Courtland Pickens likes what he’s hearing during a recent performance of his youth choir, Known MPLS, at the Capri Theater.

Photos and story by David Pierini, Editor

If every gospel artist’s story begins with singing in church as a kid, it appeared God had other plans when Courtland Pickens was a kid.

Standing in front of his congregation in Peoria, Ill., singing or speaking always began and ended in tears for the young Pickens.

“Me and my siblings had that reputation,” said Pickens, 37. “Going back for a visit now, people still tease me because they never thought in a million years that I’d be on stage performing.”

The Henry High School grad has made a name for himself in the Twin Cities as a gospel singer and church worship leader.

No Peoria, this is not a missprint.

The fear he felt as a kid now leads him to his most rewarding project to date as youth choir director for his group Known MPLS, formed in 2019 just before the pandemic. Yet the 48-member group, which rehearses out of Shiloh Temple International Ministries, is consistently booked. The choir opened for several Grammy-winning gospel artists when their tours brought them to the Twin Cities.

Mia Emmanuel, left, Emily Sillah, Naomi Nichols, Janae Leibel and Tavi Burnett harmonize with the rest of the alto section.

If gospel music was God’s plan, Pickens’ feet walked a different path.

Had a girl not heard Pickens signing to himself in high school, neither he nor his choir would be Known. That Pickens liked the girl gave him the confidence to try singing, and he developed his gentle and mellifluous voice in the early 2000s singing with the Praise and Worship Team at Shiloh.

He wrote music for several gospel recording artists and was one of the lead vocalists in the award-winning group Darnell Davis & The Remnant. He released an EP, The Manifest Promise in 2017 and sang around the country at gospel festivals and featured on gospel television shows. Pickens' audition with the TV show The Voice, landed him in the final 150 singers before getting sent home.

But working to transform youth voices– he teaches choir at Henry High and Fair High–may come with a stronger call than the individual pursuit of being a solo artist.

“I have this ability to create community amongst my choir kids,” Pickens said. “The kids loved my class, so much so that some would just come to school to make it to my choir class.

“During the summertime, kids would always reach out to me to see if I had any singing opportunities. Finally in 2019, I made a leap of faith. I know that whenever I say yes to doing anything, my whole heart is invested.”

So much so that when he was in danger of missing one of his Monday night rehearsals while waiting to see a doctor in a hospital emergency room recently, he left to run the rehearsal. He returned to the hospital for treatment.

“Courtland has not just been a vocal coach, he has been like a father to us in our hardest times outside of the choir,” said Known member Jhadyia Steele. “He has a pure spirit. It’s just a thing that flows out of him.”

Pickens is all smiles and snaps as he watches Ahjahlai Cargill solo.

Pickens moved to North Minneapolis after his parents divorced. They later remarried and moved back to Peoria but Pickens found a home here and stayed. He is now married and has a 12-year-old son and is the worship leader at Epiphany Covenant Church in south Minneapolis.

Pickens understands God’s plan is unique to the individual and that painful stage fright can be a gift. Pickens’ story is best told in his own words. The conversation that follows is edited for brevity.

Being Known: When I said yes, I made one Facebook post and got about 160 people to audition for this choir. I knew I was on to something. I selected about 60. They were in the age range (12-24). Some older adults auditioned and there were kids that were really young. I felt more passionate about the teenage to early young adult age group.

I told the kids I wanted them to choose your choir. And so we did this competition for who can come up with the best name. There were a lot of different names but when this one girl said it, a light bulb turned on. Her thinking behind it was ‘it’s our objective to make Jesus known.’ That’s why we do what we do to glorify God and draw people to him. And also to be known in our community. Our community is known for so many negative things. We want to be known in our community for something positive.

(Known MPLS is under the umbrella of Voicez, Inc., a non-profit Pickens started)

The call to working with youth: My mom always had a daycare. I always had kids around me so my love for youth really came from her. My mom passed away in 2014. And doing this work always makes me feel like her legacy lives through me and that I’m carrying on her legacy by serving the youth that I care for.

For me, it’s not just the choir, like literally, they feel like my kids. I care for them like they’re my own kids. It’s beyond choir and teaching them songs. I’m teaching them how to open bank accounts, get jobs, get into college, find housing. ...I’m trying to provide resources for these kids.

I just want to be a part of the change that I wanted to see in the community. It starts with me mentoring and supporting a group of 40 to 60 youth. Minneapolis has a rich foundation of music history, and I want to help groom the next generation of singers and songwriters.

After rehearsal and a stressful day, a member of the choir gets hug from Pickens. “For me, it’s not just the choir,” Pickens said. I care for them like they’re my own kids.”

He was singing all along: I was singing around the house, but I didn’t really know I could sing until high school. A girl overheard me and she said, ‘Oh, you can sing.’ I think I liked her, too. From there I said let’s try it out. I did. I started to sing more until I got to a place where I could perfect my gift.

The gift in stage fright: I felt like I went through that so I can make a larger impact on the youth that I serve. For me, it’s strongly about affirming these kids where they are. I never had anybody to speak into me and to believe in me.

A promising start and then the pandemic: We started in July 2019 and did our first concert at Valley Fair the next month. It was amazing. I’ll never forget I still have the video clip of our first rehearsal and after I taught the first song, we all looked at each with goosebumps

and smiles like, ‘We sound amazing.’

From there we opened for some amazing gospel artists in the city like (Grammy winner) Jonathan McReynolds, (Grammy winner) Le'Andria Johnson and (seven-time Grammy nominee) Vanessa Bell Armstrong. The list goes on. We performed for the General Mills MLK breakfast. We did a performance in St. Cloud, we performed with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra at the Ordway. I feel that in prayer one day the Lord spoke to me and said, “Because you said yes to this task, I’m going to completely blow your mind with this choir.’ And that has been the miracle I’ve been living by serving these youth.

When the pandemic first hit, we went to Zoom for about a month or two. But Irealized this was not productive enough. They need more. So by late May, early June I restarted meeting back in person again. We desperately needed to just be in space with one another because that’s what we created. We were booked and busy through the entire pandemic.

You left the hospital for rehearsal? It’s important to have consistency for these kids. They thrive with consistency. And I knew that rehearsal was not just healing for them, it’s healing for me. I was in the emergency room (not with COVID-19) all day and they did not call me. So I left and went back afterward. Oh my goodness, my wife was so mad. But I said I need to be with these kids. That’s healing for me. And I recovered totally fine.

Courtland Pickens leads his youth choir Known through these times