Throughout her time in the industry, singer Maurette Brown Clark has rightfully earned her spot as a gospel legend and nicknames such as “Princess of Praise & Worship” and the “Angel of Adlibs.”
Music lovers often praise her ability to improvise her angelic words or phrases, which developed from being influenced by other gospel giants.
The “Just Want to Praise You” songstress sat down with Atlanta Black Star for a recent interview, where she name-dropped CeCe Winans as one person who takes ad-libbing to a whole different level.
“She always sings from a place of humbleness and love for Jesus,” Clark stated. “It just oozes out… So, if I can sing where people can see that then that’s the goal.”
Next in line, is “Great Is Your Mercy” singer and minister Donnie McClurkin, whom Clark says she grew up listening to. “Imagine being 12, 13, 14 years old and he comes walking through the door, sits at the piano, sings with his sister group and you’re like, ‘Who are you? Where did you come from? And why are your pants high waters,'” she joked.
In the 1970s, McClurkin created his first gospel group featuring a nine-member choir called McClurkin Singers. The group consisted of two of his four sisters, few friends and eventually transformed into The New York Restoration Choir in the 1990s.
“Like just being able to have that liberty to be who he was to sing the music that God had given him,” Clark said before moving on to other gospel icons such as two-time Grammy-winner Hezekiah Walker and the Rev. Timothy Wright.
The Long Island native added, “All these gospel greats that came out of New York that went on to, you know, be – have their music across the world. Those were my influences to see and to know that God can take your gift and use it for his glory and then bless you with the desires of your heart just expand your territory.”
Clark stated that her improvisations come from the heart, and she explained that one song can sound completely different because of how she chooses to sing it.
“I could sing ‘I Just Wanna Praise You’ right now and it would be totally different than it would be tomorrow or the next day or the next day.”
She continued, “My ad-libs come from a place of where I am at that moment and then God feeds to me if there’s a line that I need to lay on [repeat] then he’ll tell me, ‘Say that again, say that again, say that again.’ And I do it! Whatever he tells me to say I do.”
Clark said whatever she thinks during her time of worship is ultimately what she ends up singing aloud.
“He’s given me the way to kind of adjust the pattern that it fits musically,” she shared. “So that is my gift that he’s blessed me to do. I don’t sing real high, I don’t sing real low. I don’t even sing real fancy. But what he’s given me is the gift to tap into the moment and that moment resonates with people.”
Clark catapulted her solo career in 1998 by releasing her first studio album, “How I Feel.” The project peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Gospel Albums chart and landed her her first Stellar Gospel Music Award in 2000 for Best New Artist.
Since then, Clark has consistently rolled out new music every few years, for which she frequently receives accolades. On Wednesday, Nov. 29, she dropped a music video for her single “I See Good” from her latest album, “He Loves Me.”
