Mary Mary

“Once you say, ‘It’s a gospel song,’ you have all these pictures or stereotypes, these thoughts that come in your mind ‘Oh, this is what it’s supposed to be, this is probably what it’s going to be.’ Then, when you watch Mary Mary, it’s like, ‘Oh, OK, it’s different from what I expected,'” Erica told POLLSTAR of the act’s hip-hop/urban style.

“I feel like once they see us perform and once they hear us, they won’t judge it anymore,” Tina added.

Group manager Marcus Grant firmly believes in the siblings’ marketability. “The word ‘gospel’ has a tendency to scare people,” he told POLLSTAR. “If we can market them to the general public as just singers and at the end of the day, people will look at them and say, ‘Wow, they’re gospel, too,’ instead of people looking at them and saying they’re gospel before they can hear them sing, we’ve got us a winner. That’s our struggle and that’s our fight right now.”

The battle hasn’t exactly made martyrs of the pair, whose moniker is based on repentant sinner Mary Magdalene and Mary, mother of Jesus. Their debut album, Thankful, was released in May and went gold in August. And last month, they won Soul Train’s Lady of Soul award for best R&B soul, new group, for their debut single, “Shackles (Praise You).” Co-written by the sisters and producer Warryn “Baby Dub” Campbell, it was a Top 10 R&B and Top 40 pop hit.

Writing and singing comes naturally to these 20-something-year-olds. Their parents were gospel singers whose eight kids sang in the church choir. Only gospel music was allowed in the family’s Inglewood, Calif., home. Unsurprisingly, the sisters named BeBe and CeCe Winans, Commissioned, The Clark Sisters, and Aretha Franklin as some of their musical influences.

The leap from local church to national touring occurred in 1995 when Erica and Tina joined the cast of Michael Matthews’ traveling gospel show, “Mama I’m Sorry.” During its run, they performed up to eight times a week. Roles in another Matthews’ play, “Sneaky,” kept them on the road for more than a year. Later, Erica sang back-up for Brian McKnight, Brandy, Terry Ellis, and Ray J, while Tina did the same for Kenny Lattimore and Eric Ben‚t.

Mary Mary’s big break, however, came when the duo wrote “I Can Dance,” which was added to 1998’s “Dr. Doolittle” soundtrack. That same year, they landed a publishing deal with EMI Music and their song “Let Go, Let God” was included on “The Prince of Egypt” inspirational soundtrack.

Next came contract offers from Columbia and Bad Boy Records, while DreamWorks and MCA also expressed interest, Erica said. The women chose Columbia in May 1999, “knowing that they’re all over the world,” she stated. “We knew that they would be able to get our music everywhere.” Mary Mary became the label’s first gospel act.

Soon after, the Van Nuys-based siblings also became the first Christian group on Grant’s Creative Management Group roster. Previously, Grant interned at Columbia and when his contract ended, the management firm hired him. CMG owner Kenneth Crear introduced the threesome.

“I took a risk with them,” Grant said. “We never dealt with a gospel-type group. I saw the potential to cross them over because they can sing so incredibly well.” Crossing “the gospel message over into pop, R&B, country and universal” is their goal, he said.

Tina echoed his vision. “Our goal, careerwise, is to have Mary Mary be a household name, but most importantly, we chose to sing gospel music and we chose a career in gospel music so we could spread the message of Jesus through song.”

Along with spreading the Word, the sister act also wants “to help young people see that you can sing and be in videos, all that good stuff, without baring all your flesh, without talking about all the sexual stuff,” Erica said. “Not like that’s not a part of life. It’s a part of life, but that’s not the only option. There are other options of music to listen to, people to watch, messages to promote.”

To that end, modesty plays a large role in Mary Mary’s image. “I think when you say you represent God and people see all of your body … sometimes it affects your witness in a not so good way,” Tina said.

Adhering to that philosophy, they sought exposure through promotional tours and on September 28th, they launched a 36-city Sisters In The Spirit tour with Yolanda Adams and Shirley Caesar. It kicked off at Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham, Ala., and is scheduled to end December 1st, Grant said.

Onstage, the act’s toughest challenge is “deciding how to provide our message to certain audiences. When you’re talking to Christians, you don’t have to tweak anything,” Tina said. “But when you go into audiences where it’s a bunch of nonbelievers or a concert that you’re performing in is a rock concert, they’re not in the mind frame for that. Or if you’re at a club and they’ve just finished listening to booty-shaker songs, you have to be very tactful. … We have to find the most strategic and sensible way … without making them shut their doors at the start.”

While Mary Mary continue to open doors and get their feet in, they relish every forward step. “I think we’ve been pretty blessed,” Erica said. “So far, we’ve come out pretty good every time.”