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| Kurt Carr |
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Kurt Carr, who has become one of the mainstays of modern gospel music, right up there with Kirk Franklin, Donnie McClurkin and Yolanda Adams, is on a mission. Carr’s main musical aim is to bring people together of different colors and backgrounds. That’s always been in his plan, but now, more than ever, he is committed to the cause, going so far as to name one of his recent CDs, “One Church,” and listen to contemporary Christian music vocal group Avalon in order to influence his own music so it reaches outside of the often insular black community.  ChristianMusicDaily.com's Mark Weber with legendary Gospel producer Kurt Carr Carr thinks that people of different colors and races don’t come together not because they don’t like one another, but, rather, because they don’t know each other. With that in mind, he thinks music can help bridge the gap between people, often advising CD buyers to get two copies when they purchase an album. “And give one to someone who doesn’t look like you,” he’ll say. Growing up, Carr was not part of a church-going family, so it’s pretty amazing to think where he is now, reaching thousands, if not millions, bringing gospel music all around the world to churches and festivals. “I started at age 14 at Hopewell Baptist Church in Hartford, Connecticut. God touched my heart and I went to church by myself; it was around the corner from my house. I went to church, eventually joined the choir, and the rest is history,” he says. After becoming active in his church’s music programs, Carr’s mother noticed his budding talent, and bought him a Walter Hawkins album, which he listened to daily for a year or two. He taught himself how to play the piano based on those songs. Carr became a skilled musician. He graduated with a degree in fine arts from the University of Connecticut, and was mentored by gospel music’s legendary Richard Smallwood. Furthermore, in 1986, another legend, Reverend James Cleveland, asked Carr to join him as pianist and musical director. Smallwood and Cleveland both had positive and lasting impacts on Carr. “With my musical expertise and education, I want to continue setting a bar of excellence in the gospel music genre,” he says. “I want to keep ‘songs with substance’ popular. In order to cross over to secular radio, we take Jesus out and water down the message and make it ambiguous and people listen to it and derive whatever meaning they want from it. I don’t think that’s the true meaning of gospel, because the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. You don’t have to say, ‘Jesus, Jesus, Jesus’ in every song, but the theme and the message should be there and be clear and I pray that God will use me to do that—to make that popular again.” --Mark Weber, ChristianMusicDaily.com; if you're on Facebook.com, type in "Christian Music Daily" in the search box to find and join our popular group! |
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