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"The McClurkin Project"In an era overflowing with talented song technicians—long on craft, but sometimes lacking in heart, soul and spirit—We Praise You, the long-awaited sophomore offering from The McClurkin Project, is as welcome as a cool shower on a hot summer day. Featuring Olivia, Cheri, and Tanya McClurkin, and Andrea McClurkin-Mellini, all sisters of superstar Donnie McClurkin (who co-produced the album, and contributed a number of hits-to-be from his own pen, as well as two stunning “guest vocal appearances), We Praise You arises from what is indisputably one of gospel music’s most prodigious pools of talent.
Recorded live before a packed house in Queens, NY, We Praise You has a “blend-in-the-blood sound that’s so tight and intuitive it could only be created by family.
The four sisters whisper, wail, swing and smoke through thirteen songs, largely originals, and the rollicking reinvention of a beloved gospel classic. Each McClurkin effortlessly sails in and out of melody, harmony, counterpoint and chorus.
The album’s title track, written by Andrea, is a spirited celebration of the greatness and majesty of the Lord. The song builds with an almost incendiary intensity, as Andrea soars into a stratospheric lead vocal, and the sisters lock in with her in circuit-breaking, high-voltage sync. And though the track ends at just over five minutes, it clearly is not “over by a long shot".
After an interval of only a several seconds, The McClurkin Project—and their equally explosive band—kick back into a spontaneous reprise. “I just kept hearing, in my head, the line:~If I couldn’t say a word,~ Andrea recalls. “Everyone was on their feet by then; I jumped back in with that, and it went from there, with my sisters answering me: ‘I’d just wave my hands, and I’d just leap for joy’ It took on a life of its own; It was an incredible moment and we went with it. Praise God…He knows what He’s doing"!
With a passion that’s just as deep, but also bearing its own distinctive stamp, Olivia steps front-and-center with, “You Are An Awesome God",(co-written with her daughter, Crystal Fythe), and the absolutely gorgeous, pop-flavored ballad, “Touch Me"; Olivia’s up-tempo take on the gospel evergreen, “Precious Lord", rather than seeking divine solace, resounds with the revelation of joy to be found in the comfort of the Lord.
The sisters carry the heart of the heavenly melody and harmonies on “As Long As You’re There", as brother Donnie(long-renowned as one of the great singers of his generation)—improvisationally pours out his soul on a song that is surely destined to be a praise & worship classic for the ages. Profoundly moving, readily singable, and utterly unforgettable, it stands as a hallmark of both We Praise You, and what the world will soon come to recognize as the definitive, unmistakable McClurkin Project sound.The McClurkin children—five sisters and two brothers—were raised by their parents in Amityville, NY. The entire family is musically gifted, and a vast range of musical influences was heard around their house over the years, in an eclectic mix that ran both a secular and gospel gamut from the Doobie Brothers, the Rolling Stones, and John Mellencamp, to Andrae Crouch, the Winans and the Hawkins Family.And just as each McClurkin went through unique phases and stages musically, each also came into a personal understanding of Jesus—and relationship with Him—in ways both similar and divergent. The seams of their family life began to unravel for a long and sorrowful season when another brother—still a toddler—was struck by a car and killed in 1968. Though the family had not been strangers to the church nor its teachings, the comforts of Christ faded before the medications of man and the lure of the bottle. Prescription drugs and alcohol took a toll for a time, as the parents and children all sought their own means of coping in a household and life that had become fraught with discord and strife.But starting with Donnie—who came to Christ at the age of nine—the entire family, one-by-one, and over the years, would come to see the Jesus as the only true and lasting prescription for their pain.“Today, I can honestly say that all has been healed, because we have a healed and harmonious, loving family, says Andrea. “The brokenness was then, and it was only to bring us to the point of wholeness we’re at today. We are the tightest of tight family.Donnie, as a young teenager, was playing piano in church and accompanying various singers in and around the New York area, when he and his sisters, and several close family friends, one of which was Carol Carter, the very first member, formed "Donnie McClurkin and The McClurkin Singers," in 1979. A decade of singing and ministering in area churches, prisons, and even on street corners, saw the family group evolve into the New York Restoration Choir in 1989, with a major gospel record deal soon to follow.The choir’s debut album, I See A World, delivered a hit single, “Speak to My Heart,’ which began to draw them attention and a small-but-devoted regional following. All young adults by that time, Donnie and his sisters amicably and mutually agreed to part ways professionally, each pursuing their own career and life paths.
The sisters continued to sing actively—in various configurations of the four—while Donnie embarked upon a career in music and ministry well-known to the masses, becoming one of the premiere artists in the history of Gospel music, and founder/pastor of the Perfecting Faith Church in Freeport, NY.
Olivia, a prolific songwriter, arranger and producer, toured around the world singing with such musical giants such as Whitney Houston, Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Andrae Crouch, and others. Andrea, also a gifted songwriter is the praise and worship leader of Perfecting Faith Church.The McClurkin Project was birthed in late 1999, when the sisters and Donnie regrouped for a gold-selling, self-titled album on Gospo Centric Records; their first joint venture into the studio since having worked together in the New York Restoration Choir ten years earlier.
Each member of the group continued to grow in both musical stature and spiritual maturity over the next six years, again working both individually and together, until the arrival of the eagerly anticipated We Praise You.
With that wait now over, The McClurkin Project stands poised to “go forth unto the nations with much the same message and purpose that has guided them throughout their lives.“If we want our kids to listen to music with a Gospel message, says Andrea, “we have to give them music they can both enjoy and relate to. At the same time, we can’t leave their parents behind in what we do. Our musical influences and reach are so broad and diverse, from the background we came up in, we want to touch everybody.
“When Jesus came to Earth to spread the Good News, it wasn’t just for a few, Cheri concludes; “It was for all…and we want the same to be true of the music and ministry we impart. It’s not for a select few. It’s for the world.
