Bringing contemporary Gospel to the masses!
Mary Mary is a contemporary gospel duo consisting of the two sisters Erica and Trecina Atkins-Campbell. Raised among five other sisters and a brother to a gospel choir-leading mum, they grew up singing in church.
Set to tour churches, the two sisters named their duo Mary Mary to honor the two famous Marys in the Bible, Jesus’s mother and Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus’ followers.
During the 90s, the sisters started touring with Gospel shows and singing backup for R&B artists. This leads them to meet Warren Campbell, a record producer, and Erica’s soon-to-be husband.
Warren managed to get them a publishing deal with EMI and into singing for movie soundtracks, as well as performing with Robin S (who had a massive hit with Show Me Love) and writing Time To Change and Yeah for Yolanda Adams’s best-selling album Mountain High… Valley Low.
All this success awoke the interest of the industry and got the sisters to sign for Columbia Records and begin work on their debut album.
Their first single, Shackles (Praise You) was a worldwide hit in 2000, reaching the top 10 in more than ten countries.
Initially released on the debut album Thankful in 1999, the duo first used it as a promotional single. When interest was undeniable they released it as a single and later made a music video for it.
Shackles (Praise You) has become Mary Mary’s signature song and have been credited as bringing Gospel to the masses.
Since then, Mary Mary has kept releasing albums and had hits, although only in the Gospel charts, Shackles remain one of very few successful crossover Gospel/R&B/Pop tunes.
Mary Mary tunes | Related pages
Shackles (Praise You)
| Gm7 | Cm7 |
Take the shackles off my feet so I can dance.
| D7 | Gm7 |
I just want to praise you (What ya want to do?) I just want to praise you (yeah, yeah).
Mary Mary on the web
