Kim Burrell

Houston, Texas-based singer and pianist Kim Burrell calls what she does "jazz gospel," and her ability to write a good portion of the material she records and performs makes her a rarity in the gospel field. To say she started performing early would be an understatement, since she took her first vocal solo with a church choir when she was only one-year-old. The daughter of a pastor and an evangelist singer, Burrell began her professional career with <a href="spotify:artist:5g1lWbZIQ0LCWbKmRJDSSn">Rev. James Cleveland's Gospel Music Workshop Choir</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2heyPPcaDQFp71av9VYPX7">Trinity Temple Full Gospel Mass Choir of Dallas</a>, and the Inspirational Sounds Mass Choir of Houston. Her recording debut came in 1995 with the release of Try Me Again on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Pearl+Records%22">Pearl Records</a>. The buzz around the release led to her signing with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Tommy+Boy+Gospel%22">Tommy Boy Gospel</a>, which released a second solo project, the Asaph Alexander Ward-produced Everlasting Life in 1998. Live in Concert followed in 2001, also on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Tommy+Boy%22">Tommy Boy</a>. Unfortunately, the label folded a year later and she was briefly signed to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Elektra+Records%22">Elektra Records</a> but only recorded a handful of guest spots for the imprint, although she continued to make frequent live appearances. In 2004 she made an unlikely guest turn on <a href="spotify:artist:2mxe0TnaNL039ysAj51xPQ">R. Kelly</a>'s "3-Way Phone Call" and sang with funkster <a href="spotify:artist:2GVBp7QyHckoOg7rYkLvrA">George Clinton</a> on his 2008 album, George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love. She has shared the stage with gospel artists <a href="spotify:artist:5hrUVXJsPParZB87QtAz1R">Shirley Caesar</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:74IEeKcuS34kF2TjOigXra">Donnie McClurkin</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:76dDIM8amCY58U3uvr1Rw1">Karen Clark-Sheard</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:47opbYEKDjXnRk9uLscp11">Yolanda Adams</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4akybxRTGHJZ1DXjLhJ1qu">Kirk Franklin</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2QuleHm5yBUYv3vjqWTM79">Marvin Winans</a>, among others, and has worked in the secular side of things with <a href="spotify:artist:2wIVse2owClT7go1WT98tk">Missy Elliot</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6mQfAAqZGBzIfrmlZCeaYT">Chaka Khan</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7guDJrEfX3qb6FEbdPA5qi">Stevie Wonder</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6XpaIBNiVzIetEPCWDvAFP">Whitney Houston</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6u17YlWtW4oqFF5Hn9UU79">Harry Connick, Jr.</a>, to name just a few. She released her first new studio album in 11 years, No Ways Tired, in 2009 on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Shanachie+Records%22">Shanachie Records</a>. Another new studio effort, The Love Album, appeared from <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Shanachie%22">Shanachie</a> two years later in 2011 and fared well on the Billboard charts, netting Burrell a Grammy nomination. Following 2015's From a Different Place, Burrell teamed up with R&B star <a href="spotify:artist:2RdwBSPQiwcmiDo9kixcl8">Pharrell Williams</a> for the song "I See a Victory," which was featured in the 2016 film Hidden Figures. ~ Steve Leggett, Rovi