Kirk Franklin and his chart-topping album Hello Fear has just been certified Gold, as reported by the R.I.A.A, says Christian Art Media in a Press Release.
The announcement follows Franklin’s two Grammy awards wins for Best Gospel Album (Hello Fear) and Best Gospel Song (“Hello Fear”) earlier this week at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards celebration held on February 12 in Los Angeles. With these two new trophies, Franklin – the #1 selling Gospel artist of all time – now has nine career Grammy awards.
Franklin is also performing at this year’s live NBC Network NAACP Image award show today (Friday, February 17 at 8:00 p.m. EST), in which he is nominated for two awards: Outstanding Song (“I Smile”) and Outstanding Gospel Album (Hello Fear).
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Franklin’s Hello Fear debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Gospel sales chart and #5 on the Billboard Top 200 when it was released last Spring (US time), making the album the fourth highest Gospel debut in Soundscan history.
In addition to his Grammy wins and NAACP nominations, Franklin was recently awarded four Stellar Awards for Hello Fear and “I Smile” — Song of The Year, CD of the Year, Producer of the Year and Contemporary CD of the Year. Franklin performed “I Smile” on last year’s American Idol finale, and was #1 at Gospel radio for 23 weeks, hitting Urban AC radio at #3.
Currently, Franklin stars as Baylor Sykes in the feature film Joyful Noise starring Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah. He also hosts and executive produces gospel talent show “Sunday Best,” the highest-rated gospel program in BET network history, now heading into its fifth season.
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For two decades, Kirk Franklin has been a pioneer in gap-bridging musicianship, uniting gospel, hip hop, pop and R&B audiences. His rhythms have resulted in albums that have consistently topped Billboard’s Gospel, Christian and R&B/Hip Hop charts. He is also a New York Times best-selling author for “The Blueprint: A Plan for Living Above Life’s Storms (Gotham/Penguin). To date, Franklin has garnered nine Grammy Awards, an American Music Award, 35 Stellar Awards, 14 Dove Awards (CCM), six NAACP Image Awards and two BET Awards.
