Dorinda Clark-Cole

Dorinda Clark–Cole (born Dorinda Grace Clark; October 19, 1957) is an American Grammy Award-winning gospel singer, songwriter, musician, talk show host, and evangelist. Clark–Cole is best known as a member of family vocal group The Clark Sisters and as a daughter of pioneering choral director Mattie Moss Clark. As a member of The Clark Sisters, Clark–Cole has won two Grammy Awards. She is known to the music world as the "Rose of Gospel Music".

Dorinda Clark-Cole
Dorinda Clark-Cole
Background information
Birth nameDorinda Grace Clark
Born (1957-10-19) October 19, 1957
Detroit, Michigan, U.S
OriginDetroit, Michigan
GenresGospel
Occupation(s)
  • Singer–songwriter
  • evangelist
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • piano
  • organ
Years active1966–present
Labels
Associated acts
Websitedorindaclarkcole.net

Biography

Early life

Clark–Cole was born on October 19, 1957, and raised in Detroit, Michigan,[1] to the late Elbert and Dr. Mattie Moss-Clark. Clark–Cole began singing at an early age with her sisters Karen, Twinkie, Jacky, and Denise. The sisters sang in their father's church and usually performed songs written and composed by their mother. Clark-Cole, a mezzo-soprano is referred to as the "jazzy sister" of the group, helped develop what is known as "The Clark Sound", which often features high and fast melismas, riffs, runs, scats, and soulful growls. Clark–Cole attributes her fiery, convicting singing style to her mother, who saw the gift of singing and preaching in her at an early age. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, when other children their age were playing outside, Clark–Cole and her sisters had to work on their familial harmonies.

Clark–Cole says, "We made a lot of sacrifices. My mom was a stickler for making sure we rehearsed before we went out to perform. She saw the gifts and talents within us and started shaping and molding us. She taught us discipline along with how to use our gifts." [2] Clark sang lead on "Overdose of the Holy Ghost", as well as on "My Redeemer Liveth", the B-side to The Clark Sisters' biggest single "You Brought the Sunshine".[3]

Recording career

Clark-Cole's self-titled solo debut, Dorinda Clark-Cole, released in June 2002 on Gospo Centric Records/Zomba Label Group, won two Stellar Awards and a Soul Train Lady of Soul Award. The album featured the hit single "I'm Coming Out". Her second album, The Rose of Gospel, was released under the same label in August 2005. The album debuted in Billboard's top 5 on the Gospel charts and garnered a Grammy Nomination for the Best Traditional Soul Gospel album and won 2007 and 2009 Stellar Award for the Best Female Artist of the Year. The live portions of both albums were produced by Asaph Ward.

After being pushed back from a prematurely stated date in late 2007,[4] Clark–Cole's third solo album, also released on Gospo Centric Records/ Zomba Label Group, Take It Back, was released on April 15, 2008.[5] Producers Alex "Asaph" Ward, PAJAM, and Rodney Jerkins contributed to the project. In 2009, Dorinda released a six-song (EP) album entitled In The Face of Change on September 21. It included hit songs such as "Change" written by her son Jay Cole and "BAMM" which was a "Verizon Select". Released on her own ministry label, "Harvestime Ministries", the album was never heard of until she announced it the day of its release. A video on YouTube has a preview of all of the new songs on the record.[6] Another solo project, I Survived, was released in August 2011 under a new label, Light Records. The project also contains duet titled "Thank You" with her sister, Twinkie Clark. Clark–Cole was featured on the title track of Kirk Franklin's Hero album.[7] In early 2009, Clark–Cole performed "Nothing but the Truth" for the Sojourner Truth unveiling on Capitol Hill for First Lady Michelle Obama and other officials. As a member of the Clark Sisters, Clark–Cole won three Grammys in 2008. Live – One Last Time won the Best Traditional Gospel Album. Its album track, "Blessed & Highly Favored", won the Best Gospel Performance as well as the individual Best Gospel Song. With the group she appeared nationally on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, ABC's The View, Bobby Jones Gospel, Lift Every Voice, Gospel Superfest, TBN's Praise the Lord, The Stellar Awards and The Lady of Soul Awards.

Personal and religious life

Clark-Cole has been evangelizing and making speaking engagements annually for over 20 years, along with her singing career and being a wife and mother. Clark–Cole married Gregory Cole on December 2, 1978 and together they now have 2 children, Nikkia Cole and Gregory "Jay" Cole Jr. Dr. Cole also has two grandchildren. Clark–Cole ministers nationally as well as internationally in countries such as England, Japan, Germany, France, Korea and South Africa. She made history in South Africa, having been the first woman to minister in the pulpit to over 4,000 people. Clark-Cole is a staple in the Church of God in Christ of which she is a licensed National Evangelist, Assistant State Mother for the Michigan North Central Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, and in 2016, was appointed by Bishop Charles E. Blake as the Elect Lady of the COGIC's International Evangelism Department. She taught at the Clark Conservatory of Music in Detroit and is an administrator of ministry at the Greater Emmanuel Institutional COGIC.

Clark-Cole's preaching ministry has also gained interest within academic spaces. According to scholar of religion Ashon Crawley, By attending to the Black Pentecostal aesthetics of whooping found in Clark-Cole's "Why Do I Come Back for More" sermon, Clark-Cole's homily is examined as producing the worship space as a discontinuous and open sonic space, open to the other voices that both proceeded her moment of being overcome with Spirit -such that other women gathered around, held and hugged her -and extended the preacherly moment by sociality, through opening up and diffusing the very grounds for the concept, for preaching, for listening, for breathing. Crawley would go on to offer a reading of Clark-Cole's whooping that places the fundamental quality of such aesthetic sociality, not in the fact that it can be shared but in the fact that it must be shared by all, for vitality, for life. This sharing in and as commons, Crawley argues, enacts violence against any form of marginalization or oppression.[8]

Other career ventures and accomplishments

Clark–Cole is the new host of TCT Network's Dorinda Show, co-host of TCT's Celebrate on the Road, former Stellar Awards host, guest judge on Verizon's "How Sweet The Sound" national televised competition, and the former spokes-model for Donna Vinci Clothing, and her "Rose Collection" is now distributed by Terra Mina Fashions. She has since partnered with MR. SONG, a fashion designer of Detroit, in creating The Bloom Collection, a couture collection of hat adorning accessories. She is national radio host of Serving Up Soul with Dorinda Clark Cole which syndicates to 50 affiliated radio stations. She is also the Founder and CEO of Lifeline Productions Inc., which holds an annual Singers & Musicians Conference. Through this conference it is her goal to educate a new generation of ministers of the importance of "keeping ministry in the music" by offering various activities including daily workshops and evening worship services featuring from artists whose ministries have gone beyond ministering in song. In September 2004 she received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Mt. Carmel Theological Seminary of Fresno, California. [9]

Clark–Cole says that if she did not have a career in music that she would be "dancing on Broadway", and her dream would be "to sing with Bette Midler, Cher and Celine Dion".[10] She is currently represented by Keith Douglas, CEO of RKD Music Management in Los Angeles, California.

Discography

Albums

Year Album Chart positions[11]
US U.S. Gospel U.S. Heatseekers
2002 Dorinda Clark-Cole
  • 1st solo album
  • Released: June 11, 2002
  • Label: Gospocentric Records
5 14
2005 Live From Houston: The Rose of Gospel
  • 2nd solo album
  • Released: August 16, 2005
  • Label: Gospocentric Records
159 3 4
2008 Take It Back
  • 3rd solo album
  • Released: 2008
  • Label: Gospocentric Records
104 3
2011 I Survived
  • 4th solo album
  • Released: 2011
  • Label: Light Records
120 3
2015 Living It
  • 5th solo album
  • Released: 2015
  • Label: Light Records
- 2

Singles

  • "No Not One (featuring J Moss)" (2002)
  • "I'm Coming Out" (2002)
  • "Still Here" (2002)
  • "Great Is The Lord" (2005)
  • "So Many Times" (2005)
  • "Take It Back" (2008)
  • "Change" (2009)
  • "This Is It" (2009)
  • "Back to You"(2011)
  • "He Brought Me" (2011)
  • "God Will Take Care of You" (2011)
  • "For My Good" (2011)
  • "Thank You (Feat. Twinkie Clark)
  • "You Are" (2014)
  • "Bless This House" (2014)
  • "Living It" (2015)

Other

Videography

  • Dorinda Clark Cole Live (2003)
  • Live From Houston: The Rose of Gospel (2007)

Filmography

  • The Marriage Lover (2011)
  • The Dorinda Show (2010–present)
  • How Sweet The Sound (2008)
  • The Gospel According to Dorinda (2014–present)

Awards

BET Awards

The BET Awards are awarded annually by the Black Entertainment Television network. Dorinda Clark-Cole has received 2 nominations.

Year Nominated work Award Result
2008 The Clark Sisters Best Gospel Artist Nominated
2020 "Victory" Dr. Bobby Jones Best Gospel/Inspirational Award Nominated

Dove Awards

The Dove Awards are awarded annually by the Gospel Music Association. Dorinda Clark-Cole has won 2 awards from 10 nominations.[12]

Year Nominated work Award Result
1987 Heart & Soul Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year Won
2008 The Clark Sisters Artist of the Year Nominated
Group of the Year Nominated
"Blessed and Highly Favored" Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song of the Year Nominated
Live – One Last Time Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year Nominated
2009 "Take It Back" Traditional Gospel Recorded Song of the Year Nominated
2018 "He Got Up" (with VaShawn Mitchell) Nominated
2020 "Victory" Nominated
Inspirational Film of the Year The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel Nominated
Traditional Gospel Album of the Year The Return Won

Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Dorinda Clark-Cole has won 2 awards from 10 nominations.[13][14]

Year Nominated work Award Result
1983 Sincerely Best Soul Gospel Performance by a Duo or Group Nominated
1987 Heart & Soul Best Soul Gospel Performance by a Duo or Group, Choir or Chorus Nominated
1988 Conqueror Nominated
1990 Bringing it Back Home Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album Nominated
2005 Live From Houston (The Rose of Gospel) Nominated
2007 "Blessed & Highly Favored" Best Gospel Performance Won
Live: One Last Time Best Traditional Gospel Album Won
2008 Take It Back Nominated
2009 "Higher Ground" Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals Nominated
2015 Living It Best Gospel Album Nominated

NAACP Image Awards

The NAACP Image Awards are awarded annually by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Dorinda Clark-Cole has won 1 award from 3 nominations.

Year Nominated work Award Result
1983 The Clark Sisters Outstanding Gospel Artist Won
1989 Nominated
2020 "Victory" Outstanding Gospel/Christian Song – Traditional or Contemporary Nominated

Soul Train Awards

The Soul Train Music Awards are awarded annually. Dorinda Clark-Cole has received 1 award.

Year Nominated work Award Result
1988 Heart & Soul Best Gospel Album – Group or Choir Nominated
1989 Conqueror Best Gospel Album Nominated
2003 Dorinda Clark-Cole Lady of Soul Best Gospel Album Won
2020 The Clark Sisters Best Gospel/Inspirational Award [15] Nominated

Stellar Awards

The Stellar Awards are awarded annually by SAGMA. Dorinda Clark-Cole has received 10 awards and 1 honorary award.

Year Nominated work Award Result
2003 Dorinda Clark-Cole Female Vocalist of the Year Won
Traditional Female Vocalist of the Year Won
2007 Live From Houston - The Rose of Gospel Female Vocalist of the Year Won
Traditional Female Vocalist of the Year Nominated
Traditional CD of the Year Nominated
2008 Live... One Last Time CD of the Year Won
Artist of the Year Won
Group or Duo of the Year Won
Traditional Group/Duo of the Year Won
2009 Take It Back Artist of the Year Nominated
Female Vocalist of the Year Won
Tradition Female Vocalist of the Year Nominated
CD of the Year Nominated
Encore: The Best of the Clark Sisters Special Event CD of the Year Won
2010 Silky Soul Music... An All-Star Tribute to Maze (with Kierra Sheard and J. Moss) Won
2013 I Survived Albertina Walker Female Vocalist of the Year Nominated
Contemporary Female of the Year Nominated
Contemporary CD of the Year Nominated
2016 Living It Traditional Female Vocalist of the Year Nominated
Albertina Walker Female Vocalist of the Year Nominated
Bless This House Song of the Year Nominated
2020 The Clark Sisters James Cleveland Lifetime Achievement Award Honored

References

  1. Farias, Andree. "Dorinda Clark-Cole : Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  2. "Dorinda Cole, The Lady, Her Music, and Her Ministry". The Michigan Chronicle. August 15, 2014. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  3. Terron Austin. "Dorinda Clark Cole. She is also a relative of Johnny Clark-Coleman. He is originated in Yazoo City, Mississippi. He is 18 years old. When he grow up, he would like to be just like his cousin. (Biography)". TheClarkSisters.com. Archived from the original on October 18, 2007.
  4. "Dorinda's Third: Dorinda Clark-Cole readies 'Yesterday' album". Cross Rhythms.
  5. Yesterday on CD Universe
  6. https://elev8.hellobeautiful.com/146997/dorinda-clark-cole-face-of-change-ep/
  7. Stan North. "Kirk Franklin: Hero (album review)". GospelFlava.com.
  8. Crawley, Ashon T. 2017. Blackpentecostal Breath: The Aesthetics of Possibility. New York: Fordham University Press.
  9. https://www.essence.com/festival/2015-essence-festival/wew-dr-dorinda-clark-cole-shows-us-how-never-give-faith/
  10. Clark, Melanie (June 2002). "Insider with Dorinda Clark Cole". Gospelflava.com.
  11. "Dorinda Clark-Cole Chart History". Billboard.
  12. "Past Winners". Dove Awards. Enter 'The Clark Sisters' into the 'Search:' field to see list of awards. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  13. "Clark Sisters". Grammy.com. Recording Academy. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  14. "Karen Clark-Sheard". Grammy Awards. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
  15. Paul Grein (November 11, 2020). "H.E.R. & Chris Brown Lead 2020 Soul Train Awards Nominations: Here's the Complete List". Retrieved November 11, 2020.
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