Karen Clark Sheard is an American gospel singer from Detroit who began her career in the late 1970s and early 1980s performing with a Detroit-based family gospel group before embarking on a solo career in gospel music. Her vocal style, rooted in church traditions, blends traditional and contemporary gospel with elements of R&B and urban contemporary music, and her solo work incorporated contemporary production and improvisational singing that shaped aspects of modern gospel vocal technique and church music practice.
