''Hero'' is the eighth album by Kirk Franklin, released October 4, 2005 on GospoCentric Records. ''Hero'' was certified as Gold by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

on and Platinum on .RIAA official website
/ref> In 2007 ''Hero'' won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album and "

Imagine Me ''Hero'' is the eighth album by Kirk Franklin, released October 4, 2005 on GospoCentric Records. ''Hero'' was certified as Gold by the RIAA on and Platinum on . In 2007 ''Hero'' won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album and ...

" won the Grammy Award for Best Gospel Song.

Synopsis

Produced by Franklin and

J. Moss James Moss (born September 22, 1971), better known by his stage name J. Moss, is an American gospel musician, composer, producer and arranger. Early years Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, James Moss went to Cass Technical High School, the ...

, the album features songs with several urban contemporary gospel and R&B artists including Dorinda Clark-Cole, Tye Tribbett, Marvin Winans (member of the Winans),

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

, Yolanda Adams, and Moss himself.

Track listing

Personnel

''*Note: Personnel listing from Hero album liner.

Vocalists

*Ashley Guilbert * Nikki Ross *Daphanie Wright * Anaysha Figueroa *Faith Anderson *Erica Davis *Jana Bell *Charmaine Swimpson *

Isaac Carree Isaac Thompson Carree III (born April 28, 1973) is an American gospel musician. He started his music career, in 1990, with the Gospel legend John P. Kee, yet his solo career commenced in 2011, with the release of ''Uncommon Me'' by Sovereign Age ...

*Eric Moore * Jason Champion *Anthony Evans * Myron Butler

Instrumentalists

*Kirk Franklin - Keyboards, Minimoog, Piano, Drum Programming *Terry Baker - Drums * Shaun Martin - Keyboards, Drum Programming, Minimoog, Programming, Drums *Jerome Harmon - Keyboards, Hammond B3 *Braylon Lacy - Bass Guitar *Doc Powell - Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar *Ernie G - DJ, Keyboards, Programming *Jason Bell - Lead Guitar *Sheila E. - Percussion, Percussion Color *Chris Godbey - Programming *Vidal Davis - Percussion, Additional Instruments *Andre Harris - Percussion, Additional Instruments *Ryan Toby - Percussion *Jason Boyd - Percussion *Humberto Ruiz - Trombone *Lee Thornburg - Trumpet *Paul Cerra - Saxophone *Dave Monsch - Baritone Sax *Jamie Hovorka - Trumpet

Orchestra

*Assa Drori – Violin *Agnes Gottschewsky – Violin *Armen Garabedian – Violin *Elizabeth Wilson – Violin *Sally Berman – Violin *Brian Benning – Violin *Irma Neumann – Violin *Berj Garabedian – Violin *Robert Brosseau – Violin *Shari Zippert – Violin *Kazi Pitelka – Viola *Jorge Moraga – Viola *Renita Koven – Viola *Karie Prescott – Viola *Cecilia Tsan – Cello *Dan Smith – Cello *Miguel Martinez – Cello *Earl Madison – Cello *Frances Liu –

Contrabass Contrabass (from it, contrabbasso) refers to several musical instruments of very low pitch—generally one octave below bass register instruments. While the term most commonly refers to the double bass (which is the bass instrument in the orchest ...

*Nicholas Phillippon –

*Katie Kirkpatrick –

Harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

* Gary Foster –

Flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

*Sheridan Stokes –

*Vince Trombetta, Jr. –

*Larry Caplan –

*Don Shelton –

Clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

*Jeff Driskill –

Alto Clarinet The alto clarinet is a woodwind instrument of the clarinet family. It is a transposing instrument pitched in the key of E, though instruments in F have been made. In size it lies between the soprano clarinet and the bass clarinet. It bears a grea ...

* Phil Feather –

Bass Clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

/ Oboe *John Mitchell – Eb Contrabass Clarinet/

Bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

*David Duke – French horn *John Reynolds – French horn *Loren Marstellar –

Baritone horn The baritone horn, or sometimes just called baritone, is a low-pitched brass instrument in the saxhorn family.Robert Donington, "The Instruments of Music", (pp. 113ff ''The Family of Bugles'') 2nd ed., Methuen, London, 1962 It is a piston-val ...

*Chuck Koontz – Tuba * Brent Fischer –

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...

s/ Timpani

Notable Singles

''Hero'' featured the singles "

Looking for You "Looking For You" is a gospel song by Kirk Franklin from his 2005 album ''Hero''. The song contains a sample from "Haven't You Heard," which was written by Patrice Rushen, Charles Mims Jr, Sheree Brown, and Freddie Washington. Chart performance ...

" and "Imagine Me". "Looking for You" was released as a single on September 20, 2005 in the U.S. and was a top-five hit on the ''Billboards Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Charts

''Hero'' peaked at No. 13 on The ''Billboard'' 200 chart on , It also reached No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Awards

In 2006, the album won a

Dove Award A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards are presented annually. Formerly held in Nashville, Tennessee, the Dove Awards ...

for Urban Album of the Year at the

37th GMA Dove Awards The 37th Annual GMA Dove Awards, also called the 37th Annual GMA Music Awards, were held on April 5, 2006 recognizing accomplishments of Christian musicians for the year 2005. The show was held at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee, ...

. The song "

" also won a Dove Award for Urban Recorded Song of the Year.37th Annual GMA Dove Awards Nominations & Winners
on About.com; Jones, Kim

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hero - Kirk Franklin 2005 albums Kirk Franklin albums Albums produced by Dre & Vidal