by Joel Staley
Khristian Dentley, the baritone voice of the multi-Grammy Award-winning vocal group Take 6, has always lived his life by the principle of faith. He said faith helps him not to worry about what he doesn’t have.
“I just take what I have and put it to work in the best way I know how,” he said. “God takes care of the rest.”
Born to pastor parents in Columbia, South Carolina, Khristian has been immersed since birth in a musical environment that not only includes gospel greats like Commissioned, the Winans and the Clark Sisters, but artists from a variety of genres, including Barbra Streisand; Earth, Wind & Fire; Barry Manilow and others.
“I’m grateful my parents exposed me to many types of music,” Khristian said. “It gave me many colors to paint with later in life.”
Khristian was drawn to the stage at an early age. He graduated from the Dillard Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale in 2000 and began to look for opportunities to find his musical place in life. When musical heroes Fred Hammond and Take 6 brought their show to town, Khristian saw his chance. Undeterred by not having a ticket, he simply did what he always does. He went to work with what he had. What he had was a Fred Hammond T-shirt. He put it on, drove to the venue, and sat in the parking lot wondering how he might get into the show. He thought it might take a miracle, but he had no idea how big the miracle would be.
When local stage workers began arriving to set up the sound equipment and staging for the show, they saw Khristian’s Fred Hammond T-shirt and assumed he was the singer’s roadie. They invited him into the venue for breakfast and began asking him how to stage the show. His quick and clever reply was, “Let’s check the fax machine.”
Hammond’s tech rider, or set-up page, was on the fax machine waiting with all the load-in instructions. Half-way through the equipment load-in, Hammond’s band walked in and saw Khristian wearing his T-shirt, so they invited him to lunch. Upon their return to the venue, Take 6 arrived, and Khristian seized an opportunity to introduce himself to one of the group — Mark Kibble. Kibble took an interest in Khristian, and they exchanged contact information.
Khristian said it was an amazing experience to meet his heroes; however, fast-forward to four years later, and he hadn’t yet left Fort Lauderdale. In fact, he was working at a call center and not in the music industry at all.
“I was grateful for the job, but I didn’t feel I was fulfilling my purpose in life,” Khristian said. “I was restlessly seeking more.”
Khristian didn’t know what “more” was or how to find it, but he did have Kibble’s email address. He sent a song he wrote and recorded and asked if Kibble would critique it.
Khristian’s timing was perfect. Take 6 member Cedric Dent had just accepted an offer from Middle Tennessee State University to join their faculty as a professor and couldn’t make all the group’s tour dates.
“Mark called me and asked if I wrote and performed the song I emailed to him, and I said yes,” Khristian said. “He then invited me to work with him on one of his songs and to fill in for Cedric on a couple of tour dates.”
It was the moment he had been hoping for. Khristian impressed Kibble and the rest of Take 6 with his fill-in performances and eventually became a full-fledged member of the group in 2011.
Khristian no longer lives in South Florida. He’s currently a resident of Ocoee. Many ask why he doesn’t live closer to the action like Atlanta or Los Angeles. Khristian explained that his family is based in Ocoee, so there’s no way he would live anywhere else.
“Taking care of my family is always the priority,” he said. “I pride myself on being a present father and husband. I fly a lot and have a busy schedule. Some entertain tens of thousands and give everything on stage, but phone it in with their families. You win the crowd, but you lose your family. I can never allow myself to be guilty of that.”
In addition to the silky smooth vocals he delivers on Take 6 recordings and in live performances, Khristian also plays keyboards, drums and bass guitar.
“My father taught my brother and I to play these instruments,” Khristian said. “He said you might walk into a church service one day where they need an extra hand. He insisted that we always be available to serve the Lord with our musical gifts.”
Khristian is about 10 years younger than the other members of Take 6 and has had different influences in his life. He believes this allows him to bring new ideas to the group that help keep their collective artistry and performances fresh. For example, though the group is best known for its a cappella delivery, at Khristian’s encouragement, they are now adding a band behind them from time to time.
“Once you’ve been blessed with great success, it’s easy to relax and become comfortable,” he said. “If our group is going to progress, we have to be willing to be uncomfortable.”
The group debuted its new show format, including the backing band, in a performance earlier this year and hope to share it in other venues soon. They also recently headlined This Is Jesus at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. It’s a show many have called the Christian music event of the year. They shared the stage with Jordan Smith, winner of The Voice Season 9, and Tecla Award-winner Blanca. Other recent performances include a Beach Boys tribute where they sang Don’t Worry Baby with R&B legend Michael McDonald at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. It was taped and aired this past Easter.
Despite all the achievements and stars he’s performed with, Khristian insists humility is the key.
“The level of humility we choose is critical to our success in life,” he said. “Jesus made himself in the form of a servant. I don’t mind serving those around me, either.”
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