Live Nation Partners with Kirk Franklin for 1st Gospel Tour – “The King’s Men” | Starting Sept 16th, 2012

LOS ANGELES, May 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Four of the most successful performers in gospel music history, Kirk Franklin, Marvin Sapp, Donnie McClurkin and Israel Houghton, announce today that they will share the same stage for the very first time when they embark on The King’s Men concert tour this fall.  The historic U.S. tour will hit major venues in 15 U.S. cities beginning on Sunday, September 16th at Comerica Theatre in Phoenix, AZ, and culminating in Brooklyn, NY, at Barclays Center on Sunday, October 14th.

Produced by Live Nation Entertainment, tickets for The King’s Men concert tour will go on sale beginning on Friday, May 11th at Ticketmaster.com and LiveNation.com.  Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets beginning on Tuesday, May 8th at 10:00 AM ET through Citi’s Private Pass Program.  For complete presale details visit www.citiprivatepass.com.

“In the Gospel world, this is like Springsteen, McCartney, Prince and Elton hitting the road together,” said Kevin Morrow, Senior Vice President of Touring at Live Nation.  “It’s going to be a once in a lifetime event for music fans.”

Between these four gospel music giants, The King’s Men have taken home over a hundred GRAMMY®, Dove, Stellar, BET, Soul Train, NAACP and American Music Awards.  They have appeared on countless mainstream television shows and moved millions of fans at their sold-out live concerts nationally and internationally.  Now, for the first time ever, The King’s Men bring all of their incredible and inspirational talents together under the same roof for gospel, R&B and pop music fans across the country.

Kirk Franklin commented:  “The opportunity to partner with Live Nation is a GREAT honor and responsibility.  The genre of gospel music having this kind of massive marketing support is monumental, and the talent on this tour makes it a must-see event!  I’m very proud of this relationship and I expect it to be a new groundbreaking platform for inspirational entertainment.”

Exclusive artist meet & greet and VIP ticket packages are available. Please visit www.vipnation.com for details.

KIRK FRANKLIN
For nearly two decades, Kirk Franklin has been a multi-platinum-selling purveyor of majestic fusions of gospel and contemporary music.  Franklin is a pioneer in gap-bridging musicianship, uniting audiences across gospel, hip hop, pop and R&B.  His irresistible rhythms and rhapsodies have resulted in albums that consistently top both Billboard’s Gospel and Christian charts, as well as ascend in to the Top 10 of the mainstream R&B/Hip Hop chart.  Franklin is also the host and executive producer of the gospel talent show “Sunday Best,” the highest-rated gospel program in BET network history now heading into its fifth season. To date, Franklin has garnered nine GRAMMY® Awards, an American Music Award, 39 Stellar Awards, 16 Dove Awards (CCM), eight NAACP Image Awards, two BET Awards, a Soul Train Award, and numerous others.

MARVIN SAPP
Since his debut release in 1996, Marvin Sapp has been thrilling Gospel audiences everywhere with his acrobatic vocals and deep-within-the-heart delivery.  He made history with his seventh and latest album, Here I Am, which was the all-time highest charting gospel album in Billboard history, debuting at Number 2 on the Billboard 200 chart.  He has won two BET awards, seven Dove Awards and numerous others.

DONNIE MCCLURKIN
For a man who has declared that he may at any moment cease making music to concentrate fully on his passion for ministering, Donnie McClurkin has never stayed away from recording profoundly uplifting music for the soul for very long.  Born in 1959, McClurkin was encouraged at an early age by the legendary Andrae Crouch, after his aunt became a singer in the Gospel great’s choir.  Fighting through a rough home life and a battle with cancer, Donnie was eventually discovered and recorded a solo album.  After an appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s top-rated television show, Donnie’s solo debut was catapulted to the upper regions of the Gospel charts and his career was born.  Donnie has won three GRAMMY® Awards, as well as BET, Soul Train and Dove awards.

ISRAEL HOUGHTON
Israel Houghton is known by thousands for his day job as a worship leader at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas.  But since 1997 with the release of his debut album Whisper It Loud, Houghton has been recording and performing his music for Gospel fans all over the world.  Since then he’s performed with such pop icons as Alicia Keys, performed at the 50th Annual GRAMMY® Awards, racking up two gold albums, six Dove Awards, two Stellar Awards, a Soul Train Award and four GRAMMY® Awards in the process.