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In the era of digital downloads and video overload, today’s successful recording artist must come with the full package in the backpack – music that flows like milk and honey, a look that’s easy on the eyes and a marketing machine that’s wheeling and dealing behind the scenes to make it all come together.

Mary Mary is an example of a mature artist still in the zone…the music is poppin’, the ladies are smilin’ and the crowd is still listenin’.  Their ability to turn heads and fickle ears are a big reason for their long season of success.  Throw in their solid family circle and a loyal music company and you have the makings of artists in full bloom.

Mary Mary just released their third and most pleasing project to date.  And so, with everything clicking like Timex, the ladies were more than giving in their recent sit-down with BLACKGOSPEL.COM.  Erica and Tina Campbell shared their experiences and opinions on the last five years as artists, wives and mothers.  And, oh yes…they had something to say about meeting President George W. Bush, too.

Christopher Heron: Now at this point in your artistry, you are veterans, and in fact you are seen as the paradigm in Contemporary Gospel music.  How different is it now five, six years later from I think you first came out in 2000?

Mary Mary (Tina): Kind of 1999 but officially 2000.

CH: Right! How different is it five years later now being veterans in the industry?

MM (Erica): I would say we’re not as nervous anymore, we’re not as naïve.

MM (Tina): We’re very comfortable being ‘us.’  A lot of times you come out and you’re swayed by the people who you either look up to or have inspired you.  You know the industry can be really, really fickle on the mainstream side, right.  Sometimes in the Christian world, you’re trying to keep up or do what you think is best, meet people’s expectations.  Now we are just ‘us.’  We do what God gives us to do, the way He gives it to us to do it.  We’re comfortable with who we are, we’re comfortable with our walk with Christ.  He just wants to get the glory from us.  We’re not trying to impress everybody along the way, just as long as God is happy, we’re happy when we do what we do.

CH:  You’ve also matured into your roles as both veteran artists and mothers.  Are they equally rewarding?

MM (Erica):  Motherhood is way more rewarding!  I love what I do but being a mother is way more rewarding than Mary Mary. 

MM (Tina):  I completely agree!  Nothing is more rewarding than being a mother, being a wife, having a family and everything else is secondary.  You love what you do and you enjoy being an artist but there’s no joy like having a happy, wonderful home where people are smiling at you and you haven’t really done anything special to deserve that love.  That’s just great.

CH: How different is Mary Mary in terms of what the fan’s expectations because to me, with each album, including the new single Heaven, there’s a certain style that’s completely Mary Mary which is catchy, funky and very happy.  That's the signature sound of Mary Mary, by my standards.

MM (Erica): I like that!  I like your standards!

MM (Tina): I think we’re still catchy, funky and very happy!

MM (Erica): As far as our fans, they’ll see the same Mary Mary; we’ll still be energetic, still be who we are.  But as far as Erica and Tina growing as women, growing as ministers, growing as Mary Mary, we’ve changed.  I think that’s what Tina means when she says we’re comfortable with who we are.  Sometimes we would come onstage and sing to the best of our ability, give it all we got.  When we came off, we’d ask each other, “…was that good?”  Now I’m comfortable and confident enough to say, “Thank you Lord for that opportunity to give You glory.”  Even if I fell off pitch, if I missed a step, whatever, I’m cool with that!  Before, I’d probably have been freaking out, “Oh my God, what did I do?”  We’re not there anymore.

CH: Now you’re both married women and mothers.  How do you successfully balance being that responsible home provider, as well as being what everybody wants from you as a professional artist?

MM (Tina): I think any woman, in any walk of life, any culture that has a career, a husband and children, it’s a lot to juggle; it’s a lot to balance but you just do it.  My mom had nine kids; she was the minister of music and sometimes the only musician our church had.  She was at the church all the time.  She made sure the music was what it needed to be, made sure that at home we had our stuff for school, had food and was there for my father; she managed to do it.  We just do it.  When you’re at the stage where you’re having children or your children are not grown yet, and for us it will be a long time from now, it’s just a lot.  Then after awhile you’re able to chill out and it’s just you.  You choose whether or not you want to deal with your grandkids or whatever.  It takes a lot of your time.

MM (Erica): We have a lot of help; my mom travels with us.  I have a ton of sisters.  I remember when Tina first had Laya, she was like, ‘I’m gonna do everything by myself, I’m gonna do everything by myself.’  She was so tired; she’d call and say, 'I just need you to come hold her for awhile.'  I came right over and she did the same thing when I had my baby.  I would go in a room just to get two hours of sleep while they would help me.  Now that the babies are older, we’re out on the road it’s the same thing.  My Mom, my sister, my husband or my mother-in-law, we have a great support system. 

MM (Tina): So the difference between then and now is that we’re not ever (on a good day) sleeping twelve hours, you never get that much time to yourself.  You get your good six, seven hours in, you’re happy and move on.  Maybe in thirty more years we can take a rest day and sleep ten hours, go to the spa do all of that.  But right now, you change diapers, you smile, kiss your husband, make food, sing your song, do concerts, you know, that's the life.  Guess what?  We love it, we absolutely love it.  We’re so blessed to be able to have wonderful husbands, beautiful children, and our kids love our music.  They’re singing and clapping and waving their hands.  We're happy.

CH:  You’re both married to artists. Erika, your husband is producer and Soul Seekers member – Warryn Campbell. Tina, your husband is lead singer for the Soul Seekers – Teddy Campbell.  With your husbands both being in the music business, does that ease your responsibilities as artists, mothers and wives or does that further complicate the situation?

MM (Erica):  I would say that it definitely helps our situation.  There is way more understanding between us than if our husbands were working a normal 9-5 because it does require some understanding when you’re an artist working in the studio up until 4am or 5am and then do the same thing all over again the next day.  And sometimes you have to go without spending quality time with your spouse over dinner. 

But because they do what we do, there’s understanding for each other.  Sometimes, we adjust our schedules or traveling plans.  For instance, sometimes Teddy travels for a long time, so Tina will travel overseas to spend time with him.  We just make the adjustments.  We love our ministry but we also love our relationship which is extremely important, so whatever you find important, you make the adjustments.

CH: How did this incredible journey for Mary Mary all begin?

MM (Erica):  I started singing when I was 5 years old.  I was singing first but Tina could always sing.  She decided to stop being shy and just began to open her mouth.  When people heard her, they were like 'You can sing, too?'  I had been leading most of the songs.  And as far as Mary Mary, I think it just happened.  It wasn’t really like we thought, "We’re going to be a group."

CH: That was the question I was getting to…did you actually see from an early age this music thing as a calling?

MM (Erica): Now I do, now we know that it was all orchestrated by God.  It is ministry; we didn’t know that at first.  We were just singing; we just like to sing and write.

MM (Tina): We love Jesus and didn’t understand this would be huge, we didn’t get all of this.  I was like, “Erica, we’re ministers I didn’t know we could do all of this.  This is too much right now.  What if I go out there and mess up and God is embarrassed that He put me out there?”  That was my frame of mind but you know I accept it.  I understand it.  It’s a lot.  To me it can be kind of scary, but I trust that God didn’t make a mistake when He chose me.  So whatever my shortcomings might be, my personality or character flaws in my opinion, if God opened this door and gave me this platform, He must think more of me than I think of myself.  So I’m gonna have to start thinking about me like He thinks about me.

MM (Erica): We have to think about us the way God thinks about us.

MM (Tina): He must think we are something so we’ve got to get out there and do His work.  God be for real.

CH: With the CD on the horizon, what will fans experience on this new project?  Is it a departure; is it a lot more of Mary Mary?

MM (Erica): Oh my God, we love the new music.  I hope it makes them feel the way it makes me feel.  I get excited, I smile, we feel anticipation, I dance, I worship, I cry, I party, it’s all of that.

MM (Tina): I groove.

MM (Erica): Mary Mary loves to groove - if you don’t know it by now.

MM (Tina): You know, this record is the dance, praise, worship, groove party record.  You see that’s why it’s self titled because there wasn’t one song that represented what the whole record was 

MM (Tina): It’s not just dance.

MM (Erica): It’s just Mary Mary; this is just who we are.  There’s a few surprises and stuff like that but it’s just Mary Mary.

CH:  Being a recording artist for a major label like Sony / Columbia is a lot pressure. An artist is not simply recording an album but he or she is also attempting to meet the expectations of marketing directors, A&R and a series of executives who are all investing in the success of a project.  So, when a song like Heaven is recorded, are you writing, arranging and producing a song that the market will be receptive to?

MM (Tina):  We – Erika, Warryn and myself, are all fans of the Jackson 5 and definitely listen to their music, from time to time.  But I’d have to say that with this record, we didn’t go in with any preconceived ideas or try to meet any expectations.  Sometimes, when you spend too much time trying to do what you do naturally, the passion and heart is no longer there. 

We know the business aspect of it.  But we asked God, “what do you want us to give the world?” and I believe that’s the heart Erica, Warryn and me came into this project with.  It was never, “we need to do this type of song or that type of song.”  The only thing we considered was how many ballads, mid-tempo and up-tempo songs we wanted on the album.

CH: Is it still the trio Warryn (Campbell), Erica and Tina doing all the writing?

MM (Tina): Pretty much.  We have one song written by Joanne Rosario and Steve Huff produced it.  But everything else we wrote.  There are some guest producers but for the most part Warryn produced the entire record and orchestrated everything.  It just came together.  The chemistry we have works, so why fix it?  Why try to get something that’s not signature to us?  Me, Erica and Warryn started writing songs when we first got our deal.  We just kept on doing it, this time with little touches here and there; we absolutely love it.  I think the world will be pleasantly surprised by some of the things on the album.  Some things are like ‘Yeah, this is the Mary Mary I know.'  Hopefully they’ll love it all.

CH:  You both had the privilege and honor of being invited to the White House.  Give me a sense of what it was like to share the experience of meeting the president of the United States, along with Pastor Donnie McClurkin, Smokie Norful and Teresa Hairston (publisher, Gospel Today Magazine).

MM (Erica):  I think that one of the most awesome things about that experience is that will remain a part of history.  Years later, when someone refers to Black Music Month being honored at the White House, Mary Mary will be mentioned among the artists who performed for the president.  You might not remember who was at the top of the charts in June 2005 or whose video was getting played on TV but you will remember who the president was.  And to say that you performed for the president is an awesome thing. 

MM (Tina):  We’ve had the privilege of performing with Donnie McClurkin and Smokie Norful in a variety of settings.  And it’s always an honor to perform with people you admire and whose music and ministry you appreciate.  But I felt so honored to know that Black Music Month at the White House was represented with Gospel music, solely.  And then, to also be a part of this historic event at the White House was just awesome, just to be able to bring God to the White House this way.

MM (Erika):  To see the president stand and really enjoy the music and performances was really cool!

CH:  What was the most surprising or memorable thing that occurred while at the White House?

MM (Erica):  The standing ovation at the end of our performance.  You expect a polite applause because this is a political setting with a lot of cameras but they genuinely appreciated the performances.

MM (Tina):  There was a real corporate feel to the event.  You hope that the Spirit of the Lord will reach the hearts of the people.  You don’t want to entertain the people, which was our ultimate goal.   You want those in the audience to feel what’s in your heart and they did, which was the most fulfilling part of the whole experience.

For more information on Mary Mary, visit their official website at www.mary-mary.com.