Kirk Franklin

Kirk Franklin: Biography in Details

Who is Kirk Franklin?

Kirk Franklin is one of the famous American gospel musicians, singers, songwriters, choir directors, and also an author.

Kirk Franklin: Birth Facts, Family, Childhood

Franklin was born on January 26, 1970, in Fort Worth, Texas, the U.S. His mother’s name is Gertrude Franklin and his father’s name is Dwight Allen. He was raised by his aunt, Gertrude, having been abandoned as a baby by his mother.

Education

There is not much information about his childhood and also his education history can’t find out.

Kirk Franklin: Early Professional life

He started his career at the age of four when he started piano lessons, and by age 12 he was the director of his church choir.

At a young age, he could not only hear but also read and write music. He was strictly upbringing in the church by his grandma which helps him a lot to bring his career.

He used to work in the church with his father. As he was passionate about performing church choir, he got the attention of gospel music legend Milton Bingham.

So he gets inspiration from his works and takes the responsibility for recording his first song. His first song is “Every Day with Jesus” which was recorded when he is only 20 years old.

Kirk Franklin: Professional life, Career

In 1992 he made a 17-person choir and it was so unique. In 1992, Kirk Franklin & The Family get a project to record gospel-centric and spent 42 weeks on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart to release their album. It became the first gospel album to sell over 1 million copies.

In 1996, the group worked together and released another album Whatcha Lookin, and it became 2X platinum and won Franklin his first Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album.

In 1997 he decided to collaborate with Cheryl “Salt” James and produce a song together.  The song was so popular on MTV and spent two weeks on top of the R&B charts. and was one of America’s top 40 hits.

In 2002, his song named The Rebirth topped the Gospel Albums chart for 29 weeks. The album also includes T.D. Jakes, Toby Mac, and Jaci Velasquez.

In 2005, he had more experience and release many other songs with different concepts. It leads him to gain more success and his album Hero also claimed gold status in just three months, and the album became platinum in December of the following year.

In 2007, he releases The Fight of My Life and it could sell 74,000 copies in the first week. It was on the No. 1 rank on both the Billboard Top Gospel and Top Christian albums charts.

He had also served as the host and co-executive producer of the BET original series. Likewise, he was also seen hosting Sunday Best and also as the musical co-host of GSN’s The American Bible Challenge with Jeff Foxworthy.

In 2013, Franklin associated with RCA Records and started to own his record label imprint, Fo Yo Soul Recordings.

In September 2015, he said that his twelfth studio album, Losing My Religion was released on  November 13, 2015. The first single from the album “Wanna Be Happy?” was released on August 28, 2015.

Lifetime Achievements, Awards

Franklin has been awarded 7 times and had nominated for different kinds of awards. They are as follows:

• Grammy Awards for Best Gospel Album in 2017, 2012 for Losing My Religion, Hello Fear, Best Gospel Song in 2012, 2009, 2007 for Hello Fear, Help Me Believe, Imagine Me, Best Gospel Performance/Song in 2017, 2016 for God Provides, Wanna Be Happy?

• Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album in 2009, 2007, and 1999, for The Fight of My Life, Hero, The Nu Nation Project,

• Billboard Music Award for Top Gospel Album in 2016 for Losing My Religion, Top Gospel Artist in 2017, 2016, Top Gospel Song in 2016 for Wanna Be Happy?

• BET Award for Best Gospel/Inspirational Artist in 2016, 2007, and 2006

• NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Gospel Album in 2012  for Hello Fear and Outstanding Album in 2003 for The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin

• Grammy Award for Best Gospel Choir or Chorus Album in 1998 for God’s Property from Kirk Franklin’s Nu Nation

• NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Song in 2012, 2003, and 1999 for I Smile, Brighter Day, Lean on Me

• Soul Train Music Award for Best Gospel Album in 2007, 2003, and 1999, for The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin, The Nu Nation Project,

• NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Gospel Artist in 2008, 2007, and 2003, for Imagine Me, The Nu Nation Project

• American Music Award for Favorite Contemporary Inspirational Artist in 2006

• Soul Train Music Award for Best Gospel/Inspirational Song in 2016 for 123 Victory

• GMA Dove Award for Contemporary Gospel/Urban Recorded Song and Album of the Year in 2017 for My World Needs You and Album Losing My Religion(2016), Gospel Artist of the Year in 2016

Kirk Franklin: Rumors, Controversy

There were a lot of rumors about Franklin that he was cheating on Tammy with some secret girlfriend. Kirk confirmed that he had never cheated on Tammy.

He agreed to have had a lot of romantic relationships with a string of women. After he started dating Tammy, things changed.

Tammy talks a lot about Franklin, how he came out of his problems, and their marital relationship.

She agreed that it was a rocky relationship and things were up and down many times. They always stood with each other and somehow solved the problems.

How much is Kirk Franklin worth?

Franklin is one of the most popular and respected singers and must have good earnings. His net worth is $8.5 million as of 2022.

Kirk Franklin: Body Measurements

Franklin stands at a height of 5 feet 5 inches tall. His weight is unknown.

He has black colored eyes and black colored hair.

Kirk Franklin: Social Media Profile

Franklin is active on different social media. He is active on Instagram and has got more than 1M  followers.

Likely, he is also active on Twitter and has more than 1.78M followers. More than that he also uses Facebook and has got more than 2M followers on her Facebook Account.

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Kirk Franklin's Anniversary Dates

Kirk Franklin's Birthday Dates