By Erica Hector Vital

MARY MARY ON TOUR BRING CHURCH TO SIN CITY
Interview and Show Review by Erica Hector Vital

Backstage at the Aladdin Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas while powerhouse tour partner Kirk Franklin is gearing up on stage, it is a relief to find that Erica Campbell of the glorious Gospel duo MARY MARY can forget a name, or that younger sister Tina can pluck a nerve by interrupting mid-sentence during an interview. Otherwise, the intellectual grace, spirited confidence, and talent of these two women would seem otherworldly. And there is nothing these Grammy winning performers want more than to let the everyday woman know the love of God, and the beauty that comes with it, is accessible to all.

“We came here to praise the Lord, ya’ll, give Him the glory! We’re gonna dance, worship, cry, love on Jesus, share God. Is that alright with you?!” Erica in silver pumps and spangled belt, a young Tina Turner in moves, good looks, and energy, shouts onstage during the duo’s long awaited March 30th Las Vegas performance. Backstage the message doesn’t change. It’s real. And even though the tenor beauty might slip up on a name, or one sister cut an eye at the other’s interruption, there is no doubt that these are phenomenal women who come to their music with made up minds. They will use their talents for praise and they will inspire audiences to reach for their own capacity for joy in the music, joy in worship.

“I think I would call it charismatic and not worldly,” says Tina, addressing detractors who might think the danceable energy and sleek production of their concert style treads the line between straight ahead Gospel and rump shaking R&B. “The Bible speaks of David dancing out of his clothes praising God. Now, we’re not going to take any clothes off up there but I think it’s showing how David was really feeling it, really enjoying it, letting his whole body get involved. And that’s the kind of people we are. That’s how we express our feelings about God. And for those who want to be reserved and want to sit and smile, their smile is just as big as my jump.”

“I’ll say this,” Erica, married to hip-hop and R&B producer Warryn Campbell who happens, by coincidence only, to have the same sir name as Tina’s husband, asserts, waiting for Tina to finish, “there is other music that I feel touches a performer’s heart. They feel what they’re singing. But I think in pop music, for the most part, it’s more staging than what you’re feeling from your heart. It’s more staging than passion. This music is definitely more passion than staging.” And the passion, as Tina jumps in to explain, “is contagious.”

Vegas fans known for being a little slow getting on their feet, “a show crowd,” Erica adds, had no choice but to set the Aladdin on quake by the third chord of BELIEVER, the first track of MARY MARY’s self-titled 2005 CD, and the song with which the duo opened. It was as if the Las Vegas crowd, a hip mix of urban and church going folk, had been tensed and waiting for the soft, jazz-toned scat of the testimonial style treatment that soon erupts into hot vocals. MARY MARY’s stage show represents the best of big production R&B. The lights, the beats, the vibe. The soul lifting difference rests not only in the heart of the message but in the caliber of the live band and truly talented background singers, including break-out vocalist Oneisha, whose understated alto-soprano contrasts sweetly with the percussive energy of MARY MARY.

The duo refuses to hold back, in talent, in passion, in intent. It is plain Tina and Erica Campbell are not only versed in the lore of the Bible, quoting meaningfully from a chapter of John between songs, but in the soulful tradition of Motown where a line phrased just right or a roof raising vocal could rip the heart to shreds. YESTERDAY is a sweeping torch song MARY MARY’s Motown foremothers would have been proud to wield on stage. Strong, rhythm-rich and defiant enough to drive a no-count lover to drink, in MARY MARY’s hands the defiance in the line, “I have cried my last tears, yesterday,” is not a reckoning with love gone wrong, at least not carnal love. Neither is the bluesy riff and purring vocal an admonishment of sin but rather a notice to the spirit within that belief is a choice and the greatest sin is very often choosing self-pity and torment over a love that includes God and in that way elevates the self. Affirming one’s own power through worship is a message MARY MARY strives to impart. When these two platinum artists who are now mothers and wives, community activists and ministers, are asked whether they have a particular message for their female audiences, Tina responds in the bold and brassy manner that translates so well on stage and that up close is warm and forthright, “Yes, definitely. Know that they’re strong and that they’re beautiful. And beyond that, know who you are when nobody’s looking without the make-up, without the hair and the clothes. Know who you are and be comfortable with who you are, knowing just how much God loves you.”

“Cause when you’re not sure who you are,” says Erica, refitting a gold earring just as the duo prepare to go back out to the Aladdin crowd and join Kirk Franklin onstage, “you try to be somebody else. And when you’re not sure you’re loved you go after it any kind of way and sometimes you exploit what God has given you--beauty and greatness. There’s something wonderful about you and if you don’t know it and you don’t think anybody else knows it, you don’t treat yourself like you know it. Who cares what you look like, what your past has been, we’re all God’s children so walk around like you’re somebody.”

KIRK FRANKLIN’S explosive HERO TOUR with MARY MARY’s smooth, soul filled fusion of Gospel inspiration and pure funk hits some forty cities this spring including Detroit’s Fox Theatre, Washington D.C.’s Constitution Hall, and New York’s fabled Radio City Music Hall. Ending April 30th, the versatility and sheer vocal power of the duo rivals the best concert experience of any genre.