Kirk Franklin
Kirk Dewayne Franklin was leading a Fort Worth, Texas church choir by age eleven before his 1993 debut Kirk Franklin & the Family went platinum and 1997's "Stomp" became one of the first gospel songs in heavy MTV rotation. He rebuilt gospel around hip-hop beats, funk, and R&B without abandoning the choir tradition he grew up in, winning 20 Grammy Awards and describing himself as simply an extension of the gospel artists who came before him.
The Clark Sisters helped prove gospel choirs could cross onto pop and R&B charts without losing their church roots, a template Franklin expanded on with his own choir-driven, radio-ready sound.
listen forPlay "You Brought the Sunshine (Into My Life)" next to "Melodies From Heaven": both wrap a full, joyful choir around a groove built for the dancefloor as much as the sanctuary.
Franklin has described himself as an extension of the gospel greats who came before him; Mahalia Jackson's booming, testifying delivery is the bedrock every contemporary gospel choir arrangement, Franklin's included, still answers to.
listen forSet "Move On Up a Little Higher" against "Stomp": strip away six decades of production and both are still built to make a whole congregation testify out loud.
Thomas A. Dorsey, the "father of gospel music," fused blues structure with sacred lyrics in the 1930s and effectively invented the modern gospel song; Franklin's career-long project of pulling gospel toward secular sounds without losing its message follows the same blueprint.
listen forPlay "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" next to "I Smile": both turn personal hardship into a plainly stated, singable declaration of faith.