Celebration of Praise
Gospel Festival
Sparky D - In the mid 1980's, Sparky D lived in the Van Dyke Projects of the Brownsville area in Brooklyn, New York. She would embark on a career as a female MC that would see her life go from the pinnacle of earthly hip-hop stardom to being a victim of domestic abuse, homelessness and drug addiction, Having lived a life of many changes in 2007 she found herself back at the top again to receiving the 2007 Gospel Choice Awards, for the song "This Is For The Church."
She was born Doreen Broadnax in Brooklyn, New York to a black father and a white mother. Sparky says, "Being an inter-racial child in the projects was rough, we had it hard." She goes on to say, "When I had to be Black, I was Black. When I had to be White, I was White... When I had to be Puerto Rican, I was Puerto Rican." As one of the first recorded solo female rappers, Doreen recorded six 12 inch singles and one album as Sparky D.
Sparky first recorded with Brooklyn crew "The Playgirls" who were on Sutra records. Her first solo effort was "Sparky's Turn (Roxanne You're Through)" on NIA records produced by Spyder D. It was one of the first answer records in the infamous "Roxanne" wars of the mid-80's, and the first one to be aimed squarely at Roxanne Shante. Her biggest song entitled "Throw Down" would sell 350,000 units - she was the toast of the rap world. Sparky released an album on B-Boy in 1988 called "Sparky D's World" in the UK but titled "This Is Sparky D's World" in the US. And in 1991 she made an appearance alongside Grandmaster Caz on Malcolm McClaren on The World Famous Supreme Team Show's album "Opera House."
In 1996, at the height of her despair, Sparky had a vision of her salvation; it was to start up a ministry called Treasure, a Woman with a Mind On a Mission... After many years of being a performer, she wrote her first song titled, "He Is Real." The Good Lord inspired. In 2000, back and clean, she gave her life to Christ. Sparky worked in and out of the church, helping others in the music business. She was dedicated to presenting her past through Treasure Ministry as an example for youth to see where the wrong paths will lead them and help them to choose the right path.
In 2004, Sparky began performing and working on albums with Hip Hop Gospel old school rappers like MC Shy D, Spyder D, Roxanne Shante', Cool D.J. Red Alert and K Wiz. In January 2007, Sparky embarked on a five-city tour called, "Sparky's Hip-Hop Community Revival," where she took Treasure Ministry on the road, combining the messages of serving God by serving the community.
In January 2008 Sparky held the first Annual Youth Against Violence Educational Workshop, which encourages the philosophy everyone can have a successful life without violence and emphasizes the importance of pursuit of excellence in education, purity, self-respect, and righteous. She is pleased to take the "Youth Against Violence Educational Workshop" on the road touring cities in the United States.
In February Sparky appeared on "Stir it Up," a TV show hosted by Vonnie Battles shown on JCTV, the worlds largest religious television network. Sparky is currently working on her soon to be released album and writing a book called "From the Pit to the Palace."
