The Clark Sisters, Detroit gospel legends, to receive Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards

Detroit's legendary gospel group the Clark Sisters will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Recording Academy ahead of this year's Grammys, in a class that also includes N.W.A., Gladys Knight, Donna Summer, Tammy Wynette and Laurie Anderson.

The Clarks — Jacky, Denise, Elbernita ("Twinkie"), Dorinda, and Karen — are the best-selling female gospel group in history, and helped bring gospel music to the mainstream, Grammy organizers said in their announcement.

The group, the daughters of gospel choir director Mattie Moss-Clark, formed in Detroit in the mid-1960s and released their debut album, "Jesus Has a Lot to Give," in 1973. The group has sold millions of records over the ensuing decades.

The Clark Sisters' most recent album, 2020's "The Return," came after an 11-year break following its previous set, 2009's "The Clark Sisters' Family Christmas." The album features a cameo from Snoop Dogg on the track "His Love."

The sisters were the subject of a Lifetime movie, "The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel," in 2018.

The Clarks sang "Is My Living in Vain?" at the funeral for Aretha Franklin in 2018. Franklin had performed at the funeral for Mattie Moss-Clark in 1994.

All five members were mentioned by the Recording Academy as honorees, including Denise, who left the group in 1986.

The Clark Sisters will be honored during the Grammys' Special Merit Awards, which will be held at Los Angeles' Wilshire Ebell Theater on Feb. 3.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is given to performers "who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording," according to the Grammy website. Last year's recipients included Nirvana, Bobby McFerrin, Ma Rainey, Nile Rodgers, Slick Rick, Heart and the Supremes.

The Grammys will air at 8 p.m. Feb. 4 on CBS.

agraham@detroitnews.com