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Award-winning musician, songwriter, and author. Actress. Producer. Businesswoman. This is Tamela Mann. 

A 1984 graduate of Polytechnic High School, Mann is acclaimed for her soul-stirring gospel vocals and her roles in stage plays, TV shows, and films. 

Her professional career as a singer started in the 1990s as a member of the gospel group, Kirk Franklin and the Family. She was a lead vocalist in the group and is best known for songs like “Now Behold the Lamb,” “Silver and Gold,” and “Lean on Me.” With fellow ÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ´óÈ« alumnus, Kirk Franklin, who attended O.D. Wyatt High School, she recorded three albums.

Mann’s husband of 35 years is David Mann, a 1985 O.D. Wyatt alumnus, singer, comedian, author, stage play, TV, and film actor.   

Beyond her involvement with Kirk Franklin and the Family ensemble, Tamela Mann went on to have a successful career as a solo gospel artist. Seven of Mann’s songs have reached No. 1 on the Billboard Gospel charts with her most notable one being the double-platinum song, “Take Me to the King.”  Billboard named Mann’s album “Better Days” its Gospel Album of the Decade (2010-2019). Her most recent album, “Overcomer,” was released a couple years ago.

“Singing to me, it’s my passion,” Mann recently told WFAA in a “Good Morning Texas” Women’s History Month segment. “Acting was like the icing on the cake.”

Her breakout acting role is her portrayal of Cora Simmons in Tyler Perry’s 1999 stage play, “I Can Do Bad All by Myself.” Mann has reprised her role as Cora in multiple Tyler Perry films and TV productions including “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” “Madea Goes to Jail,” and “Meet the Browns.” To date, she has nearly 30 TV and film acting credits, including TV series and movie productions that she stars in and produces. 

Acting, Mann told WFAA, was something she was once afraid of.

“Sometimes you have to just fight over your fears, and that’s kind of what I have done is fought over my fears, and I’m just growing,” Mann told WFAA. “To me, even with being in the business for over 30 years now, I’m still learning.” 

Mann’s singing and acting career has earned her multiple accolades including a Grammy and multiple NAACP, Stellar, and Gospel Music Association (GMA) Dove awards. 

In 2018, Mann and her husband, David, released their first book and joint album, “Us Against the World: Our Secrets to Love, Marriage, and Family,” which received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work. 

She is the face of the Tamela Mann Collection, an athleisure clothing line. 

Most recently, Mann starred in the TV series “Tyler Perry’s Assisted Living” on BET network and in the 2023 motion picture adaption of the Alice Walker novel and musical stage play, “The Color Purple.”

Mann continues to work on new music and appears in various TV and film projects.