An Interview With Kirk Franklin: Gospel Music’s Favorite Son

The Forth Worth, Texas, native has been a musician since age 4, studying piano even though he was blessed with a natural ability to read and write music. His foray into the gospel music scene came in 1993, when Kirk Franklin & The Family released their eponymous debut album. The Messiah-praising singles “Silver & Gold” and “Why We Sing” were in heavy rotation across the country rivaling R&B hits like Xscape’s “Just Kickin’ It,” H-Town’s “Knockin’ Da Boots,” and Jodeci’s “Lately.” Franklin is credited with bridging the gap between the faith community and urban mainstream.

The gospel star has also endured his fans’ and the world’s condemnation for his compulsion with pornography and even their jokes about his near fatal fall, a misstep that sent him flying 9 feet, head first, into an orchestra pit at the Memphis Cook Convention Center. Doctors feared the worst — that he might have brain damage, suffer from paralysis or even die. Franklin miraculously pulled through and now more than 14 years later, the multiplatinum recording artist has served as the host of BET’s “Sunday Best” since its inception, and recently authored a book, The Blueprint: A Plan for Living Above Life’s Storms. In the intriguing tell-all, readers will find Franklin more transparent than ever, sharing his life experiences as a husband and a father.

The fashionable musical trendsetter has won five Grammys, 11 Doves, 34 Stellars, four NAACP Images, two BETs, one American Music and one Soul Train Award to date. Here, the biggest selling gospel artist in Soundscan history sits down with rolling out to discuss his new book, why he still dates his wife Tammy and the importance of loving unconditionally.

This is a book I have been working on for over year. If you want something to read [that’s] not going to preach to you, you can read and enjoy The Blueprint, it’s the book for you. You will feel God’s hand try and remind you that you are created for something bigger.

I have several regrets. I don’t think that any human can look back over his life and not see areas that he could’ve changed or wished he was informed more [about], or that he chose his way or he was more afraid to speak up and speak out. But how we respond to those things is what counts. For every lesson that is not learned, [the mistake] is repeated.

I think you have several things that are happening in different pockets of life. In the African American community, there are probably several reasons. [We haven’t done] a good job of watching the black church. It hasn’t always been … keen as being socially aware to economic situations. We see churches and crack-houses on every corner and we want to know where the church’s power is when it comes to the drug- ridden black community. The best job I can do for anyone that has left the Christian faith, is live a life that looks attractive others. As opposed to denouncing this and denouncing that. It is my job to be attractive … so attractive that it becomes of interest. Then it gives me a platform to reveal God to others.

[Whether it’s] a heterosexual lifestyle, an adulterous relationship, envy, jealousy, pride or ego, we must be able to speak on people’s lifestyles [without applying labels or exclusivity]. We must be able to model what love looks like. Many young men and women can be talked to and communicated with when the sermon is not coming from the pulpit, when it is not homophobic and when it is not filled with evil and hatred, or a certain bias. [Sometimes] we can be hypocritical in our approach, however, we must be loving and be able to teach young men and women what a relationship looks like. That’s why I believe when you talk about same-sex relationships, that it must be something that cannot necessarily be a part of the public discussion because all we will continue to do will be to argue. When the lights, camera and action go off, we have to go behind the scenes and help our brothers and sisters. Be bold and not afraid to grab the hands of our youth. It’s my duty to show him what a man looks like. If I can’t model it, all I’m doing is preaching and Christ said it so clearly, ‘I know you my disciple, by your love.’