“I just try to give a little piece of myself and be a little transparent,” said Grammy Award nominated gospel singer and acclaimed actress Tamela Mann. “I want to let people know that I hurt too, I cry too – just like everybody else.”
She’s riding high on the success of her latest single “Take Me To The King,” and will be in St. Louis next Thursday (Sept. 12) to headline the Kingdom Building Arts Benefit concert presented by Dress Circle Entertainment and JPEK Creative Works.
“People can expect a little laughter – and a lot of praise and worship,” Mann said.
For those who aren’t immersed in spiritual music, she may seem like an overnight sensation. But it’s been twenty years in the making.
She got her start with Kirk Franklin and was a featured soloist on “Behold the Lamb,” from the Kirk Franklin and the Family Christmas album.
“Sing Tamela,” a voice echoes in the background as she belts to the heavens.
“I had no idea twenty years ago I had no idea I would be here standing alone,” Mann said. “But I’m grateful to God.”
In twenty years she has enjoyed three careers. After The Family and Kirk Franklin parted ways, she was discovered as an actress by Tyler Perry. She and her husband David would make a name for themselves as popular gospel stage actors. Thanks to connections with the likes of Perry and David Talbert, they became household names in their own right – and she became known by urban audiences everywhere as “Cora.”
She went on to record her first album in 2005. Nearly 10 years later, she’s working on her next album and re-recording the song that put her on the gospel music map. Mann couldn’t help but have a full circle moment.
“I was crying in the studio when I was doing it. I was like ‘Oh my God,’” Mann said. “To be able to go back and listen to my voice then and to hear it now – and think about everything I’ve been blessed to do since then. I’m just so, so grateful to God to be able to stand before his people and I never want to take it for granted that god has given me the gift that I have. I want it to stay fresh and new like this for 20 more years.”
While she’s thrilled with the acclaim – especially her first Grammy Nomination thanks to “Take Me To The King – she’s more thrilled with what the success in her music means for her ministry.
“I’m not looking at it like ‘oh, people are saying my name,’” Mann said. “I’m looking at it from the place of all of the people are being blessed. And hearing the testimonies from people saying that this song has changed their lives – or got them through a particular situation – that’s what I’m looking at. And that’s what has me feeling so blessed and humbled, because that’s what I’m striving for. When I perform, I want to give hope and to know that they can be delivered and set free from whatever you are going through. That’s where I am right now and I want to stay in that place. I never want to get to the point where I’m thinking it’s about me.”
Tamela Mann will be performing at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 12 at Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church. For more information, visit www.jpek-thearts.com
