Donnie McClurkin
Singer
Donald Andrew McClurkin, Jr. is an American gospel music singer and minister. He has won three Grammy awards, ten Stellar awards, two BET awards, two Soul Train awards, one Dove award and one NAACP Image award for his work. Wikipedia
Born: November 9, 1959 (age 53)
Height: 1.85 m
Movies and TV shows: Sunday Best, The Gospel, Donnie McClurkin Story: From Darkness to Light, Show Yourself Mighty, WOW Gospel 2009, Donnie McClurkin: Again, Gotta Have Gospel Gold, Apollo at 70: A Hot Night in Harlem, Donnie McClurkin: Live in London and More, Hopeville, Donnie McClurkin: Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs, Verity Records: The First Decade, WOW Gospel #1s, WOW Gospel 2006, Gospel Greats Presents: Praise & Worship Live: Vol. 2, WOW Gospel 2004, WOW Gospel 2005, Gospel Greats Presents: Praise & Worship Live: Vol. 1More
Awards: Grammy Award for Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance, Grammy Award for Best Traditional Gospel Album, Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel AlbumMore
Career
Gospel vocalist. Formed group with sisters, the McClurkin Singers, late 1970s; formed and directed New York Restoration Choir, late 1970s; recorded with group for Savoy/Malaco label; attended gospel-music seminar given by Rev. Marvin Winans, 1983; became associate minister at Winans's Perfecting Church, Detroit, MI, 1989; suffered from leukemia; led choirs in performances at White House twice; recorded debut album Donnie McClurkin, 1996; recorded The McClurkin Project with sisters, 1999; recorded Live in London & More, 2000.
Life's Work
One of gospel music's rising stars and most respected figures, Donnie McClurkin has devoted his musical life to gospel's original mission of providing help and hope to people in need. Forging a gospel style that is traditional in orientation but spiced with modern touches from such musical influences as Andrae Crouch and Take 6, McClurkin enjoyed strong sales with his 1996 debut album, Donnie McClurkin, and seemed poised for even wider success with the release of several new projects in the year 2000. Beyond his success in the musical arena, however, McClurkin has maintained an active career as a minister, remaining in direct contact with the audience to which he directs his music.
McClurkin was born in 1961, and raised in Amityville, New York, on Long Island outside of New York City. Both of McClurkin's parents were substance abusers, and his childhood was a difficult one, plagued by violence and abuse. Often trying to act as a peacemaker between his warring parents, he found a haven in his family church, the Gospel Tabernacle Assemblies of God, and made a commitment to the Christian religion when he was only nine years old. "The only way my mother could punish me was saying I couldn't go to church," McClurkin later recalled in a Detroit Free Press interview.
Mentored by Andrae Crouch
McClurkin's real spiritual awakening, however, came two years later when he encountered one of the great gospel singers of the modern era, Andrae Crouch. McClurkin's aunt, a backup singer for Crouch, had arranged a performance by Crouch at McClurkin's church. Crouch took an interest in the troubled youngster, encouraging him not only musically (McClurkin soon became a pianist with the church's youth choir) but also personally, corresponding with him and suggesting Scripture readings that might bring him comfort.
For McClurkin, the experience cemented a link in his mind between music and a more general effort to reach out to the afflicted. "Andrae fostered ministry, rather than fame," McClurkin explained to the online magazine crosswalk.com. "It was more ministry to him than anything else, not some glamorous career." McClurkin began to sing as a teenager, and with his four vocally talented sisters formed a group called the McClurkin Singers. As his vocal and compositional talents grew, however, McClurkin aimed not at the gospel spotlight, but at a different kind of ideal.
Forming a gospel ensemble called the New York Restoration Choir, McClurkin led the group in performances where gospel music could have a direct impact. The group appeared in prisons and sang on the street. The group recorded for the roots-oriented Savoy/Malaco labels. After telling members of the choir of a divinely inspired premonition that he would one day work with Detroit's renowned minister and gospel-singer Rev. Marvin Winans, McClurkin attended a seminar given by Winans in 1983. Winans likewise sensed a connection. "I don't even know what your name is," he told McClurkin in recollections quoted in crosswalk.com. "I have nothing to offer you, but somehow we're going to work together." The prophecy took a while to come true. However, in 1989, McClurkin relocated to Detroit to join the staff of Winans's 2,000-member Perfecting Church as an associate minister.
Diagnosed with Leukemia
Nestled in the bosom of gospel music's foremost family, McClurkin seemed headed for a bright future as a performer. "I've been trained real well--having the Winans family at your disposal does that," McClurkin told the Detroit Free Press. Early in his career in Detroit, however, McClurkin was diagnosed with leukemia. The disease went into remission, thanks, McClurkin told crosswalk.com, to prayers from members of the Winans family. According to the Free Press, the disease left McClurkin's tenor voice permanently damaged. Doctors gave him a set of vocal exercises to perform in order to regain his strength. On his own web site's biography, McClurkin does not mention the illness.
McClurkin's career blossomed as he performed and led choirs within the Winans fold. He appeared at the White House during the presidencies of both George Bush and Bill Clinton, toured internationally, contributed backing vocals to a number of Winans recording projects, and wrote new music. He also cultivated a friendship with Demetrus Alexander, an executive at the Warner Alliance label. In October of 1996, McClurkin released his self-titled debut album.
McClurkin's debut album benefitted from production work by various top gospel performers, including Crouch, Mark Kibble of the a cappella group Take 6, and former CeCe Winans producer Cedric Caldwell. Effectively mixing traditional and contemporary styles, the album included several songs of McClurkin's own composition, a classical-styled version of the hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy," a Christianized Take 6 arrangement of the Pointer Sisters' rousing "Yes We Can Can," and Crouch's "We Expect You." McClurkin himself described his style as "eclectic" in conversation with Billboard magazine's Lisa Collins, and the unique musical assortment appealed to gospel fans. McClurkin's debut album remained in the Top Ten of Billboard's gospel sales chart for over two years.
Worked with Kelly Price
In 1999, McClurkin returned to the studio with his sisters to record The McClurkin Project for the Gospocentric label. The album showcased McClurkin's arranging skills with what the Detroit Free Press described as "tight, soaring harmony," and also featured McClurkin's own vocals on four tracks. In the spring of 2000, McClurkin's second solo release, Live in London & More, was slated for release on the Verity label, with guest appearances by Marvin Winans and Gladys Knight, and a songwriting contribution from R&B singer Kelly Price. Reportedly in negotiations with an Atlanta-based cable network for his own television show, McClurkin seemed to be a star on the rise.
McClurkin did not let his rising success distract him from the spiritual underpinnings of his musical career. Focusing his Perfecting Church ministry on families that, like his own, had suffered through destructive conflicts and sexual abuse, McClurkin laid plans to assume the pastorship of a church of his own. In the spring of 2000, he was conducting monthly services back in his home town of New York City, and hoped to conduct weekly services by the fall of 2000. With Psalm 118:17 as a credo ("I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord"), McClurkin is a performer in touch with the spiritual roots of gospel music.
Works
Selected discography
Further Reading
Periodicals
Early lifeMcClurkin was born Copiague, New York and raised in Amityville, both on Long Island. When he was eight years old, his two-year-old brother was hit and killed by a speeding driver. After the loss, McClurkin found comfort in church and through an aunt who sang background vocals with gospel music musician Andraé Crouch. He formed the McClurkin Singers by the time he was a teenager, and later formed another group, the New York Restoration Choir.[1][2]MinistryHe was hired as an associate minister at Marvin Winans' Perfecting Church in Detroit, in 1989.[3] McClurkin served as an assistant to Winans for over a decade.In 1991, a sharp pain and swelling, followed by internal bleeding led, he says, to a diagnosis of leukemia. The doctor suggested immediate treatment, but McClurkin, who was then 31, decided to take his own advice. "I tell people to believe that God will save you," he says, "[and] I had to turn around and practice the very thing that I preached."[4] He was ordained and sent out by Winans in 2001 to establish Perfecting Faith Church in Freeport, New York, where he is now Senior Pastor.[5][6] MusicA friendship with a Warner Alliance executive resulted in his signing to the label for his 1996 self-titled LP, with producers Mark Kibble of Take 6, Cedric and Victor Caldwell plus Andraé Crouch. The disc, which featured the perennially popular "Stand," went gold shortly after being publicly lauded by Oprah Winfrey.[7] At the 48th Annual Grammy Awards, he won in the category Traditional Soul Gospel Album, for "Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs".[8] McClurkin is best known for his hit songs “Stand” and “We Fall Down” which were played in heavy rotation on both Gospel and Urban radio. His three solo albums have topped the Billboard charts.[9]Dovetailing off the success of his near double-platinum selling album,"Live in London and More" McClurkin released "Psalms,Hymns and Spiritual Songs" in 2005 and “We All Are One: Live In Detroit” in 2009 which also topped Billboard charts across various musical genres. McClurkin's love for people and desire to share gospel music,globally, is why he includes a language medley:Japanese, Russian, Spanish, and Dutch in most live performances. Radio and televisionTom Versen and Tony Sisti of T&T Creative www.tandtcreative.com signed Grammy winner Donnie McClurkin to a radio syndication deal with advertising giant Dial-Global and syndicator Gary Bernstein. T&T Creative provided a mobile recording studio in Pastor Donnie's church that he can also take on the road. He is quoted as saying "As much as I love music and singing, I really love doing radio and the direct feedback I get from my listeners all over the country. I never thought I would be having this much fun doing radio and I could touch and impact so many people."[19]In 2009 he also broadcast his own television show titled “Perfecting Your Faith” on cable television.[10] His television appearances include Good Morning America, CBS Saturday’s Early Show, and the View. He has also been featured in movies like “The Gospel”, “The Fighting Temptations” and television shows “Girlfriends” and “The Parkers.” DiscographyStudio albums
Live albums
Compilation albums
Filmography
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