Celebrating Black Music Month: Kirk Franklin

For nearly two decades now, Kirk Franklin has been a multi-platinum-selling purveyor of majestic fusions of gospel and contemporary music, and a mirror of Christian humanity boldly reflecting what one faith walking man can accomplish when he focuses on God and taps deep into the gifts He gives. Franklin is a pioneer in gap-bridging musicianship, uniting audiences across gospel, hip hop, pop and R&B. His irresistible rhythms and rhapsodies have resulted in albums that consistently top both Billboard’s Gospel and Christian charts, as well as ascend triumphantly into the Top 10 of the R&B/Hip Hop chart. His unprecedented penetration into the mainstream has fortified him to also become a New York Times bestseller author for The Blueprint: A Plan for Living Above Life’s Storms (Gotham/Penguin). Franklin is also the host and executive producer of the gospel talent show “Sunday Best,” the highest-rated gospel program in BET network history now heading into its fourth season. To date, the trendsetter has garnered seven GRAMMY® Awards, 35 Stellar Awards, 11 Dove Awards (CCM), five NAACP Image Awards, two BET Awards, an American Music Award, and numerous others.

And yet, with all of his success and acclaim – his overflow of awards and accolades – Kirk Franklin remains, at heart, a man who comes from shaky circumstances that could have paralyzed his spiritual growth within his humble familial beginnings. He is never far from that frightened and forlorn young man who didn’t always know which way to turn, which is what makes Franklin one of the most relatable and respected messengers in his field. It is in that humble spirit that he presents his timely 12th album, Hello Fear, (in stores March 22, 2011, on FoYo Soul Entertainment/Verity Records).

Hello Fear (produced by Kirk Franklin with incomparable longtime friend and co-producer Shaun Martin) is a 15-song stylistic tour de force that Franklin is delivering to a society reeling from toxic levels of unprecedented pain. It is a time of seasonal natural disasters, global financial distress and American mortgage collapse.

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article courtesy of BlackAmericaWeb.com