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Posts tagged as “Kirk Franklin”

MUSIC MONDAY: “Soulful Christmas 2023” – a New Holiday Recordings Playlist (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Soulful Christmas 2023” – a New Holiday Recordings Playlist (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on December 11, 2023

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Happy Holidays, you all.

We are half way through Hanukkah, with Christmas and Kwanzaa coming up quick. We’ve offered several funky and soulful and jazz and reggae seasonal playlists over the years. Search Spotify by “marlonwest” and they are all still there to enjoy this Yuletide Season.

This Music Monday offering features holiday-themed songs that have all been dropped in 2023.

There are new tracks from new and emerging artists like Cliff Beach, Samara Joy, Fitz and The Tantrums, and the ever-versatile Keke Palmer.

There’s new offers from Mary J. Blige, Brandy, War, and Kirk Franklin. Plus releases from the likes of Johnny Mathis and Carla Thomas.

Hope and yours have a delightful holiday season. Please enjoy this soulful collection offering in the days and weeks to come.

It has been an utter delight to sling good music your way here at Good Black News. See ya in January!

And as always, stay safe, sane, and kind.

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC: Ultimate “Soul of the Season” Christmas Soundtrack – Deluxe Edition (LISTEN)

MUSIC: Ultimate “Soul of the Season” Christmas Soundtrack – Deluxe Edition (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on December 4, 2021
by Jeff Meier (FB: Jeff.Meier.90)

In my house today, we’re hopefully finally getting our Christmas tree decorated, and hitting up the internet to buy a few more A Year of Good Black News 2022 calendars for our friends and family.  And in the background, of course, we’ll absolutely need those holiday tunes.

Last holiday season, one of our most popular playlists was our “Ultimate Soul of the Season Christmas Soundtrack.“ The inspiration behind it was to capture the mood of those radio stations that take the month of December to turn all Christmas, all the time.

The playlist is comprised of best in soulful Christmas music, in addition to a variety of Black artists in other genres ranging from blues to jazz to pop vocals to country. If you didn’t get the chance to subscribe to it last year, this year we’ve upgraded and improved the playlist, with our special ‘Deluxe Edition’ version:

The playlist ranges from the 1940s to today, from obvious beloved faves (Donny Hathaway, The Temptations, Nat King Cole) to obscure gems that could have been hits.

Now, we’ve got more than 60 new songs woven into the mix, including veteran oldies that are new to Spotify, as well as great new 2020 and 2021 Christmas tracks from artists like Bryson Tiller, Black Pumas, Summer Walker, Ty Dolla $ign, John Legend, and Tamela Mann.

Promising newcomers include vocal coach Stevie Mackey, repped with multiple songs on our list. And Sabrina Claudio, whose recent Christmas collection managed to score duets with The Weeknd and Alicia Keys, both songs added to the list.

Of course, up near the top of the list, we’ve added Queen of Christmas Mariah Carey‘s lush new song with Khalid and Kirk Franklin, “Fall In Love At Christmas.” 

So, get the fireplace going, the cookies baking, the presents wrapping, and the stockings hanging by the chimney with care – with some soulful tunes to make the whole month festive.  Enjoy!

MUSIC: Celebrating the Season with “The Ultimate Soul Christmas Soundtrack” Playlist (LISTEN)

MUSIC: Celebrating the Season with “The Ultimate Soul Christmas Soundtrack” Playlist (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on November 28, 2020

by Jeff Meier (FB: Jeff.Meier.90)

I spotted Christmas decorations in Costco by early October and Hallmark Channel has been airing non-stop holiday movies already for weeks, but like many, our family has always marked Thanksgiving to be the point where we officially kick off the holiday season, including breaking out the yuletide tunes.

With that in mind, Good Black News is happy to offer the “Ultimate Soul of the Season Christmas Soundtrack” as a playlist to guide you through the holidays with ease.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:2FHQ8HVPzGR0pd9R4Tu1Zm”/]

This is a mega-playlist – 25 hours of music in honor of the 25 days of Christmas leading up to the big day.  It is not meant to be listened to all in one sitting – but rather to be just one-click away as your go-to soundtrack for the month. You can set it and forget it, or hit shuffle and mix it up.

Our inspiration was to capture the mood of those many radio stations around the country that turn to a festive Christmas musical format in the month of December – but with our own specific Good Black News twist.

In our playlist, ALL the songs are by or feature Black artists. Have it on in the background for decorating, cooking, wrapping presents, or just sitting in front of the fire sipping eggnog – and in the process you’ll be supporting Black artists through your streams.

Bringing The Sunshine: GBN Offers Clark Sisters Playlist to Celebrate Lifetime Biopic Airing Tonight (LISTEN)

Bringing The Sunshine: GBN Offers Clark Sisters Playlist to Celebrate Lifetime Biopic Airing Tonight (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on April 11, 2020

by Jeff Meier (FB: Jeff.Meier.90)

Of course, it would take a superstar group of powerful Black women to sell and make a movie about The Clark Sisters, the pioneering Detroit siblings who are now in their fifth decade of rocking the gospel music world.

Tonight’s “The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel” (airing on Lifetime at 8PM) comes from executive producers Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige and Missy Elliott, co-executive producer Holly Davis Carter, writer Camille Tucker and director Christine Swanson.

I had my own Clark Sisters experience while working as an executive at TV One back in 2007-08, where The Clark Sisters were the subjects of one of the very first episodes of network’s successful biography series “UnSung,” a show I developed and initially oversaw.

At the time, I generally knew enough about The Clark Sisters to recognize their breakthroughs in transforming the gospel music sound – and I felt that the world had not generally afforded them enough credit for that. But I didn’t know much else about their personal story and ended up fascinated by the conflicts and struggle, and of course, all the music.  It’s not a surprise to me that producer Carter said she’s been trying to make this movie for 15 years – it is a worthy story to tell.

In honor of this movie accomplishment, Good Black News offers a career-spanning Spotify playlist below to allow you to keep enjoying the patented Clark Sister Sound all weekend long.

The Clark Sisters Playlist was crafted to include most of the key hits from The Clark Sisters – as well as highlights from the solo careers of Karen Clark Sheard, Dorinda Clark-Cole, Twinkie Clark, and even from next generation Clark family gospel superstar Kierra Sheard (who plays her mom Karen in the movie). For good measure, there’s also a rare solo track from Jacky Clark-Chisholm (a duet with movie exec producer Blige), and a coda from Dr. Mattie Moss Clark herself.

Jacky, Denise, Elbernita (Twinkie), Dorinda, and Karen were the five daughters of Mattie Moss Clark, a pioneering gospel music figure herself, who while raising her daughters also served as a minister of music for the Church of God In Christ, first at the local level in Michigan, but eventually at the national level.

‘Black Love’ is a Ratings Winner for OWN Network; Debuts in Regular Timeslot Tonight

By goodblacknews on September 2, 2017

Meagan Good and DeVon Franklin (photo via blackamericaweb.com)

via blackamericaweb.com
‘Black Love’ is winning. The four-episode documentary featuring a host of celebrity couples talking honestly about marriage’s ups and down debuted to the highest ratings ever for unscripted shows on OWN. The network has ordered more episodes of the hit docu-series which debuted Tuesday with 1.2 million total viewers. Additionally, the premiere of “Black Love” was the #2 most social primetime episode on national cable.
The series will debut in its regular timeslot, Saturdays ‪at 9 p.m. ET/PT, ‪beginning this Saturday, September 2. The new episodes for 2018 will feature Emmy-nominated actor Sterling K. Brown and wife Ryan Michelle Bathe, Tina Knowles-Lawson and husband Richard Lawson, NBA All-Star Grant Hill and Grammy-nominated recording artist ‪Tamia, Hip Hop influencer Rev Run and wife Justine Simmons, Grammy-winning gospel recording artist ‪Kirk Franklin and wife Tammy, comedian D.L. Hughley and wife LaDonna, former NFL-running back Eddie George and wife Taj, and more.

‘Black Love,’ from married filmmakers Codie Elaine Oliver and Tommy Oliver (‘The Perfect Guy’) and Confluential Films, highlights love stories from the Black community to answer the burning question, “What does it take to make a marriage work? ” The docu-series shares honest, emotional and sometimes cringe-worthy always-true love stories.
Featured couples for the current four-episode season include Oscar-winner Viola Davis and husband Julius Tennon, Hollywood power couple Meagan Good and DeVon Franklin, NAACP Image Award-winner Tia Mowry and husband/actor Cory Hardrict, NAACP Image Award-nominee Flex Alexander and Grammy-nominated recording artist Shanice, Grammy award-winners ‪Erica Campbell and ‪Warryn Campbell, and many additional couples from around the country.
Source: ‘Black Love’ Is A Winner For OWN Network | Black America Web

Gospel Star Kirk Franklin Apologizes for Homophobia in the Black Church: The Bible Isn't Written to Attack Gays

By goodblacknews on November 15, 2015
Kirk Franklin (photo via bet.com)

The Black church has, for years, been known for not being the biggest supporter of the LGBT community, but today, Kirk Franklin, a respected force in the religious community, has come forward to apologize on their behalf.
“I want to apologize for all of the hurtful and painful things that have been said about people in the church that have been talented and gifted and musical, that we’ve used and we’ve embarrassed… and all this other horrible crap that we’ve done,” he told The Grio. “We have not treated them like people. We’re talking about human beings, men and women that God has created.”
The “I Smile” crooner explained the Bible was not written as an anti-gay work, but rather, the opposite: “The Bible is not a book that’s an attack on gay people,” he said. “It’s not a book written to attack gay people. It is horrible that we have made it where the Bible is a homophobic manual.”
Bringing it all together, Franklin said that he just wants all LGBT-identifying people to know that God is in their corner. “I mean, you want to talk about things that God gets at… pride and jealousy and envy and arrogance,” he said. “But what we also see is God sending his son to save us all, because we were all… straight, gay or whatever, lost and in need of a savior, and there’s room at the cross for all of us.”
article by John Justice via bet.com