''Long Live Love'' is the twelfth
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
by American musician
Kirk Franklin
Kirk Dewayne Franklin (born January 26, 1970) is an American Gospel music, gospel musician. One of the List of best-selling gospel music artists, best-selling gospel music artists, his accolades include 20 Grammy Awards. ''Variety (magazine), Var ...
.
RCA Inspiration
RCA Inspiration (formerly Verity Gospel Music Group) is a gospel music group operating under Sony Music Entertainment.
History Inception
In late 2002, BMG completed the purchase of the Zomba Group for US$2.74 billion and as a part of that deal, ...
, a division of
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...
, alongside Fo Yo Soul Recordings released the album on May 31, 2019. It debuted at number-one on the US
Top Gospel Albums
Top Gospel Albums is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States, ranking the popularity of gospel albums. As of Tuesday, January 31, 2017 (with the charts dated February 11, 2017), it uses the same multi-metric m ...
chart, becoming his 13th release to top the chart, with 20,000 equivalent album units earned in its first week. With this, Franklin became the first artist to simultaneously top all five Billboard gospel charts: Top Gospel Albums,
Hot Gospel Songs
Hot Gospel Songs is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It ranks the popularity of gospel songs using the same methodology developed for the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, the magazine's flagship songs chart, by ...
,
Gospel Airplay, Gospel Streaming Songs and Gospel Digital Song Sales.
The album received two Grammys at the
62nd Annual Grammy Awards
The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on January 26, 2020, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from October 1, 2018, to August 31, 2019. Ali ...
, where it won
Best Gospel Album
The Grammy Award for Best Gospel Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the Gospel music genre. Honors in ...
and the single "Love Theory" won
Best Gospel Song
The Grammy Award for Best Gospel Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the gospel music genre. Honors in seve ...
.
Background
Following the release of the first single, "Love Theory", the title of the album was announced in March 2019 along with its release date and an upcoming tour in support of the album.
Critical reception
Timothy Yap of Hallels.com gave the album a positive review, rating the album 4 stars out of 5. In his review he said " It canvasses a plethora of topics from social hatred to idolatry to the Cross. It exposes us to all sub-genres of Gospel music" from old school choir to soul-massaging ballads. In short, this album contains everything we love about Franklin."
Track listing
Personnel
Musicians
* Kirk Franklin: Keyboards
*
Shaun Martin
Shaun Martin (August 23, 1978 – August 3, 2024) was an American composer, arranger, record producer, and multi-instrumental musician. Martin was a member of the jazz fusion band Snarky Puppy, as well as music director for Gospel music star Kirk ...
: Keyboards, Programming, Additional Keyboards
* Mark Lettieri: Guitar
* Kermit Wells: Hammond B-3
* Matthew Ramsey: Bass
* Caziah Franklin: Drums
* Maxwell Stark: Programming
* Johnnie Murray: Guitar
* Mike Bereal: Hammond B-3
* Keith Taylor: Bass
* Terry Baker: Drums
* Philip Lassiter: Trumpet
* Doug DeHays: Saxophone
* Erik Hughes: Trombone
Vocalists
* Anaysha Figueroa
* Charmaine Broome
* Melodie Rose
* Amber Bullock
* Darian Yancey
* Minon Sarten
* Emerald Boyd
* Sharon Willingham
* Deon Yancey
* Eric Dawkins
* Isaac Carree
* Michael Bethany
Charts
References
{{Authority control
2019 albums
Grammy Award for Best Gospel Album
Kirk Franklin albums
RCA Records albums