The Clark
Sisters have been singing for as long as they can remember, with music
as natural a part of their lives as the air they breathed. With a
compelling, commanding fusion of styles as diverse as blues, jazz,
R&B and classical, sisters Jacky, Twinkie, Karen and Dorinda created
a sound that was new, fresh and entirely their own.
With a
blend that can come only in the blood, they have stood for the better
part of their lives as a bridge between hallowed tradition and bold
innovation. On Live – One Last Time, their newest release and first
album together in over twelve years, they offer a virtual treasure trove
of both.
Truly a
landmark work, the live recording comprises nearly two-and-a-half hours
of both new material—almost all original—and an absolutely stunning,
21-song medley of Clark Sisters classics that leaves the listener
literally breathless by is final fade. Produced by Donald Lawrence,
another of Gospel’s great, enduring talents, the project is an epic
undertaking of unprecedented scope which succeeds—boldly and
brilliantly—at every turn.
The sisters
exude joy and exuberance on “Livin’,” a rollicking R&B joyride,
written by Lawrence expressly for the Clarks, and featuring a
pitch-perfect, trademark ensemble vocal. Reflecting on the No.1,
multi-format smash, “You Brought the Sunshine,” which, in 1981, sent the
Clarks soaring into one of the most fabled careers in Gospel music,
Jacky Clark-Chisholm recalls the night in early 2006 when she first
heard “Livin’.’
“The first
time that Donald played ‘Livin’ for us, we felt exactly like we did the
first time that Twinkie played ‘You Brought the Sunshine’ for the rest
of us,” she says. “We were blown away! It’s such a happy song, and we
just could not stop singing it! It’s us, plain and simple. When we
look back—and all around us today—we are proud, and so grateful, to God
and so many wonderful people, and happy to be living the life He’s given
us. And Donald wrote a song for us that just perfectly expresses
that.”
“Blessed
and Highly Favored,” written by and featuring Karen, is a breathtaking,
high-wire walk of a performance, which—of even greater
significance—cements her place as one the great songwriters of her era.
“Karen has
always been such a phenomenal singer,” Jacky says of her sister, “and
she has grown into an equally amazing writer. More and more, it just
seems whenever she opens her mouth, a story—and the sentiments of her
heart…all in the perfect words—come pouring out. We have been just
that: blessed and highly favored. She’s putting the Clark Sisters’ life
to words and music.”
With virtually unlimited range, dazzling dynamics, and multi-textured
runs, riffs, and scats having long been hallmarks of their singular
vocal style—the “Clark Sisters Sound” has given inspiration to countless
great singers of today. With millions-upon-millions of album-sales to
their collective credit, that select circle includes both Gospel and
mainstream R&B and pop stars, including Mariah Carey, Mary Mary, Kim
Burrell, Kelly Price, Missy Elliott, Trin-i-tee 5:7, Virtue, and Faith
Evans, to name but a few (Evans, in the late ‘90s, crediting the Clark
Sisters as one of the “great musical inspirations” of her life,” dueted
on a cut from Karen’s hugely successful, debut solo album).
The
sisters, born between 1951 and ’60, all showed prodigious musical talent
from early childhood, and were raised under the careful musical and
moral tutelage of their pastor father, and renowned mother, Dr. Mattie
Moss Clark. Dr. Clark, (1925-1994), from the early 1960s to ‘90s, was
the president of the National Music Department (cq) of the
seven-million-member Church of God in Christ (COGIC), the largest
African-American, Pentecostal denomination in the United States. A
celebrated songwriter, vocalist, pianist and arranger, and widely known
as a demanding taskmaster, Dr. Clark often used her talented “in-house”
vocal ensemble to test-run new material and arrangements on which she
was working.
The seeds
for what would become Live – One Last Time, were first planted by
Karen’s husband—and the group’s de facto manager—Reverend Drew Sheard.
When he suggested the foursome reunite to give both posterity, and the
flocks of still-faithful Clark Sisters fans, a taste of some new
“sisters” material, as well as new, live renditions of a large number of
Clark standards—most long out of print—all four warmed quickly to the
idea. The group approached the multi-Grammy-winning Lawrence about
coming onboard, and he accepted immediately.
Live – One
Last Time was recorded in July, 2006, before a sell-out crowd of 6,000
in Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center. Though the sisters had
established successful solo careers since last recording together, in
1994, they approached the reunion uncertain if their identity as a group
still had any drawing power at the box office. They didn’t have to
wait long for an answer.
Arriving at
the hall several hours ahead of showtime, the Clarks were surprised to
find a line of ticket-holders doubled around the block outside the
venue, gladly enduring a hot, sticky Houston evening for a chance at
choice seating. “It was an awesome thing to see,” recalls Jacky. “You
hear about things like that. You see things like that on TV. But you
don’t ever expect to step out and see it happening in your life.”
After what
will surely be marked as a landmark event in Gospel music history, the
sisters encore with the still-smoking, “You Brought the Sunshine,” which
the crowd—even though showered with one signature song after
another—clearly knew still lay in store. Jacky, Twinkie, Karen and
Dorinda deliver it with the same freshness and exuberance of four young
ladies, in a Detroit living room years ago, with both the
world—literally—and a world of possibilities still before them.
And it’s
the perfect coda to an incredible career, and one still rich with
portents of great things to come. “We’ve all got our own stories to
share, and life experiences that are much like the people who came out
that night in the thousands to see us, and always have,” Dorinda
explains. “I think that’s why our songs, and singing, still connect the
way they do—even after all this time. On this album, we just did our
best to do what we always do: give everyone a night of amazing
music,with a message that they can leave having been touched by, and
hopefully impacted for the good.”
Ultimately—and
inevitably—a lifetime, milestone work the likes of Live – One Last
Time, begs the question of just how talents as vibrant and vital as
those of Twinkie, Karen, Jacky and Dorinda Clark can ever be “retired”
by any vote, decision, or power lesser than that of the Creator and
Giver of those gifts. It’s a question the sisters have been asking
themselves a lot lately, and a query for which Karen has a ready reply,
as decisive as it is open-ended.
“Sharing
the Gospel, touching hearts, pointing people toward the Cross…that’s
what our job and calling as Christians is about, and that never ends,”
she says. “And there will always be a ‘Clark Sisters,’ and we will
always make music in some form and configuration or another. We could
no more stop singing than we could stop being sisters. But that’s not
what this is about, and not what our minds are on.
“I’m sure
the Lord will unfold that in His own time,” Karen concludes. “As far as
recording together goes, if we never made another Clark Sisters album
again, we would be proud to be remembered for this one—more-so than any
other—and we would know we had done something of excellence to the
praise and glory of God.”
