Motown Gospel Signs Karen Clark Sheard in Partnership With Karew Records: Exclusive
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Four-time Grammy winner Karen Clark Sheard has signed with Motown Gospel in partnership with Clark Sheard’s own Karew Records.
Clark Sheard will release a new album later this year, her first since the 2015 live album Destined to Win (released via Karew Records and Entertainment One Music).
“I am honored and excited to partner with Motown Gospel,” said Clark Sheard in a statement. “I’m passionate about encouraging, inspiring and uplifting people through my music, and I can’t wait to share it with my long-time supporters and with the world.”
“No other female vocalist in gospel music has had as broad an influence as the legendary Karen Clark Sheard,” said Monica Coates and EJ Gaines, co-executive directors of Motown Gospel. “She uniquely brings generations of gospel and R&B music-lovers together with the power of her voice and the purity of her spirit. We are so honored to work with her and the Karew team.”
Clark Sheard first gained success as the youngest sibling of The Clark Sisters, which earned a crossover hit with “You Brought the Sunshine” in 1981. The group is also known for such hits as “Is My Living in Vain,” “Blessed & Highly Favored” (which earned Clark Sheard a Grammy for best gospel song), “Livin’,” “Victory” and more.
In 1997, she released her debut solo album, Finally Karen, the first of five studio albums. In 2007, her album It’s Not Over (released via Word Records) won the GMA Dove Award for contemporary gospel album of the year. In 2009, her collaboration with Donnie McClurkin of “Wait on the Lord” won a Grammy for best gospel performance and in 2011, she earned the Stellar award for female vocalist of the year.
In 2009, Sheard and her husband, Bishop J. Drew Sheard, partnered to launch Karew Records, which counts not only Clark Sheard but her daughter Kierra Sheard, as well as The Clark Sisters, on its artist roster. In 2020, Lifetime released the biopic The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel. That same year, the Clark Sisters appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to perform a 17-minute medley of their classic songs.
Clark Sheard also serves as First Lady of the denomination Church of God in Christ, while her husband J. Drew Sheard was elected Presiding Bishop of the denomination last year.
A division of Capitol CMG/Universal Music Group, Motown Gospel’s roster includes Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Merry Clayton, Tye Tribbett and Evvie McKinney.
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