Real Life Real Faith Women Walking By Faith May/June 2016 | Page 17
Music Lane
A lifetime of grace, perseverance, faith, harmony, and love has forever been the song of legendary Gospel artist Karen
Clark Sheard’s heart. After all, Karen Clark Sheard has been astounding audiences around the globe ever since she
could walk. The daughter of gospel pioneer, Dr. Mattie Moss Clark, is a member of a dynamic gospel music lineage
that has transcended generations, even as it continues to evolve today. Not only has ClarkSheard’s vocal acrobatics
come to epitomize the essence of the multioctave singer, but the four time Grammy Awardwinning songwriter is a
wife, mother, sister, leader, chief executive, business owner, and mentor to thousands of women in her hometown,
Detroit, MI.
As the youngest member of the worldrenowned Clark Sisters, Karen was often the quietest member of the group,
beyond timid—until she got on stage to sing. It’s not an exaggeration to characterize her as a bold and daring singer,
who’s an extremely shy and humble woman of faith. Even after touring the globe for nearly four decades as not only a
member of the Clark Sisters, a solo artist, an actress in countless stage plays and movies, an instructor, TV host &
competition judge, and finally an evangelist ministering the preached Word, ClarkSheard’s humility is truly palpable
as she endeavors to spread the good news of Christ to the far stretches of the world through her music and even
more so, her life.
It’s not mere happenstance that Karen Clark Sheard’s musical and vocal genius has inspired dozens of singers and
musicians across every genre of music even as she continues to build her everexpanding legacy of success. As CEO
of KaRew Records with her partner and husband, Bishop J. Drew Sheard, she is not only fulfilling a lifelong dream to
own her a record label but she is crafting the careers of a new generation of artists who are literally taking the
industry by storm. Under ClarkSheard’s tutelage, her children in particular, Kierra and J. Drew Sheard, already had
Grammy, Dove, Stellar, and Soul Train awards and nominations under their career belts before both of them reached
eighteen years old. However, this mentorship is not exclusive to the careers of her children; Sheard has always
provided a platform for young, upandcoming aspiring artists, producers and musicians to showcase their gifts
before the world—from her cousin J. Moss and Donald Lawrence to Damien Sneed and her niece Angel Chisholm,
Sheard has always had knack for recognizing, much like her mother, the potential for greatness in others and KaRew
Records is sure to be another vehicle for Sheard to help the emerging artists of tomorrow.
Karen Clark Sheard continues today doing what she has done since she learned to walk—sing. Her ability to embody
an immensely varied field of roles from wife, mother, sister, mentor, first lady, friend, and executive allinone is truly a
testament of the difference the anointing of God makes.
WOMEN WALKING BY FAITH MAGAZINE | 17
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