“Richard Smallwood had a dream, like Dr. Mar-tin Luther King,” she laughs. “He dreamt about putting a one-time event choir together, and he dreamt every member in the choir. I happened to be in the dream.
She’s been dubbed the “Princess of Praise & Worship.” However, for years, many in the gospel industry didn’t see Maurette Brown Clark as much more than a background singer. But she’s been like a quiet storm, and now her rich, sultry, jazzy vocals are showing out in all the right places and spaces.
Maurette grew up in Long Island, NY, in a musical family. Her parents made sure that she and her three siblings were active in music both in and out of the church. “I studied classical piano for nine years, sang in the church choir and the choir at school, and the National Honor Society Chorus,” she says.
The “Brown Singers” family group was well known in churches around Long Island, Brooklyn, and Queens. Wherever the family appeared, audiences were thrilled. “Yeah,” Maurette re-calls, “We would walk in, not be on the program, and they would be like, ‘Oh! We see Deacon Brown and his kids. Don’t y’all wanna hear them sing?’”
Attending college at the University of Maryland and becom-ing a part of the thriving DMV (Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia) gospel scene was a lock for Maurette. It was there that she says, “I really figured out that my voice was not average. Not that anybody’s voice is average because God gives us all what we’re supposed to have, but mine was just different. So, I joined the [College] gospel choir, then the Keith Lee Singers, and later the Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church, in DC. That’s where I did my very first concert by myself, which was crazy!”
The concert proved to be a major mile-stone in her career. “Before that, I had never strung more than one song together. But my church, for whatever reason, believed in me.” At the concert that night were gospel artists, Daniel Winans and Pastor Donnie McClurkin. “Daniel offered me the opportunity to come to Detroit and stay with his family and record on his next project. That literally was my very first time recording. I [had been] making demos and different things like that, but it really was [Daniel Winans] coming to my concert and going, ‘Yeah…Her!”
The nod from Winans launched Maurette into a series of background gigs, including Rev. Timothy Wright, Wilmington Chester Mass Choir, Bishop Hezekiah Walker and CeCe Winans; but when Richard Smallwood featured her on the song, “Angels Watching Over Me,” she finally (literally) stepped to the front of the stage.
“Richard had a dream, like Dr. Martin Luther King,” she laughs. “He dreamt about putting a one-time event choir together, and he dreamt every member in the choir. I happened to be in the dream. I’d met him through the years [while] singing with the Keith Lee Singers. The next thing I knew, Somebody called me. ‘Richard Smallwood is looking for you!’ Yes! Give him my number! And really, the rest is history. I went to that first rehears-al, which turned into many, many more, over many, many years.”
“Angels” was one of the songs on Small-wood’s 1996 live recording (“Adoration”) which also included the mega-hit, “Total Praise.” The project, including every cut, became a gospel classic. Prior to that recording, Maurette had been shopping for her own solo record deal and nothing was working, but “after ‘Angels,’” she recalls, “I had two record deals sitting on my desk. I chose to go with Tara Griggs-Ma-gee at Verity/Zomba. That’s when I did my first project, “How I Feel.”
That 1998 debut featuring the single, “Breaking of Day,” earned her a 2000 Stellar Award for “Best New Artist.” After Verity/Zomba, Maurette signed with Atlanta International Records (AIR), where she released, “By His Grace” (2002), “The Dream” (2007), and “The Sound of Victory” (2011), and earned more awards.
Subsequent releases in 2015 (“King, Oh King”), 2019 (“I Want God”), and 2023 (“He Loves Me”) have continued the momentum of Maurette’s musical impact. In April 2024, she scored her second #1 song on the Billboard Gospel chart with the single, “I See Good.” She was invited to sing the song on Stellar TV’s Black History Honors Show, as well as the Kelly Clarkson Show.
After more than three decades of gospel industry experience, including her management, consulting and booking agency, Nettie’s Child Music and Management, LLC (named for her mother). Maurette has seen the tide come and go. “I’m used to the ebb and flow of the industry,” she says.
Looking ahead, Maurette muses, “I’ve never done my own tour.” Years ago, she was part of a tour, “My part in it was small.” Her dream is to do a Maurette Brown Clark Tour, “where I take my band and singers. I think a lot of people aren’t used to seeing me in that freedom. That’s the next phase of my career.”