Mary Mary

The name evokes an appeal to above, a spiritual call, a joyful noise. Which is why singer/songwriters Erica and Tina Atkins chose "Mary Mary" as their performance moniker.

"We were thinking about the Marys in the bible and there are two specifically: Mary Magdalene, who was delivered from evil spirits, and, of course, Mary Mother of Jesus, both of whom were very instrumental in His ministries," explains Erica, the slightly older and more laid back of the 20-something siblings. "It’s all about Jesus and telling people who He is and of His love. That the whole purpose behind Mary Mary."

At a time when other Gospel artists have already made strides into secular arenas with ever-more contemporary R&B tracks, Mary Mary have carried the art of creating modern praise music into a new category of creativity, honest, originality, and soulfulness. It’s these qualities that have made the sisters sought after as songwriters by such other artists as Yolanda Adams, Woody of Dru Hill, and 702. "I think one of the misconceptions about Gospel music is that it’s dreary or sad, or ---‘Oh Lord, help me’--something that brings you down," says the outgoing, animated Tina. "That’s not me. I’m living in a natural world –first natural, then spiritual, my heart is still the same. It’s just my relationship with God is always there. Being thankful or talking about joy just goes into the music that I hear and that’s how I write these songs."

Born to Gospel-singing parents amid five other sisters and a brother, Erica and Tina were raised in a strict churchgoing family in Inglewood, California, where Gospel was the only music allowed in the household. The Atkins kids soon comprised most of the church choir’s soprano section, but Erica and Tina’s vocal talents earned them coveted soloist spots. After singing with the popular Bobby Jones Gospel Program with their siblings, the two middle sisters realize that “Music was completely in our hearts.”

In 1995 they were recruited as part of the cast of the Michael Matthews traveling Gospel show “Mama I’m Sorry”, doing up to eight performances a week in a variety of U.S. cities in an extremely competitive atmosphere among the singers. Their talents earned them slots in a second Matthews play, “Sneaky,” and they toured for more than a year, honing their stage presentation as well as strengthening their voices. Through attempts to complete college, hold down jobs (Erica was a courtesy clerk at local Boyd’s market while Tina was a makeup artist at Nordstrom’s) and pay rent on their apartment, music kept calling. Individually, they went on tour, singing backup for major recording artists: Erica for the likes of Brian McKnight and Brandy; and Tina for Kenny Latimore, Eric Benet, and acting in a pilot for a Kirk Franklin TV show. But some of the secular songs they performed made the sisters uneasy. All along, the two had been writing their own songs, separately and together, eventually putting the songs on cassette tape.

A chance meeting with producer Warryn Campbell in 1996 led to collaboration between Campbell and the sisters. Campbell brought the new material as well as the sisters original recordings to EMI, landing them a publishing contract and song contributions to both the Dr. Doolittle and Prince of Egypt soundtracks. More and more songwriting efforts for artists such as Yolanda Adams and 702 brought offers of recording contracts from several labels. With a clear conception of how they wanted to be marketed to a broad audience, Mary Mary chose to sign with Columbia Records, the first Gospel act to be signed to the label. A major part of their self-concept is dictated by their devout religious beliefs. They define themselves as strictly Gospel—and not just inspirational – artists.

“Inspirational music makes me feel good, like I can go on, I can make it, and I can do whatever I put my mind to. But the Gospel tells you about what God can do. It tells you the good news of Jesus,” explains Erica. “Because our music is so Hip-Hop and has an Urban feel, a lot of people think ‘Oh its Inspirational, it’s Contemporary.’ It can be, but listen to what I’m saying [in the song]. The songs that we write tell the message of Christ specifically.”

courtesy gospelcity.com

De Bishop