To hear Kirk Franklin's hit single "Looking For You," please Click Here

Kirk Franklin Continues Gospel Message With His Hero Album, and Launches Major U.S. Tour

By Dale Kawashima

Gospel star Kirk Franklin is on a mission, continuing to spread his religious faith and positive message with his latest album Hero (on his Fo Yo Soul Entertainment label via Zomba Records), which was released last September (2005) and has already been certified gold. In addition, he has recently launched a major tour across the U.S., leading his 17-member group The Family onstage for a series of high-energy, soul-stirring shows.

Kirk Franklin

Franklin is an innovative artist and dynamic entertainer, combining gospel and hip-hop to reach a large, wide-ranging audience. He has been the best-selling gospel artist for the past decade, with four platinum albums (two which went double platinum) and three gold albums to his credit. Notably, Franklin has also won three Grammy awards and nine Dove awards.

His first single release from Hero, “Looking For You,” has already been a gospel and R&B chart hit, and received a Grammy nomination for Best Gospel Performance. And besides his CD sales and his reputation as a strong live performer, Franklin is known for his excellent work as a gospel choir director and arranger. Not only does he produce the rich, passionate choir arrangements on his own albums, but he also produces the choir arrangements for other artists’ albums, including Stevie Wonder’s Grammy-winning A Time To Love.

In a new interview, Franklin talked about the songs on his Hero album, and about his songwriting. He also spoke about his current tour, which is called the Hero Tour. Lastly, when asked, he gives advice to young artists and songwriters who are trying to break into the music business.

Hero is an ambitious, varied album, which contains 20 cuts. Besides the single “Looking At You,” a key song is “Why,” which spotlights a vocal performance by Stevie Wonder. Another highlight is the ballad “Without You,” which starts off softly with Franklin’s understated, lead vocals, but gradually turns into a majestic, epic choir song. In addition, there are a couple of interesting, sample ideas that he utilizes for the album. “Let It Go” includes a sample of the Tears For Fears hit, “Shout.” And his hit “Looking For You” contains a sample of the Patrice Rushen song, “Haven’t You Heard.”

The CD cover of Kirk Franklin's new album Hero, on Fo Yo Soul Entertainment/Zomba Records.

Franklin is a multi-talented writer and musician, who writes and produces his own albums, plays keyboards, and handles the drum programming. Yet, when asked about his songwriting process, he fully credits God for being the true creator of his music. “I believe that God is the songwriter and I am the pen,” explained Franklin. “That’s the revelation that came to me. All the music that comes out of me, is because God has spoken to my heart - it all comes from Him. Of course, I could get this inspiration (to write a song) at any given moment or place. The inspiration could be when I’m at a stoplight or in the shower. It could be at four in the morning, or at a football game. Writing songs is His gift that I manage – I’m grateful to be used by God.”

“With my music, what I strive to do is give good entertainment and production, so people can be excited, and I can share my faith with them,” he added. “I always try to have an open heart, so I can reach people both emotionally and artistically.” For his recent single “Looking At You,” Franklin got the inspiration for the song when he was in Brazil. “It’s a song that I first thought about when I was in Brazil. I was in a store and I heard the song ‘Haven’t You Heard’ through the sound system. I asked a DJ to find the original version of the song, which was by Patrice Rushen.”

Franklin also discussed about how he got together with Stevie Wonder for his song, “Why.” “I just started to work with Stevie during the past year,” said Franklin. “We’d been talking about working together for about six years. ‘Why’ seemed like a Stevie-ish kind of song. Stevie liked the song, so I flew to L.A. and recorded his vocals.” Franklin also contributed to Stevie Wonder’s recent album, A Time To Love, producing and arranging the choir vocals on two of the album’s key songs, “If Your Love Cannot Be Moved” and “Shelter In The Rain.”

Kirk Franklin

Now in the spring of 2006, Franklin is in the midst of his major Hero concert tour. The tour kicked off in Cleveland in late February, and is continuing across the country. The opening act on the tour is the acclaimed gospel duo, Mary Mary. In addition to the tour, Franklin is also making several TV appearances, on such shows as Oprah, Soul Train, Live with Regis & Kelly, and BET’s Lift Every Voice.

Lastly, when asked what advice he had for young artists who are trying to break into the music business, he said: “What young artists have to understand, is that they have an incredible opportunity to affect people’s lives. Use the microphone wisely. It’s very important to say something significant – to try to make relationships and things better. Music was created to inspire people. So say something that people can feel, and point them in the right direction, to make them feel better and be better. Realize how powerful the microphone is – make them feel better, not bitter.”

You can listen to streaming audio of Kirk Franklin's hit single "Looking For You," by clicking one of the links directly below:

Windows Media Player

Real Player

You can listen to streaming audio of Kirk Franklin's "September" (a tribute to Earth Wind & Fire) by clicking one of the links directly below:

Windows Media Player

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