Karen Clark Sheard
Karen Clark Sheard (born November 15, 1960 as Karen Valencia Clark ) is an American gospel singer.
Career
Karen Clark Sheard is the daughter of Mattie Moss Clark, who was the music director of the Church of God in Christ and who founded the Clark Conservatory of Music in Detroit . Together with four sisters, Karen formed the gospel group The Clark Sisters , which was successful in the 70s and 80s.
In 1997 she released her first solo album Finally Karen on Island Records , with which she went straight to number 2 on the Top Gospel Albums . It was also nominated for a Grammy Award in the Contemporary Soul Gospel Album category and won four awards at the Stellar Awards for Gospel Music . Donald Lawrence, the Tri-City Singers and Faith Evans contributed to the album .
It was five years before their next album, including a label change to Elektra . 2nd Chance was released in July 2002 and this time, in addition to Lawrence, Missy Elliott , Yolanda Adams and Mary Mary were among the guests. The album not only reached number 2 on the gospel charts again, but also made it into the top 100 of the official album charts . A year later, The Heavens Are Telling was released , half of which consists of live recordings. Again Missy Elliott and Mary Mary were represented. As with the first two albums, Clark Sheard sang again this time with her daughter Kierra Sheard , who was 17 years old at the time of release and who began a successful solo career a year later.
For their next release, Clark Sheard had to look for a new label after the collapse of Elektra. She chose the religious music-oriented label Word Records and released the album It's Not Over in January 2006 . It was created with the support of Israel Houghton and was recorded live. It was the first album without a guest singer and the first purely gospel album, after the albums had previously repeatedly gone in the direction of contemporary R&B . She had her first gospel hit with the song Favor from the album.
The following year, after a long break, the Clark Sisters made their comeback with the live album One Last Time , which reached number 1 on the gospel charts. With her sisters, Karen Clark Sheard won two awards at the 2008 Grammy Awards for the album and for recording the song Blessed & Highly Favored . She wrote the song and for it she got another Grammy for the best gospel song of the year.
She won another Grammy in 2010 for the duet Wait on the Lord with Donnie McClurkin . In the same year she also released her fifth album All in One , which was released for the first time on the family-owned label Karew Records . It was their second album in the top 100 of the official charts and developed away from worship music towards modern soul gospel. She was also more involved as a songwriter than on previous albums. It earned her another Grammy nomination in 2011 .
Five years passed before the next album. The recording Sunday AM , a top 5 hit in the gospel charts, was released beforehand. That song and the song Destined to Win earned her two more Grammy nominations. The latter was the title song of the album, this time again Donald Lawrence was responsible with Daniel Weatherspoon as producer. Faith Evans and daughter Kierra as well as son J. Drew Sheard II were involved again. For the sixth time, Clark Sheard was in the top 5 of the top gospel albums , but again missed number 1. With number 19, she achieved her best placement in the official ones Charts.
Discography
Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 US
|
Gospel
|
|||
| 1997 | Finally Karen | - |
Gospel2 (99 weeks) Gospel |
|
| 2002 | 2nd chance |
US82 (6 weeks) US |
Gospel2 (41 weeks) Gospel |
|
| 2003 | The Heavens Are Telling |
US188 (1 week) US |
Gospel3 (34 weeks) Gospel |
|
| 2006 | It's not over |
US124 (2 weeks) US |
Gospel4 (26 weeks) Gospel |
|
| 2010 | All in one |
US98 (2 weeks) US |
Gospel3 (51 weeks) Gospel |
|
| 2011 | The Ultimate Collection | - |
Gospel33 (5 weeks) Gospel |
|
| 2015 | Destined to Win |
US20 (1 week) US |
Gospel2 (23 weeks) Gospel |
|
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Gospel
|
|||
| 2006 | Favor It's Not Over |
Gospel25 (19 weeks) Gospel |
Authors: I. Houghton , AW Lindsey
|
| You Showed Me It's Not Over |
Gospel18 (20 weeks) Gospel |
Author: JL Moss
|
|
| 2009 | Wait on the lord |
Gospel2 (48 weeks) Gospel |
|
| 2010 | Prayed Up All in One |
Gospel9 (33 weeks) Gospel |
Authors: JD Sheard II, K. Clark-Sheard
|
| He Knows All in One |
Gospel14 (27 weeks) Gospel |
feat. Dorinda Clark-Cole
Authors: K. Hunter, JL Moss, PD Allen |
|
| 2014 | Sunday AM Destined to Win |
Gospel17 (1 week) Gospel |
Authors: RG Currence III, D. Lawrence
|
| 2015 | My Words Have Power Destined to Win |
Gospel10 (26 weeks) Gospel |
feat. Donald Lawrence & the Co.
Author: GP Robinson |
More singles
- Balm in Gilead (1997)
- Brand New Day ( feat.Yolanda Adams , 2002)
- Be Sure (2002)
- You Loved Me ( feat.Kierra Sheard , 2003)
- We Acknowledge You (2003)
swell
- ↑ 1999 Grammy Nominations. , The Free Library, January 6, 1999
- ↑ a b Karen Clark-Sheard in the US charts (Billboard)
- ↑ Sunday AM in the US Hot Gospel Songs (Billboard)
Awards
Grammy Awards
- 2008 : Best Gospel Song for Blessed & Highly Favored (songwriting)
- 2010 : Best Gospel Performance for Wait on the Lord ( Donnie McClurkin & Karen Clark Sheard)
with the Clark Sisters
- 2008: Best Gospel Performance for Blessed & Highly Favored
- 2008: Best Traditional Gospel Album for Live - One Last Time
Web links
- Homepage of the Clark Sisters (English)
- Karew Records (English)
- Karen Clark-Sheard at Allmusic (English)
- Karen Clark Sheard at Discogs (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Clark Sheard, Karen |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Clark, Karen Valencia (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American gospel singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 15, 1960 |