Kam Franklin

A leading voice for justice and equity in the music industry and beyond, Kam Franklin is an interdisciplinary artist and activist whose work transcends genre and medium to speak to the core of our shared humanity. Though she’s perhaps most widely recognized as the powerhouse singer and songwriter at the helm of acclaimed Gulf Coast soul band The Suffers, Franklin has also established herself as a prolific writer, orator, model, actress, visual artist, and entrepreneur over the course of the last decade, utilizing her platform to champion more inclusive environments for Black, queer, femme, and non-binary artists around the world. Her single, “Byrd and Shepard,” brings together the disparate threads of her multifaceted career, reflecting on the 1998 killings of James Byrd, Jr., and Matthew Shepard and offering up a pointed reflection on our collective responsibility to fight for a better, more just future in the face of rising hate and intolerance.

Since launching The Suffers in 2011, Franklin has appeared with the band on Letterman, Colbert, Kimmel, NPR’s Tiny Desk, All Things Considered, and The Daily Show, in addition to performing at a diverse array of festivals from Newport Folk and Byron Bay Blues to Monterey Jazz and Afropunk. A three-time winner of the Houston Press Award for Best Female Vocalist and two-time recipient of the Houston Press award for Local Musician of the Year, Franklin has also turned heads with a broad range of collaborations: in 2016, she performed in the March For Science band alongside Jon Batiste and Stay Human, Questlove, Judith Hill, and Fred Wesley; in 2017, she sang with the Houston Symphony; in 2018, she released a single with Grammy Award-winning Tejano legends La Mafia; and in 2021, she sang alongside Chaka Khan, Brandi Carlile, Margo Price, Yola, and more as part of Allison Russell’s “Once and Future” sounds on the Newport mainstage.

After winning a grant from The Houston Arts Alliance in 2022, Franklin launched her latest project, the Bayou City Comeback Chorus, which brought together singers of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels to harmonize together in a unique blend of psychedelic funk and traditional choral music. The group’s debut EP, which was released on Franklin’s own Homegirl Island Records label, helped Franklin earn The Houston Artist Commissioning Project’s New/Now award, enabling her to stage a second volume with the Chorus at Houston’s Wortham Center in 2024.

When she’s not onstage or in the studio, Franklin can often be found speaking on panels at museums, festivals, and non-profit foundations. A popular guest on podcasts like Brené Brown’s “Dare To Lead,” Franklin has also contributed writing on race, gender, and the arts to outlets like Vice and Forbes. She currently serves on the board of HeadCount.org, as Governor for the Texas and Oklahoma Chapter of the Recording Academy, and as both the inaugural Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion ambassador and the inaugural Recording Academy Black Music Collective Chapter Ambassador for the Texas Chapter of The Recording Academy.