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``Gospel
music is best in the secular, just like light is best
in the dark,'' says McClurkin, who this month released
his latest album, ``Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs.''
``You're
singing to people who are not necessarily churchgoers.
And we have 45 minutes of nothing but gospel. Not the
watered down, user-friendly gospel _ the hard core ...
We don't dumb it down.''
McClurkin
has been able to appeal to a mainstream audience without
having to compromise. Where other Christian acts may
avoid overtly religious lyrics to appeal to a wider
audience, McClurkin's music is all about praising Jesus.
McClurkin
says people who seek out gospel don't want music that
sounds like pop or R&B.
``They
want to hear Jesus, they want to hear God, they want
to hear handclapping _ they want to hear about the name,''
he says.
They
get plenty of it listening to McClurkin. His majestic
presence and stirring tenor, coupled with music that
rouses the heart and lyrics that touch the soul, have
all contributed to the multiplatinum success he's enjoyed
in his nine-year recording career. His latest album
is among his most powerful, as he revisits traditional
hymns and church favorites.
He
says the younger generation sorely needs it.
``They
need to know our heritage. Because we've got young kids
that are growing up knowing 'Stomp,' and 'We Fall Down,'''
he says of the contemporary hits. ``But they don't know
our history, so that's what we're doing, bringing those
songs back.''
``He's
a traditionalist,'' says Bobby Jones, host of the long-running
BET gospel show bearing his name. ``I'd hate to see
him on stage trying to rap, hip-hop _ that's not his
style. He's too classy for that.''
While
McClurkin, 45, is a fan of contemporary gospel, he's
not an admirer of much of what today's music. Even the
mention of Kanye West's ``Jesus Walks,'' the rap hit
that drew some praise for mentioning religion in a hip-hop
song, sparks a lecture from the singer about what should
be taught to children.
``What
happened with that is they downplayed it, dumbed (Jesus)
down, to be the good fairy that looks after you and
condones your mess and protects you in the melee,''
he scoffs. ``That is not who he is or ever was or ever
will be. There are standards that go along with this
that was not displayed in 'Jesus Walks.'''
``I
know people say, 'You're being judgmental,' but somebody's
got to judge,'' he says. ``We have to judge whether
it's right and wrong.''
But
while McClurkin may be adamant about what's moral, he's
just as forceful in his view that sinners can be saved.
One of his biggest hits, ``We Fall Down,'' is all about
redemption _ and he is quick to point out that he is
prime example.
In
his 2001 book, ``Eternal Victim/Eternal Victor,'' and
in last fall's DVD documentary, ``The Donnie McClurkin
Story: From Darkness to Light,'' he revealed a childhood
of sexual abuse, struggles with homosexuality and bisexuality,
and personal battles against illness (he once had leukemia)
and other tragedies.
McClurkin
says revisiting his demons in the book and DVD was painful.
``But
through the trauma it also gave closure and resolution
to a lot of things, and I was able to deal with a lot
of taboo issues, like sexuality and my struggle with
bisexuality and how God helped me find myself, find
who I really am,'' he says. ``The man _ not the bisexual,
the homosexual, the man that I am, that's made for one
woman, and he dealt with why it happened and what caused
it to happen.''
Jones
says McClurkin's frankness ruffled some feathers among
church folk.
``A
lot of people resent the fact that he claims that he
is no longer homosexual, that he was raped, and a lot
of those kinds of things. A lot of your die-hard Christians
just don't care for that,'' Jones says.
Gay-rights
activists have been chagrined to hear how McClurkin
describes himself today _ as a man cured of homosexuality.
But McClurkin dismisses the critics.
``They
have to vilify the one that's saying there is hope,
there is help, there's an out,'' he says. ``What I say
in the book is simply this: If you're gay, and you're
happy, if you don't think you need to change, stay just
how you are. But there are some people who are in the
gay and bisexual lifestyle that are broken; that's why
the suicide rate is so high.''
Yet
he's also critical of church leaders who demonize homosexuals
from the pulpit.
``You've
got the church people who are lambasting and so demeaningly
preaching hard against the person and not the sin. You've
got the preachers calling them names,'' he says. ``We
become harsh and we haven't portrayed the love of Jesus
Christ.''
That
message of love is what he tries to convey in his own
church _ Perfecting Faith in Long Island, New York.
McClurkin plans to devote himself completely to the
church in a few more years, leaving both the secular
and gospel music world behind.
``I
can't sing forever,'' he laughs. ``Only Shirley Ceasar
can do that!''
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