Kimberly “Kim” Burrell is an American gospel singer from Houston, Texas. Kim Burrell was born August 26, 1972.
Kim Burrell started her career early as she took her first vocal solo with a church choir when she was only one-year-old. singing Andraé Crouch‘s “Hallelujah Praise.”
She is the daughter of a pastor in the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). Burrell began her gospel career proper performing with Reverend James Cleveland’s GMWA Youth Mass Choir (also known as Rev. James Cleveland’s Kids), Trinity Temple Full Gospel Mass Choir of Dallas and The Inspirational Sounds Mass Choir of Houston.
Her first independent album, Try Me Again, was released on the Texas-based boutique label Pearl Records in 1995. Though limited distribution kept the album from nationwide recognition, it did build a strong reputation that led to her being signed to Tommy Boy Gospel and the now-classic Everlasting Life, produced by Asaph Alexander Ward in 1998. The album performed well and peaked at #12 on the Billboard Gospel Charts.
Live in Concert followed in 2001, also on Tommy Boy. Unfortunately, the label folded a year later and she was briefly signed to Elektra Records but only recorded a handful of guest spots for the imprint, although she continued to make frequent live appearances.
In 2004 she made an unlikely guest turn on R. Kelly’s “3-Way Phone Call” and sang with funkster George Clinton on his 2008 album, George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love.
She has shared the stage with gospel artists Shirley Caesar, Donnie McClurkin, Karen Clark-Sheard, Yolanda Adams, Kirk Franklin, and Marvin Winans, among others, and has worked in the secular side of things with Missy Elliot, Chaka Khan, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, and Harry Connick, Jr., to name just a few.
Burrell released her first studio album in 11 years, entitled No Ways Tired on April 7, 2009 through Shanachie Records. The album features covers of classic gospel songs like “My Faith Looks Up To Thee,” “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” “O Lamb Of God” and “I Surrender All,” as well as the classic James Cleveland song after which the album is named.
On May 17, 2011, her highly anticipated The Love Album was released on Shanachie Records. In its first week after being released, it was #5 on the Billboard Gospel Albums chart, #166 on the Billboard 200 chart, and was the #2 most downloaded Gospel album on iTunes.
The Love Album was widely acclaimed for the vocal ingenuity displayed by Kim Burrell and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Gospel Album and two Stellar Awards for Contemporary Female of the Year and Albertina Walker Female Vocalist of the Year, the latter of which she won.
The lead single “Sweeter” also won the 2012 Dove Award for Urban Recorded Song of the Year.
In 2015’s From a Different Place, Burrell teamed up with R&B star Pharrell Williams for the song “I See a Victory,” which was featured in the 2016 film Hidden Figures.
Kim Burrell has won quiet a number of awards which are:
- 2000 Gospel Music Excellence Award, Female Vocalist of the Year – Contemporary for Everlasting Life
- 2000 Stellar Award, Contemporary Female Vocalist of the Year for Everlasting Life
- 2012 Stellar Award, Albertina Walker Female Vocalist of the Year for The Love Album
- 2012 Stellar Award, Contemporary Female of the Year for The Love Album
- 2012 Dove Award, Urban Recorded Song of the Year for “Sweeter”
Kim Burrell has a net worth of over $5 million dollars.
Kim has been bonded with her husband Joseph Wiley since a long time. She is the mother of a son named Christian. She is still having a successful married life.
