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Music & Dance Karen Clark Sheard Detroit, Michigan Gospel 
Karen's entire life has been nothing but testimony.
Gospel is literally in her blood--her mother was the late Dr. Mattie Moss-Clark,
a gospel pioneer of the 1960s and 1970s, and one of the first gospel artists
to receive a gold album. Dr. Clark was an international minister of music
for the Church of God in Christ, and among the generation of musicians,
directors, arrangers, and composers who made Detroit a center for the mass
choir sound and for African-American gospel music in general. Dedicated
to education, Dr. Clark founded the Mattie Moss Clark Conservatory of Music
in Detroit to further the talents of vocal musicians as well as instrumentalists
on organ and piano, percussion, woodwinds, and strings. It was there, at
home, and at church that Karen Clark Sheard was schooled in the sounds that
now form the basis of her musical style.Karen emerged as her own spiritual and vocal force to be reckoned with the renowned gospel group, the Clark Sisters, formed under the guidance of their mother when Karen was but six years old. For more than two decades, Karen, along with her four siblings, remained one of the genres most popular and beloved singing sensations. It was the Clark Sisters (Karen, Dorinda, Jackie, and Twinkie) who brought contemporary gospel a hearty taste of mainstream success with their 1983 crossover hit "You Brought The Sunshine (Into My Life)" which hit the top of the R&B charts in 1987. Clark Sheard has been cited as a major vocal influence and inspiration to many of today's most popular female vocalists and performers. "These songs relate to my testimony," declares Clark Sheard. "Even when I'm singing the contemporary songs, I try to set my voice in a way for how a contemporary song should be sung. Then I try to do what is expected from the traditional song. So if folks want to go to church, I'll take them to church. When I do the contemporary, I'll put a little church in there. I'll mix it as well." Today Karen's work has garnered numerous awards and she performs regularly all over the country. While at home in Detroit, she is the first lady of Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God In Christ, where her husband, Superintendent J. Drew Sheard, presides as pastor. The Clark musical tradition is now continuing into the next generation: Kierra "Kiki" Sheard and J. Drew Sheard are acclaimed performers in their own right and Kiki will be accompanying Karen at the 2004 Great Lakes Folk Festival. Links http://gospelcrib.8m.com/kcsheard.htm http://www.gospelflava.com/articles/karenclarksheard2.html |
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