Kirk Franklin, born on January 26, 1970 in Fort Worth, Texas, is a platinum-selling African-American musician who blended gospel, hip hop, and R&B in the 1990s.

He released his first gospel album, Kirk Franklin & Family, in 1993, and is known as the leader of contemporary gospel choirs such as Kirk Franklin & the Family, Kirk Franklin's Nu Nation, and God's Property.

A native of Fort Worth, Texas, he was raised by his aunt, Gertrude Franklin. A strict, church-going Baptist, she saw to it that her charge was well-versed in the Christian faith from his earliest years.

The youngster not only thrived spiritually in the church environment, he displayed early on prodigious musical gifts. Recognizing Kirk's artistic anointing, his aunt collected and resold aluminum cans to raise money for her nephew to take piano lessons when he was only four. He developed a talent for music early, playing the piano at age four and becoming music director of his church at age eleven.

The funding for that instruction was money well-spent, for Franklin was a natural musician who could sight read and play by ear with equal facility, and at the tender age of 11, was leading the Mt. Rose Baptist Church adult choir in Fort Worth. Despite his strong background in the church, Franklin turned rebellious in his teens, trading in the values and morals on which he'd been weaned for a life of violence, intimidation and larceny. It took the shooting death of a close friend to jolt Kirk, then 15, into a realization of the error of his ways, and back into the safe fold of the church where he began composing songs and recording demo tapes with a passion.

Nurtured on a steady diet of traditional gospel music, Kirk had also kept an ear open to the secular R&B, rock and pop music of the early and mid-'80s, and he absorbed the best of both musical worlds. Along with the power and passion of innumerable classic gospel artists, he was impacted by the sounds of an eclectic, far-reaching mix of R&B/funk and rock icons, from Cameo, George Clinton and Rick James to rockers U2, INXS and Depeche Mode, among others.

In the early '90s he formed a 17-member vocal ensemble of neighborhood friends and associates, dubbed "The Family." His life took a dramatic turn in 1992 when Vicki Mack-Lataillade, President and CEO of the then-fledgling Gospo Centric Records, listened to one of his tapes and, amazed by what she heard, quickly signed him to a recording contract.

He has integrated hip hop styles with gospel themes in albums such as The Nu Nation Project and God's Property, which achieved success on the Billboard Pop Album, R&B and gospel charts.

Kirk Franklin Web Site
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