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Biography (courtesy of Word/Warner Records)

By placing athletes, movie stars and singers on a pedestal, American culture has established a misguided belief that those who do their work on public stages have somehow achieved a stature higher than the rest of the population.

Nicole C. Mullen may have played out her vocation in such lofty venues as Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall, and she may have 20 Grammy and Dove awards nominations to her credit. But she firmly believes that the people who occupy those seats in the audience have just as much reason to be proud of their accomplishments as she is of her own. Thus the pointed title of her infectious album Everyday People.

"I am everyday people when it comes down to it," she says thoughtfully. "We all get to do different things, but when we take everything else off—we take the titles off, we take the job descriptions off, we take the salaries away—we're all everyday people that hurt, that bleed that cry, regardless of the skin color, regardless of the title of our job."

Mullen, to be sure, is not an everyday talent. Everyday People showcases the depth and flexibility of her abilities. She playfully moans and growls her way through the title track, a cover of the Sly & The Family Stone pop classic. She's soft and reassuring above the Memphis soul guitar licks in "I Am," sassy in the hip-hop melodies and harmonies of "This This," and slyly conversational in "Deity."

Her songs demonstrate a variety of influences, with "It's About Us" using ragged pop-rock guitar riffs, "Gon' Be Free" capturing tribal rhythms, and "Every Nation" mixing a disco backbeat with hick harmonica, hillbilly banjo and a soul-based brass section. (A hidden track on the CD).

She's obviously gifted at incorporating disparate ideas and her self-critical drive for excellence practically guarantees a vocal performance that stands above most of her peers. Still, Mullen plays down any hint that her talents make her special.

"Sometimes we think we are what we do," she explains. "We are not. I am not a singer. I sing— that is what I do. But I am Nicole—the mother, the wife, the friend, the daughter, the mentor, the mentee—that's who I am."

Who she is has brought Mullen attention from beyond her creative home base in Christian music. As usual, her husband, David Mullen, takes the production reins, but he shares them with Mariah Carey associate James "Big Jim" Wright, India.Arie compadres Drew Ramsey & Shannon Sanders, and former Bruce Springsteen sideman Tommy Sims. And on "Message For Ya," she gets a surprising assist from funk pioneer Bootsy Collins, whose outrageous fashion and in-your-face bass talents made him a key player for James Brown and for George Clinton's P-Funk.

All of that fits snugly with her stated aims as a recording artist.

"I want to make sure that I have my feet firmly planted in the church so that I can reach over to the world and pull people out without falling in," she says. "I don't want to lose the base of who's holding my feet, but at the same time, it's always been my desire to take the hope and the music to a broader audience."

Clearly, Nicole has succeeded in establishing that base. After touring with such acts as Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, and The Newsboys she wrote Jaci Velasquez' "On My Knees," which brought Nicole her first Dove Award.

She signed with Word Records, becoming a perennial awards presence and a voice with which to reckon. She collected six Dove Awards, sold more than 1 million albums, and hit #1 in a variety of formats. Along the way, her "Redeemer" was named Song of the Year by the Gospel Music Association, and the AC Song of the Year in CCM magazine.

Nicole takes none of her good fortune in her recording career for granted. She views it not as a vehicle for self-glorification but as a chance to connect with everyday people from other walks of life.

In fact, the songs on Everyday People are doggedly upbeat, even when the inspiration for the material comes from hard-scrabble situations. "Bye Bye Brianna" was inspired by a blind girl who drowned but its parting sorrow is couched in a funky tribute "Dancin' In The Rain" responds to the death of a friend's spouse with a bouncy reminder that sunny days are yet ahead. And "Valorie" keys off the story of a fellow church member who maintained strength in the face of poverty, domestic abuse and a handicapped child.

"I sing to a hurting audience," Mullen suggests, "because I live in a hurting world so I feel like it's part of my job to present hope."

"My goal in life is to encourage those that are out there that are listening. How can I make the next four minutes of this song worth more than just four minutes? How can I leave somebody with hope? That's my goal and if I accomplish that then it's worth more than a Grammy, worth more than a Dove, worth more than any of them."

Mullen has put her words into action. She established an informal group called the Baby Girls Club, in which she mentors a group of girls in her area, opening up her home—and sometimes her closets!—to provide them clothes, honest counsel or simple friendship.

"When I was younger," she says, "somebody from my church that I really respected—that I thought was gorgeous and very talented—spoke into my life. She would take me to her house at t times, and she would comb my hair or encourage me in my singing. In her belief in me, she gave me belief in myself, so I love doing that with other young girls."

She's also become active with International Needs Network Ghana to work at freeing Trokosi slaves. Priests in Ghana have convinced some of the nation's everyday people that their families are cursed by a sinful past, and that the only way to atone for the crime is to give away their virgin daughters—sometimes at just 5-7 years of age—to the priests. The families continue to pay the daily living costs for the child, while the priests put them to work as slaves, often forcing them into subservient sex. Any children the slaves produce are automatically classified as the priests' property and the Trokosis are forced to wear humiliating braids around their necks, marking them as slaves to anyone who comes in contact with them.

"We in America are outraged at the thought of slavery in our country, how it existed back in the day, but now in our generation we have a chance to free other slaves," Nicole says.

"International Needs Network Ghana is giving these slaves freedom. They're teaching them new trades, they're teaching them how to sew, how to do their hair, how to economically provide for themselves and their families. They're putting them through school, working them back into society. Some of these women are in their 50s and they've not known anything but slavery for all their lives."

Nicole C. Mullen's passion for reaching out guides her work and her life. Whether she's tending to her own children, providing support to other kids in need of a parent figure, empathizing with a friend in emotional upheaval, or working on behalf of the afflicted on the other side of the world, her stage is never a pedestal—only a platform to communicate her relentless message of hope.

"My life is probably a lot more like yours than you think," she suggests. "The same struggles that you may have, I have sometimes, and the same joys that you experience, I can experience them, too. At the same time, I am allowed to do extraordinary things in my career. But that's what I do, not who I am. I am everyday people."