'' 2nd Chance '' is the second studio album by American gospel musician

Karen Clark Sheard Karen Valencia Clark Sheard (née Clark; born November 15, 1960) is an American gospel singer and songwriter. Clark-Sheard is the youngest member of gospel group the Clark Sisters, which was formed in 1973. She is also the mother of contemporary ...

. It was released on July 30, 2002 on

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

. The release was much anticipated for several reasons; Sheard was only the second

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

artist signed to

, and this was her debut for the label. It was also her first release since the success of her

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

-nominated debut ''Finally Karen'', and a long bout with illness had delayed any releases from her since. The album peaked at #2 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Gospel Charts, #3 on the Billboard Contemporary Christian Charts, #27 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Charts, and #82 on the Billboard 200. In 2001, Clark-Sheard was faced with a life-threatening crisis when a

blood vessel Blood vessels are the tubular structures of a circulatory system that transport blood throughout many Animal, animals’ bodies. Blood vessels transport blood cells, nutrients, and oxygen to most of the Tissue (biology), tissues of a Body (bi ...

burst during a scheduled

hernia A hernia (: hernias or herniae, from Latin, meaning 'rupture') is the abnormal exit of tissue or an organ (anatomy), organ, such as the bowel, through the wall of the cavity in which it normally resides. The term is also used for the normal Devel ...

surgery. Her doctors only gave her a 2% chance of survival due to her complications. After the

blood clot A thrombus ( thrombi) is a solid or semisolid aggregate from constituents of the blood (platelets, fibrin, red blood cells, white blood cells) within the circulatory system during life. A blood clot is the final product of the blood coagulatio ...

was surgically removed, Clark-Sheard fell into a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

. The coma lasted three and a half weeks, but Clark-Sheard says she made a miraculous Christian Music Planet
/ref> recovery. Despite citing

surgery, fans continue to speculate Clark-Sheard underwent a

gastric bypass Gastric bypass surgery refers to a technique in which the stomach is divided into a small upper pouch and a much larger lower "remnant" pouch, where the small intestine is rearranged to connect to both. Surgeons have developed several differen ...

operation which led to complications of

and

brain aneurysm An intracranial aneurysm, also known as a cerebral aneurysm, is a cerebrovascular disorder characterized by a localized dilation or ballooning of a blood vessel in the brain due to a weakness in the vessel wall. These aneurysms can occur in an ...

since after the ordeal Sheard returned in 2001 having lost a significant amount of weight. This was later confirmed in the 2020 Clark Sisters biopic. Though the release performed well on the charts and Clark-Sheard's vocals were in excellent form, the slick contemporary R&B production was not openly embraced by Sheard's core audience of traditional gospel music listeners. The 2003 follow-up release '' The Heavens Are Telling'' returned to the formula of her hugely successful, well-received, and Grammy-nominated debut '' Finally Karen'' by offering half of the album as a collection of live tracks, and half as a collection of upbeat studio productions.

Track listing

Notes * denotes co-producer

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control Karen Clark Sheard albums 2002 albums Albums produced by Missy Elliott Albums produced by Tim & Bob Albums produced by Mike City Albums produced by Timbaland