Donnie McClurkin puts the focus back on traditional gospel

Received by Newsfinder from APApr 14, 2005 20:38 Eastern Time * Photo Advisory NYET356-357 By NEKESA MUMBI MOODYAP Music WriterNEW YORK (AP) _ Few gospel acts are as welcome in the secular music world as Donnie McClurkin. At last year’s glitzy BET Awards, the nominees included Usher, Beyonce … and McClurkin. At the annual Essence Music Festival, performing on a bill that featured Prince, Mary J. Blige and LL Cool J was … McClurkin. And though gospel rarely gets airplay outside of Sunday mornings, one of the few to break through, whether it be with hits like “Again” or “We Fall Down,” has been Donnie McClurkin. So the secular world may be disappointed to learn that it’s not a mutual admiration society. “There’s some great talent,” he muses when asked what non-gospel music he prefers. “But the real talent is in the church.” However, as a reverend, McClurkin knows many of the real people he’s trying to reach are not in church. So he’s more than willing to perform in venues that are not normally hospitable to religious acts. “Gospel music is best in the secular, just like light is best in the dark,” says McClurkin, who this month released his latest album, “Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs.” “You’re singing to people who are not necessarily churchgoers. And we have 45 minutes of nothing but gospel. Not the watered down, user-friendly gospel _ the hard core … We don’t dumb it down.” McClurkin has been able to appeal to a mainstream audience without having to compromise. Where other Christian acts may avoid overtly religious lyrics to appeal to a wider audience, McClurkin’s music is all about praising Jesus. McClurkin says people who seek out gospel don’t want music that sounds like pop or R&B. “They want to hear Jesus, they want to hear God, they want to hear handclapping _ they want to hear about the name,” he says. They get plenty of it listening to McClurkin. His majestic presence and stirring tenor, coupled with music that rouses the heart and lyrics that touch the soul, have all contributed to the multiplatinum success he’s enjoyed in his nine-year recording career. His latest album is among his most powerful, as he revisits traditional hymns and church favorites. He says the younger generation sorely needs it. “They need to know our heritage. Because we’ve got young kids that are growing up knowing ‘Stomp,’ and ‘We Fall Down,”’ he says of the contemporary hits. “But they don’t know our history, so that’s what we’re doing, bringing those songs back.” “He’s a traditionalist,” says Bobby Jones, host of the long-running BET gospel show bearing his name. “I’d hate to see him on stage trying to rap, hip-hop _ that’s not his style. He’s too classy for that.” While McClurkin, 45, is a fan of contemporary gospel, he’s not an admirer of much of what today’s music. Even the mention of Kanye West’s “Jesus Walks,” the rap hit that drew some praise for mentioning religion in a hip-hop song, sparks a lecture from the singer about what should be taught to children. “What happened with that is they downplayed it, dumbed (Jesus) down, to be the good fairy that looks after you and condones your mess and protects you in the melee,” he scoffs. “That is not who he is or ever was or ever will be. There are standards that go along with this that was not displayed in ‘Jesus Walks.”’ “I know people say, ‘You’re being judgmental,’ but somebody’s got to judge,” he says. “We have to judge whether it’s right and wrong.” But while McClurkin may be adamant about what’s moral, he’s just as forceful in his view that sinners can be saved. One of his biggest hits, “We Fall Down,” is all about redemption _ and he is quick to point out that he is prime example. In his 2001 book, “Eternal Victim/Eternal Victor,” and in last fall’s DVD documentary, “The Donnie McClurkin Story: From Darkness to Light,” he revealed a childhood of sexual abuse, struggles with homosexuality and bisexuality, and personal battles against illness (he once had leukemia) and other tragedies. McClurkin says revisiting his demons in the book and DVD was painful. “But through the trauma it also gave closure and resolution to a lot of things, and I was able to deal with a lot of taboo issues, like sexuality and my struggle with bisexuality and how God helped me find myself, find who I really am,” he says. “The man _ not the bisexual, the homosexual, the man that I am, that’s made for one woman, and he dealt with why it happened and what caused it to happen.” Jones says McClurkin’s frankness ruffled some feathers among church folk. “A lot of people resent the fact that he claims that he is no longer homosexual, that he was raped, and a lot of those kinds of things. A lot of your die-hard Christians just don’t care for that,” Jones says. Gay-rights activists have been chagrined to hear how McClurkin describes himself today _ as a man cured of homosexuality. But McClurkin dismisses the critics. “They have to vilify the one that’s saying there is hope, there is help, there’s an out,” he says. “What I say in the book is simply this: If you’re gay, and you’re happy, if you don’t think you need to change, stay just how you are. But there are some people who are in the gay and bisexual lifestyle that are broken; that’s why the suicide rate is so high.” Yet he’s also critical of church leaders who demonize homosexuals from the pulpit. “You’ve got the church people who are lambasting and so demeaningly preaching hard against the person and not the sin. You’ve got the preachers calling them names,” he says. “We become harsh and we haven’t portrayed the love of Jesus Christ.” That message of love is what he tries to convey in his own church _ Perfecting Faith in Long Island, New York. McClurkin plans to devote himself completely to the church in a few more years, leaving both the secular and gospel music world behind. “I can’t sing forever,” he laughs. “Only Shirley Ceasar can do that!”