Kirk Franklin was born on January 26, 1970 in Riverside, Texas is a Grammy Award winning, platinum-selling African American musician who blends gospel, hip hop, and R&B.

He released his first gospel album, Kirk Franklin & Family, in 1993, and is known as the leader of contemporary gospel choirs such as Kirk Franklin & the Family, Kirk Franklin's Nu Nation, God's Property and Kirk Franklin Presents 1NC.

He signed with GospoCentric in 1993, releasing Kirk Franklin & The Family. It spent almost 2 years on the gospel charts, also charted on the R&B charts and went platinum. It stayed at #1 on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart for 42 weeks, into 1995.

In November 1995, Christmas was released, and stayed at #1 on the Gospel charts for 8 weeks. It was followed by "Whatcha Lookin' 4" in 1996. It went on to be #1 on the Billboard Contemporary Christian Albums chart for 19 weeks, and on the Gospel albums chart for 30 weeks.

In 2001, Franklin oversaw the soundtrack for the film, Kingdom Come. The soundtrack featured Jill Scott, Mary Mary, 1NC, AZ Yet, and others. The song, "Thank You" (Kirk Franklin feat Mary Mary) was a hit.

2002's The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin topped the Gospel Albums chart for 29 weeks, was #1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and was certified Platinum. The album featured many collaborations, including with Bishop T.D. Jakes, Shirley Caesar, Tobymac, Jaci Velasquez, Alvin Slaughter, and Yolanda Adams.

On October 4, 2005, his new long-awaited album Hero was released. The album was certified Gold that same year, and was #1 on both the Top Christian and Top Gospel albums.

In 2006, Franklin released Songs From The Storm, Volume 1 which topped the Top Gospel albums.