The Media, the Message & the Manns
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Their debut CD, Kirk Franklin & The Family, earned a GRAMMY and took them to the top of the charts, becoming the highest grossing gospel album of the year. They went on to record two additional CDs while rewriting the face of gospel with the revolutionary urban contemporary style, and Tamela leading such classics as “Now Behold the Lamb” and “Lean On Me” featuring Bono and R. Kelly.
It was with Franklin that David Mann first ventured onto the theatrical stage when they were both cast by David Talbert in a stage play, He Say, She Say, But What Does God Say. It was during that venture that he met Perry and the rest, as they say, is history.
When not on set for their new TV show, the couple is hard at work on their first CD as a recording duo for their own recording label, TillyMann Music Group. Their first project, Tamela’s 2005 CD Gotta Keep Movin‘, debuted at #3 on Billboard Top gospel album sales chart and they each currently have solo projects on the market: The Live Experience by Tamela and David’s Mr. Brown’s Good Ol‘ Time Church, a comedy CD with bits of Mann singing gospel tunes as Mr. Brown.
Tamela – who made her film debut in Diary of a Mad Black Woman in 2005 – is tentatively calling the new CD, due this summer, Lord at the Altar,.
“It’s a bit out of the norm,” she reveals, “and I’ve also done a couple of new urban pieces.”
“We’ve put some love songs on there,” David explains. “It’s Christian love music for couples. One of the songs is called “Heaven” and it just talks about a couple and the way...
“‘When I look at you, you make me feel like I'm in heaven,’” Tamela says, completing his sentence with the rest of the song lyric. “‘And it will make you feel brand-new, just your skin touching mine.’ It’s just about people being in love.”
Part of the excitement for the album is that it showcases Tamela’s writing and her love for church. In fact, it all boils down to church for the Fort Worth native who first met her husband of 21 years through a mutual friend and, shortly after, joined his singing group The Humble Hearts.
“Bottom line: it’s all ministry to us,” states Tamela, who started a marriage ministry with her husband – Biblical Marriage in a Practical World – to encourage couples and families to come together.
“I know it’s film and television, but we still want our spirit to be seen as what we are portraying, which is Christians, and to be able to get a message across without just beating Jesus on the people. Keeping our base and staying rooted is the main thing.”
Their debut CD, Kirk Franklin & The Family, earned a GRAMMY and took them to the top of the charts, becoming the highest grossing gospel album of the year. They went on to record two additional CDs while rewriting the face of gospel with the revolutionary urban contemporary style, and Tamela leading such classics as “Now Behold the Lamb” and “Lean On Me” featuring Bono and R. Kelly.
It was with Franklin that David Mann first ventured onto the theatrical stage when they were both cast by David Talbert in a stage play, He Say, She Say, But What Does God Say. It was during that venture that he met Perry and the rest, as they say, is history.
When not on set for their new TV show, the couple is hard at work on their first CD as a recording duo for their own recording label, TillyMann Music Group. Their first project, Tamela’s 2005 CD Gotta Keep Movin‘, debuted at #3 on Billboard Top gospel album sales chart and they each currently have solo projects on the market: The Live Experience by Tamela and David’s Mr. Brown’s Good Ol‘ Time Church, a comedy CD with bits of Mann singing gospel tunes as Mr. Brown.
Tamela – who made her film debut in Diary of a Mad Black Woman in 2005 – is tentatively calling the new CD, due this summer, Lord at the Altar,.
“It’s a bit out of the norm,” she reveals, “and I’ve also done a couple of new urban pieces.”
“We’ve put some love songs on there,” David explains. “It’s Christian love music for couples. One of the songs is called “Heaven” and it just talks about a couple and the way...
“‘When I look at you, you make me feel like I'm in heaven,’” Tamela says, completing his sentence with the rest of the song lyric. “‘And it will make you feel brand-new, just your skin touching mine.’ It’s just about people being in love.”
Part of the excitement for the album is that it showcases Tamela’s writing and her love for church. In fact, it all boils down to church for the Fort Worth native who first met her husband of 21 years through a mutual friend and, shortly after, joined his singing group The Humble Hearts.
“Bottom line: it’s all ministry to us,” states Tamela, who started a marriage ministry with her husband – Biblical Marriage in a Practical World – to encourage couples and families to come together.
“I know it’s film and television, but we still want our spirit to be seen as what we are portraying, which is Christians, and to be able to get a message across without just beating Jesus on the people. Keeping our base and staying rooted is the main thing.”
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About the Writer
Lisa Collins, a Los Angeles native and resident, is a syndicated columnist, writer, publisher and former Billboard Magazine columnist. Her career in gospel began in 1988 with her creation of “Inside Gospel,” a daily/weekly syndicated radio series that provided news, profiles and product updates relative to the gospel music community. For the next eight years, she would also serve as executive producer of the show that was broadcast in more than 100 markets nationwide. Collins has also served as a segment producer for BET and authored well over 300 articles on a variety of issues for a number of national publications from Essence to Upscale. Her background in the field of entertainment reporting is extensive, featuring cover stories and interviews with the likes of Richard Pryor, Michael Jackson and Prince.
