With a new studio album and a upcoming tour, gospel singer Marvin Sapp has ‘no regrets’

When Marvin Sapp was a young boy singing gospel songs alongside his father at his local church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he never could have imagined where he would end up decades later. Now 52, Sapp has a 36-year-long gospel career under his belt, with millions of records sold and a charting number-one single.

“When you start off doing this stuff, you never think about those things. You just do it because that is what the assignment is, and that’s what I did,” he said. “So looking back over my career, I can honestly say I have no regrets. I’ve done it to the best of my ability.”

What made music stick for Sapp was seeing how the audience responded when he sang or when people shared a testimony that their lives had been “shifted” by his lyrics. From there, he said, he decided to “push forward and be the very best … artist I could possibly be.”

In the ensuing years, Sapp established himself as a household name in the gospel space with more than a dozen studio albums, 11 Grammy nominations and a breakout 2007 hit single called “Never Would Have Made It.”

“I feel crazily blessed,” Sapp said of where he is in his career right now.

Marvin Sapp released his new studio album “Then & Now” on Aug. 30. PHOTO: CLARENCE COOPER III/COURTESY ELEV8 MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

On Friday, Aug. 30, Sapp released “Then & Now,” his 16th album — and the second under his independent record label, Elev8 Media & Entertainment — ahead of his forthcoming tour. Joining fellow gospel artist Kirk Franklin on his “Reunion Tour,” Sapp, the Clark Sisters, Yolanda Adams and Fred Hammond will travel across the country, making more than 30 stops, including one in Boston on Sept. 8 at MGM Music Hall at Fenway.

Sapp toured with Franklin about 12 years ago, and had an “exceptional” time. “So, when he called me again and asked me to do it, I was like, ‘Absolutely,’” Sapp said.

The tour is set to begin Friday, Sept. 6, a week after the release of Sapp’s latest record.

“Then & Now,” a live recording, is a walk-through of Sapp’s three-decade music career. In over 20 tracks, more than double the tracks on his previous record, he takes listeners on a journey through his past songs, delivering new renditions of fan favorites like “Never Would Have Made It” and “Praise Him in Advance.” The album also includes new music that Sapp said “lines up with the messaging that I’ve been trying to really deliver for years.”

Sapp described himself as a “horizontal singer.” Unlike “vertical singers” who focus solely on praise and worship, Sapp uses his music to address the challenges people may face and give them guidance on how to “overcome some of the most difficult seasons of their lives,” he said. But, for Sapp, who also is a bishop, faith remains at the heart of his musicianship.

“I want to make sure that my music is churchy and funky all at the same time,” Sapp said. “But also, I want to make sure that people understand the message of the music, and that is that Christ is still the answer, and that you can make it through whatever challenge you face as long as he’s in your life.”

When people listen to “Then & Now,” Sapp said, he wants them to reflect on and revisit the moments they faced and overcame hardships.

“Last, but not least, I want them to rejoice,” he said. “I want them to rejoice … over the fact that they’re on the other side of it.”