEO - centre for research, creation and training in physical theatre and corporeal mime

Kirk Dwayne Franklin (born (1970-01-26)January 26, 1970) is an American Gospel music musician, choir director, and author, and is most notably known for leading urban contemporary gospel choirs such as The Family, God's Property and One Nation Crew (1NC).

Early years[link]

This section of a biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2012)

A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Franklin was raised by his grandmother, Gertrude, having been abandoned as a baby by his mother.^{[1][dead link]} Gertrude collected and resold aluminum cans to raise money for Kirk to take piano lessons from the age of four. Kirk excelled in music, being able to read and write music, while also play by ear.

He received his first contract offer at the age of seven, which his aunt turned down.^[1] 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 grandmother 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,^[2] 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.^[1]

Professional background[link]

Kirk Franklin & The Family (1990s–2000)[link]

In 1992, Franklin organized "The Family", which is a seventeen-voice choir, formed from neighborhood 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 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.

In 1996, Franklin’s song "Joy" was recorded by Whitney Houston and the Georgia Mass Choir. With production by Houston and Mervyn Warren, the composition was included on the best-selling soundtrack to the movie The Preacher's Wife.

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.^[3]

The Nu Nation Project was released in 1998.^[4] 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.^[5] 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)[link]

In 2001, Franklin ventured into new territory, scoring and producing the soundtrack for the film Kingdom Come. The soundtrack featured gospel artists Mary Mary, Crystal Lewis, and 1NC, as well as secular artists Az Yet, Jill Scott, 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 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 December 2, 2005 (2005-12-02) and Platinum on December 14, 2006 (2006-12-14) by the Recording Industry Association of America.^[6] 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.^[7]

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 No. 33 with 74,000 copies sold in the first week.^[8] 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.^[9][10] The first single, "Declaration (This is It)," was released on October 23, 2007 (2007-10-23) and peaked at No. 35 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart.^[10] 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 Franklin is currently host and co-executive producer of the BET original series, "Sunday Best."^[11] Franklin's eleventh studio album called Hello Fear was released on March 22, 2011.^[12] The album features Marvin Sapp, Mali Music, Marvin Winans, John P. Kee and Rance Allen. 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 six years.

Personal life[link]

On January 20, 1996, Franklin married long-time friend Tammy Collins.^[1] When they wed, they each had one child from previous relationships: Kirk's son Kerrion, born in 1988, and Tammy's daughter Carrington, born in 1989.^[13] As a couple, they have two children: Kennedy, born in 1997, and Caziah, born in 2000.^[14] In 2006, Franklin appeared with his wife on "The Oprah Winfrey Show.^[14][15]

Discography[link]

Awards[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Franklin, Kirk (1998) [1998-10-1]. Church Boy. Thomas Nelson. ISBN 0-8499-4050-8. 
• 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 

External links[link]

• Official website
• Kirk Franklin at the Internet Movie Database
• Kirk Franklin at Allmusic
• One Nation Crew at Allmusic
• Kirk Franklin Biography
• Another Kirk Franklin's Biography