12th Annual MLK GospelFest

The Wake Forest University Intercultural Center will host its 12th Annual MLK GospelFest featurig the WFU Gospel Choir and guest artist Kierra "KiKi" Sheard at 3pm on Sunday, January 15, 2017. Gospelfest is an annual large-scale gospel celebration, in honor of the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sheard’s quest began when she launched her professional solo career in 2004. Gifted with a mezzo-soprano range soaring from angelic riffs to deep lows, Sheard is a next-generation member of pioneering inspirational group, the multi-Grammy Award winning, Clark Sisters. Its members include the singer’s three aunts and her mother, Karen Clark Sheard. Singing in her pastor father’s church from the age of six, Sheard later appeared on two songs from her mother’s Grammy-nominated 1997 solo debut, Finally Karen. One song, “The Will of God,” earned the then nine-year-old a Stellar Award for Best Children’s Performance.

After honing her skills as a backing vocalist for her mother and the Clark Sisters, Sheard came into her own. The 27-year-old Detroit native gained notoriety out of the box with her 2004 debut album I Owe You. That was followed by 2006’s This Is Me. The Grammy Award-nominated sophomore set bowed at No. 1 on Billboard’s Gospel Albums chart. Two years later came Bold Right Life and then 2011’s Free, her first album on the Sheard family’s Karen Records. Hit singles include “You Don’t Know,” “Why Me” and “God in Me.”

At 29, Her fifth album "Graceland" was released on July 22, 2014, which hit #1 overall on iTunes, and is nominated for multiple awards at the 2015 Stellar Awards. Sheard says, her music infuses R&B/hip-hop and gospel beats mixed with Coldplay and other pop/rock sounds—but always with a positive message.

Cosponsored by: Student Activities Fee Fund