Mary Mary

Sisters Erica and Tina Atkins - better known as Mary Mary - helped to expand the scope and audience for gospel music with a series of Grammy-winning and chart-topping albums between 2000 and 2016 while also enjoying television stardom with their eponymous reality television series. Erica Atkins, born April 29, 1972, and Trecina "Tina" Atkins, born May 1974, were raised along with seven additional siblings in Inglewood, California, Their parents were key figures in local churches, and introduced their children to gospel music at an early age. The siblings were soon performing with traveling gospel shows and on television programs like the long-running "Bobby Jones Gospel Hour" (BET, 1980-2016). Erica and Tina soon decided to pursue careers in music and after studying voice at El Camino College, toured with gospel shows and secular acts alike while writing original contemporary gospel songs. Producer Warryn Campbell - who would marry Erica in 2001 - brokered a publishing deal with the sisters with EMI Music, which led to artists like 702 and Yolanda Adams recording their songs and the inclusion of their original songs on the soundtracks for films like "Dr. Dolittle" (1998). After adopting the moniker Mary Mary - a name derived from the Mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene - the sisters signed with Columbia Records/C2 Records and scored a crossover hit with their first single, "Shackles (Praise You)" which reached No. 5 on the Billboard R&B chart and No. 28 on the Hot 100. Their debut album, Thankful (2000), followed similar suit by peaking at No. 1 on the Gospel chart and winning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Gospel Soul Album. Its 2002 follow-up, Incredible, broke into the Top 20 on the Billboard Top 200, but only reached gold sales status; the sisters took the next three years to raise their families before returning to form in 2005 with a self-titled album. The LP broke into the Top 10 on the albums chart, while the lead single, "Heaven," stayed at No. 1on the Gospel Radio chart for an unprecedented nine weeks. Mary Mary would remain exceptionally prolific in the years that followed, issuing the Top 10 album The Sound in 2008 and scoring a Grammy the following year for the single "God in Me." In 2012, Mary Mary won their fourth Grammy for the single "Go Get It," which was featured on a greatest hits compilation of the same name issued that year; they also launched their first television effort, the WE.tv reality series "Mary Mary" (2012- ) that same year. Erica became the first sister to release a solo album with the release of the Grammy-winning Help in 2014; Tina followed suit in 2015 with It's Personal and a memoir, I Need a Day to Pray, that same year. Mary Mary reunited in 2016 to record "Back to You," a single for the Mark Burnett/Roma Downey-produced "Ben-Hur."