Karen Clark Sheard is an American Grammy Award-winning gospel singer, musician, and songwriter. She is best known as the youngest member of the American gospel group The Clark Sisters. During the hiatus of the Clark Sisters, She rose to fame after she recorded her critically acclaimed and much anticipated solo album Finally Karen, which spawned her hit, “Balm in Gilead” the R&B-flavored “Just For Me” and “Nothing Without You”. To know more about her. you can read the below article.
What is Karen Clark famous for?
- An American Grammy Award-winning gospel singer, musician, and songwriter.
How old is Karen Clark?
Going back to her early life, Karen was born as Karen Valencia Clark in Detroit, Michigan in the year 1960. Currently, she aged 59 years old. She is the youngest child of Reverend Elbert Clark and Dr. Mattie Moss Clark, a pioneering gospel choral director. The youngest of six children, her siblings are Leo, Jacky, Denise, Elbernita “Twinkie” and Dorinda. She is American by nationality and belongs to Afro-American ethnicity. Further, she is Christianity by religion.
For Education, She attended Mumford High School in Detroit, Michigan; graduating in 1979.
Who is Jacky Clark Chisholm?
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What does Karen Clark do?
- Karen began singing gospel with her sisters at age 6 in what became known as The Clark Sisters. Her involvement in the Island Inspirational All-Stars’ “Don’t Give Up” in 1996, led to her signing with Island Records.
- Her solo career began with the release of her debut album Finally Karen in 1997. The album, consisting of half studio recordings and half live recordings, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album in 1998, won Clark-Sheard the Lady of Soul Award for Best Gospel Album that same year and peaked at #28 and #2 on the U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and U.S. Billboard Gospel Albums charts respectively.
- After Yolanda Adams, She became the 2nd gospel artist to sign to Elektra Records. She released her Elektra debut album 2nd Chance in 2002. The album was led off by the single “Be Sure” and though she was in excellent form vocally, the slick, progressive sound of the disc was not received well in the gospel community.
- However, the album still performed well commercially and critically reaching #82 on the U.S. Billboard 200, #27 on the U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and #2 on the U.S. Billboard Gospel Albums.
- The 2003 followup The Heavens Are Telling fared well, but came at an awkward time when Elektra Records was being dissolved into Atlantic Records and so failed to match the commercial success of her previous albums, peaking a whole 106 places below 2nd Chance at #188 on the U.S. Billboard 200 – though it managed to reach a respectable #44 on the U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, a high #3 on the U.S. Billboard Gospel Albums chart and was her first album to chart on the U.S. Billboard Christian Albums chart, where it peaked at #11.
- In 2005, after a bidding war with several labels, she finally signed with Word Records and issued It’s Not Over, the sequel to her 1997 debut album Finally Karen was set to be released November 15th, 2005, her 45th birthday, but was delayed and released the following year. Most of It’s Not Over was recorded live in 2005 at her home church in Detroit, Michigan while the last three tracks were studio-recorded.
- It was her first solo album not to feature guest vocals from her daughter and was the first to include production from Israel Houghton, who handled the majority of the project.
- Despite having a much grander sound than her previous albums, it was another critical success for her and charted modestly at #124 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and #4 on the U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.
- As the songwriter, on February 10th, 2008, She won the Grammy Award for Best Gospel Song for “Blessed & Highly Favored” sung by The Clark Sisters.
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- In early 2009, She and her husband, J.Drew Sheard partnered together and launched a new record label entitled Karew Records; Distribution is via EMI Gospel. The Clark Sisters’ Christmas album, which was released in October 2009, was the first project to be released from Karew Records.
- On January 31st, 2010, She won the Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance for Wait on the Lord which she was featured with Donnie McClurkin.
- On April 6th, 2010, She released her fifth album titled All in One, which features additional vocals from her daughter Kierra Sheard, son J. Drew Sheard II, sister Dorinda Clark Cole, niece Angel Chisholm and cousin J. Moss.
- Though her first all-studio-recorded album since her 2002 release 2nd Chance, All in One managed to debut and peak at #98 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and #3 on the U.S. Billboard Gospel Albums chart, while the album’s lead single – “Prayed Up” – peaked at #9 and stayed over 22 weeks on the U.S. Billboard Hot Gospel Songs chart.
- She released her latest single “Sunday A.M” in 2014, which is nominated for the Best Gospel Song in the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.
- In 2019, She is in talks to play Kitty Parham, a member of The Famous Ward Singers in Aretha Franklin’s upcoming biopic Respect.
Who is Karen Clark Sheard’s husband?
Karen has been married once and has two children. On June 16th, 1984, she married Bishop J. Drew Sheard, a Detroit-based minister. Her husband is the senior pastor of Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ in Detroit. Together they have two children: Kierra “Kiki” Sheard (1987) and John Drew “J. Drew” Sheard II (1989). Kiki is also a gospel recording artist, with four albums, plus various projects to her credit. J. Drew is a young, up-and-coming musician and producer.
In 2001, She was faced with a life-threatening crisis when a blood vessel burst during scheduled hernia surgery. Her doctors only gave her a 2% chance of survival due to her complications. After the blood clot was surgically removed, she fell into a coma. The coma lasted three and a half weeks, but she says she made a miraculous recovery.
What is Karen Clark Sheard’s worth?
Karen Clark Sheard is an American gospel singer and musician who has the sum of a good amount of money and fame through her profession in the field of the music industry. As per the online sites, her estimated net worth said to be $10 million. However, her salary and asset details are still unknown.
How tall is Karen Clark Sheard?
Talking about her body physics, Karen has a height of 5 feet 5 inches and he has a body-weight of 50 Kg. Her eyes are dark brown and hair color is also dark brown. Further, her other body information is still unknown. Whenever we will update, we will let you know.
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