Kirk Franklin: new gospel sensation

Ebony, Oct, 1995 by Lisa C. Jones

Franklin hasn't brought hip-hop to the church, his pastor says, as much as he has brought a now awareness of worship. "He has brought forth what the Bible says, Praise ye the Lord.' I always told him that if he majored in his ministry, God would bless his music and that's what has happened," says Rev. West, who thinks of Franklin as the son he never had.

It was hard for Franklin to hold any job, other than his music. "There were times when I'd have odd jobs, but I could never keep them," he says. "My focus was on music. Instead of mopping the floor, I was in the back humming a tune."

At 19, Franklin recorded a collection of songs. The project flopped. But as fate would have it, that same year he met record producer Milton Biggham, who was so impressed with Franklin's unpolished demo tape that he invited the artist to work on the Dallas-Fort Worth Mass Choir's debut album. Hired as the choir's assistant director and associate songwriter, he also wrote a number of tunes for the Gospel Music Workshop of America's Mass Choir, the Trinity Temple Full Gospel Mass Choir and the Georgia Mass Choir.

In 1992, Franklin rounded up 15 of his closest singing friends and launched a new career. He and his entourage soon became known as Kirk Franklin and the Family. His debut album includes the bold harmonies and rising riffs of the 15-member Dallas-based chorale. The group's name, "The Family", Franklin says, wasn't hard to choose. "They've almost made the phrase, 'Blood is thicker than water,' untrue for me," he says.

Spending time with family and close friends took on new meaning for the singer in 1990 after his adopted mother's death. "When everybody else wants me to be Bishop Elder Kirk Franklin, they let me put on some jeans, some tennis shoes and do some cartwheels," says the 25-year-old, who spends his free time at the movies and shopping malls.

Franklin takes time out for serious family matters, too, like bonding with Kerrion Franklin, the son he had at age 17. "[Parenthood] wasn't something I was prepared for, but I recognized I needed to be a responsible figure," says Franklin, who maintains a working relationship with his son's mother. One day, he says he plans to many and have more children. "I didn't have much of a family. So that lack of family has me hungering for my own," Franklin says.

Familial ties, hardships and spiritual revelations have all served as inspiration for Franklin's songs. Inspiration, he says, usually comes when he least expects it: in the shower, in the car, in bed. What inspired him to write "Why We Sing," which is a modern version of "His Eye Is On The Sparrow"? "I really can't say," he says. "It came to me while I was driving to choir rehearsal." Even after Franklin shared the words of what would soon become the gospel anthem of the '90s with a few friends, he says that neither he nor they were all that impressed. "They thought it was cool, but just like me, they didn't think it would be THE song."

With the success of Franklin's first and only album has come a deluge of requests. He is set to do a gospel album with R&B artist R. Kelly and has received requests to write songs for Christian star Amy Grant, Tichina Arnold of the Martin show, Jamie Foxx, the Whispers, Ann Nesby of the Sounds of Blackness, and the TV series, New York Undercover. In addition, concert tours have taken the artist and his entourage to church halls, arenas and stadiums throughout the U.S., the Caribbean and Europe.