Kirk Franklin Biography
Kirk Franklin an American choir director, gospel musician, singer, songwriter, and author known for leading urban modern gospel choirs such as The Family, God’s Property, and One Nation Crew among others. Franklin has won various awards, including 16 Grammy Awards. Variety named him as a ‘Reigning King of Urban Gospel”.
Kirk Franklin Age
Franklin was born Kirk Dewayne Franklin on January 26, 1970, in Fort Worth, Texas, the United States of America.
Kirk Franklin Music Career
Franklin got 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 twelve. Franklin studied music with Jewell Kelly and the Singing Chaparrals at Oscar Dean Wyatt High School. He was under her tutelage for music direction as she allowed him to be the pianist for the choir.
Franklin 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.
In 1992, Franklin organized “The Family“, which was 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 Franklin and The Family to a recording contract.
In 1993, the group, now known as “Franklin and The Family,” released their debut album, Franklin and The Family. Since his debut, Franklin and The Family in 1993, Franklin has been one of the brightest stars in contemporary gospel music. The album spent 100 weeks on the gospel charts, crossed over to the R&B charts, and became the first gospel debut album to go platinum.
Franklin’s second album, Franklin and 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 as “the Garth Brooks of the 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 started 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 came back to the fold and started composing songs, recording, and conducting. Since 1991, he has been backed up by his 17-member choir, the Family, a group consisting of friends and associates from his younger days.
Support from his pastor, his wife Tammy, whom he married in early 1996, and the four 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 and remained on the Billboard Gospel Albums chart for 49 weeks, paving the way for Franklin’s third Grammy.
Over the course of the next few years, Franklin worked on the soundtrack of the movie Kingdom Come and released another album, 2002’s The Rebirth of 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 and Songs for the Storm, Vol. 1, both of which topped the gospel charts at the time of their release. Hero went on to win two Grammys in late 2006.
The following year, he released The Fight of My Life, an all-star affair featuring contributions from Rance Allen, tobyMac, and Melvin Williams, among others. It topped the Gospel Albums chart and broke into the Top 40 of the Billboard 200.
In 2010, following the tragic earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Franklin assembled an even bigger crowd of gospel all-stars in Nashville’s Quad Studios to record the benefit single “Are You Listening.” His next studio album, 2011’s Hello Fear, featured “I Smile,” his first hit on the pop charts since 2005. The album took the gospel charts by storm, landing in the top spot, and remained there for several weeks.
Franklin spent the next two-and-a-half years touring. He formed his own label, Fo Yo Soul, and commenced recording his debut for it. In September of 2015, he announced the release of the controversial title, Losing My Religion. The pre-release single, “Wanna Be Happy,” appeared in October and ran right up the charts. It was followed in November by the full-length.
Kirk Franklin Net Worth
Franklin has an estimated net worth of $8.5 Million.
Kirk Franklin Albums
- 1993 Kirk Franklin & the Family
- 1995 Kirk Franklin & the Family Christmas
- 1996 Whatcha Lookin’ 4
- 1997 God’s Property from Kirk Franklin’s Nu Nation
- 1998 The Nu Nation Project
- 2000 Kirk Franklin Presents 1NC
- 2002 The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin
- 2005 Hero
- 2007 The Fight of My Life
- 2011 Hello Fear
- 2015 Losing My Religion
Kirk Franklin Songs
- I Smile
- Imagine Me
- My World Needs You
- Lean on Me
- Wanna Be Happy?
- My Life Is in Your Hands
- Something About the Name Jesus
- Why We Sing
- Now Behold the Lamb
- Brighter Day
- 123 Victory
- The Storm Is Over Now
- Revolution
- Looking for You
- Stomp
- My Life, My Love, My All
- He’s Able
- Gonna Be a Lovely Day
- A God Like You
- Silver & Gold
- He Reigns
- Hosanna
- Let Me Touch You
- Blessing in the Storm
- He Will Takes the Pain Away
- I Love You, Jesus
- Give Me
- Lookin’ Out For Me
- Before I Die
- Conquerors
- The Blood Song
- Hello Fear
Kirk Franklin Height and Weight
Franklin stands at a height of 5 feet 5 inches (166 cm, 1.66 m). He Weighs 75 kilograms (165.35 Ibs).
Kirk Franklin Education
Franklin studied music with Jewell Kelly and the Singing Chaparrals at Oscar Dean Wyatt High School. Franklin continued under her tutelage and ultimately became the pianist for the choir.
Kirk Franklin Family
Franklin was born to his mother’s name is Gertrude Franklin and his father’s name is Dwight Allen. He was raised by his aunt Gertrude , having been renounced as a baby by his mother.
Gertrude recycled aluminium cans to raise funds for Franklin to take piano classes from the age of four. Franklin surpassed and was able to read and write while also playing by ear.
At the age of seven, he received his first lease which his aunt turned down. He did join the church choir and became music director of the Mt. Rose Baptist Church adult choir at the age of 11. It is also known that Franklin’s sister was sentenced to 30 years in jail for the charge of drug trafficking.
Kirk Franklin Wife
Franklin married Tammy Collins on January 20, 1996. In 2005, they featured w on The Oprah Winfrey Show to talk about how he ended his pornography addiction. Franklin has done a very good job of maintaining his personal and professional life. He is a good husband and also a loving father. Till now no rumors about their divorce have emerged.
Kirk Franklin Children
The duo got married they each had one child from previous relationships: Franklins’s son Kerrion, who was born in 1988, and Tammy’s daughter Carrington, who was born in 1989. Together they have two adorable children together, a daughter named Kennedy who was born in 1997, and a son named Caziah, who was born in 2005.
Kirk Franklin Daughter Carrington
Franklin’s daughter Carrington became engaged to Maxx Nakwaasah in October 2015. Their wedding ceremony was held in Fort Worth, Texas, USA, and was officiated by Franklin doubling as the father of the bride and the officiating pastor.