Aileen Nicole Coleman-Mullen, known professionally as Nicole C. Mullen, (born January 3, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, and choreographer. She was born and raised in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wi ...

Music career

While studying at Christ for the Nations Institute in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, she joined a vocal group called Living Praise and began pursuing a music career. Under the name Nicole, she recorded her first solo album, ''Don’t Let Me Go'', in 1991 with the independent label

Frontline Records Frontline Records was a Christian rock record label, founded in 1986 by James Kempner in Santa Ana, California. The label focused primarily on modern rock, rap, dance-pop and hip-hop. The label closed in the early 1990s, and then resurfaced in 2 ...

. It was produced by

Tim Miner Tim Miner is an American gospel/ R&B singer-songwriter and instrumentalist. He has also produced, arranged, and/or composed music for/with many other artists. Miner released three albums on Christian labels in the 1980s before releasing a self- ...

. She continued her singing-songwriting-choreography career in the 1990s, singing backup for

Michael W. Smith Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is an American musician who has charted in both contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. His biggest success in mainstream music was in 1991 when " Place in This World" hit No. 6 on the '' ...

and the

Newsboys Newsboys (sometimes stylised as newsboys) are a Christian rock band founded in 1985 in Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia, by Peter Furler and George Perdikis. Now based in Nashville, Tennessee, the band has released 17 studio albums, 6 of which ...

, writing for

Jaci Velasquez Jacquelyn "Jaci" Davette Velasquez (Spanish ''Jaci Velásquez'', born October 15, 1979) is an American actress and contemporary Christian and Latin pop singer and songwriter, performing in both English and Spanish. Velasquez has sold almost ...

, and working as a dancer and choreographer with

Amy Grant Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She began in contemporary Christian music (CCM) before crossing over to pop music in the 1980s and 1990s. She has been referred to as "The Queen of Christia ...

. She also provided backup vocals for the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

at the end of the

VeggieTales ''VeggieTales'' is an American Christian media, computer generated musical children's animation, and book franchise created by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki under Big Idea Entertainment. The series sees fruit and vegetable characters retell ...

program, '' Larry-Boy and the Fib from Outer Space!'' and the opening of the VeggieTales presentation, '' Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed''. She was signed to

Word Records Word Records is a Christian faith-based entertainment company based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is owned by Curb Records, and is a part of Word Entertainment. It is distributed by Warner Records (the former Warner Bros. Records). History In 1 ...

in 1998 by VP of A&R

Brent Bourgeois Brent Thomas Bourgeois (born June 16, 1958) is an American rock musician, songwriter, and producer. He was co-leader of the band Bourgeois Tagg with Larry Tagg, and has released several solo albums. His later work has been classified in the gen ...

. Her fourth album, '' Talk About It'', was certified gold for sales in excess of 500,000 copies on April 15, 2008.

Personal life

During Mullen's first marriage, she endured physical and mental abuse. In 1993, she married singer, songwriter and music producer David Mullen. They divorced in 2014. In a Facebook post, she cited "Biblical reasons" for the divorce. They have three children, one daughter and two sons, one of whom was adopted. In 2016, it was reported that Mullen had entered into a relationship with minister and singer

Donnie McClurkin Donald Andrew "Donnie" McClurkin, Jr. (born November 9, 1959) is an American gospel singer and minister. He has won three Grammy Awards, ten Stellar Awards, two BET Awards, two Soul Train Awards, one Dove Award and one NAACP Image Awards. ...

. Mullen established "The Baby Girls Club", a youth arts mentoring group for girls. Mullen has also been active with the International Needs Network Ghana, an organization that works to free Trokosi slaves in Ghana.

Discography

Studio albums *1991 – ''Don't Let Me Go'' *1992 – ''Wish Me Love'' *2000 – ''Nicole C. Mullen'' *2001 – '' Talk About It'' *2002 – ''Christmas in Black & White'' *2004 – ''

Everyday People "Everyday People" is a 1968 song composed by Sly Stone and first recorded by his band, Sly and the Family Stone. It was the first single by the band to go to number one on the Soul singles chart and the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. It held ...

'' *2007 – '' Sharecropper's Seed, Vol. 1'' *2008 – ''A Dream to Believe In, Vol. 2'' *2011 – ''Captivated'' *2013 – ''Crown Him: Hymns Old & New'' *2018 – ''Like Never Before'' Live *2003 – ''Live from Cincinnati: Bringin' It Home'' Compilations *2001 – ''Following His Hand: A Ten Year Journey'' *2006 – ''Redeemer: The Best of Nicole C. Mullen'' *2009 – ''The Ultimate Collection''

Awards and honors

Mullen was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of FameChristian Music Hall of Fame
website on November 5, 2011. Mullen is the only African-American artist to win the Dove Award for Song of the Year and Songwriter of the Year.

GMA Dove Awards

Grammy Award nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mullen, Nicole C. 1967 births American women singers American performers of Christian music 20th-century African-American women singers Christian music songwriters Living people Musicians from Cincinnati People from Rockwall, Texas 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women