“…And that’s the reason Why We Sing”. Wow! It seems just like yesterday when we sang along to that song (Why We Sing) from the album Kirk Franklin and Family (1992). That was 20 years ago, How time flies! A classic from the debut album of visionary singer, musician, songwriter, arranger, producer, choir director - and in all modesty, gospel legend Kirk Franklin - a native Texan, who God has used over the past two decades to touch the lives of millions around the world.
In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Franklin's founding of his first major choir recording group (The Family) in 1992, and the extraordinary path that his life's work has taken him with his choirs and as a solo artist, THE ESSENTIAL KIRK FRANKLIN presents the first full-length, 28-song, double CD overview of his entire career.
History will yet again be made on January 24, 2012 as THE ESSENTIAL KIRK FRANKLIN marks the first multiple-CD collection to range from tracks with the Family on Franklin’s debut album (Kirk Franklin And The Family, recorded in 1992) all the way through his most current studio album of 2011 (Hello Fear).
Kirk has over the years amassed 18 RIAA gold and platinum records, 10 of which went to #1 on the Billboard Gospel Charts. For his work, he has earned seven Grammy Awards (five of which were for Best Album in all three major Gospel categories), 12 Gospel Music Association (GMA) Dove Awards, and 35 Stellar Awards, the most won by any artist. His albums have featured a wide variety of musicians including Stevie Wonder, Marvin L. Winans, Toby Mac, Mali Music, Marvin Sapp, Mary J Blidge, R Kelly, Fred Hammond, Shirley Caesar, Yolanda Adams…to name a few.
Kirk Franklin’s common beginnings are famous to his fans and followers, who can tell you how he was deserted by his birth mom and raised in a church in Ft. Worth by his good Aunt Gertrude, who financed her nephew’s piano lessons during age 4 by collecting tin can deposits. At age 11, he famously became strain executive of a Mt. Rose Baptist Church. His teen years were wild, though he eventually returned to a church and an early organisation with a Dallas-Ft. Worth Mass Choir during age 20.
Two years later, he founded a Family, whose entrance manuscript was available as a demo in 1992, and expelled on GospoCentric around Sparrow (with only minimal prolongation polish) in 1993. Kirk Franklin And The Family was a phenom that set the gospel universe on its ear. Recorded live in Ft. Worth, any lane was created and organised by Franklin, who featured scarcely all 17 members of a choir on several tracks. “Silver And Gold,” “Why We Sing,” “He’s Able,” “Speak To Me,” and a climactic 8-minute “Family Worship Medley” bear declare to a album’s power.
Kirk Franklin And The Family spent scarcely dual years on a Billboard Gospel chart, including 42 weeks at #1, crossed over to a RB draft (where it rose to #6), even done a respectably unheard-of crossover to #58 on a cocktail side. It became an initial contemporary gospel manuscript to be approved RIAA platinum. At a 24th annual Dove Awards of 1993, it was voted Traditional Gospel Album of the Year. “Why We Sing” was voted Traditional Gospel Song of the Year and started to get so much adult R&B radio airplay that (nearly dual years after a manuscript release) resulted in breaking through on the R&B chart.
THE ESSENTIAL KIRK FRANKLIN draws marks from any of a following #1 Gospel albums:
- Kirk Franklin And The Family (1993)
- Kirk Franklin And The Family Christmas (1995)
- Whatcha Lookin’ 4 (with a Family, 1996)
- God’s Property (with God’s Property, 1997)
- The Nu Nation Project (with a Family, God’s Property, One Nation Crew aka 1NC, and Nu Nation, 1998)
- The Rebirth Of Kirk Franklin (2002)
- Hero (2005)
- Kirk Franklin Presents: Songs For The Storm, Volume 1 (2006)
- The Fight Of My Life (2007)
- Hello Fear (2011)
The album will be available at all physical and digital retail outlets starting January 24, 2012, through Fo Yo Soul/Verity/Legacy, a division of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT.
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