His second album, Kirk Franklin & the Family Christmas, became the genre's first Christmas album to make it to 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 "the Garth Brooks of gospel." Still, despite all the adulation and brouhaha, Franklin remains a humble, devout Christian, eschewing the title "entertainer" in favor of labeling himself as just a "church boy."
Franklin's road to the top, though quick, 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
comprising friends and associates from his younger days (interestingly, one
member of the Family, Jon Drummond, made it to the semi-finals heat of the
100-meter sprint at the 1996 Olympics). Support from his pastor, his wife
Tammy, whom he married in early 1996, and the two children they brought to
the marriage help keep Franklin close to his religious core, and he returned
in 1998 with Nu Nation Project. The album topped the Billboard Top 200
charts (peaking at number seven) and remained on the Billboard Gospel Albums
chart for 49 weeks, paving the way for Franklin's third Grammy (Best
Contemporary Soul Gospel Album).
Over the course of the next few years, Franklin worked on the soundtrack of
the movie Kingdom Come (contributing the single "Thank You") and released
another album, 2002's The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin. Making good on the
success of its predecessor, the disc soared to number four on the Billboard
200 chart and spent 29 weeks on the Gospel Albums chart. Two more
chart-topping albums emerged out in the next four years, Hero (2005) and
Songs for the Storm, Vol. 1 (2006), both of which topped the gospel charts
at the time of their release. Hero went on to win two Grammys in late 2006.
~ Sandra Brennan, All Music Guide
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