Mary Mary release new CD, new product line

Mary Mary, the famed sister duo, was in Chicago to talk about their new CD, The Sound. The energetic sisters are also ecstatic about their bath and body product line due to hit the shelves of select Wal-mart stores at the start of the new year.

Mary Mary, the famed sister duo, was in Chicago to talk about their new CD, The Sound.

The energetic sisters are also ecstatic about their bath and body product line due to hit the shelves of select Wal-mart stores at the start of the new year.

“It’s called Be You by Mary Mary. Shower gels, lotions and body sprays. We’ve been working on it for about a year,” said the Sony recording artists. “We went to a lab and formulated the scents, the colors, packaging and everything,” said Erica, the oldest of the two sisters.

“We were going to launch at the end of the year for Christmas, but we decided to make sure we had everything in place for the best launch as possible,” younger sister Tina said.

“The product launch is going to be … during Valentine’s Day at participating Wal-marts…stuff that we love and that we wear, we couldn’t put nothin’ out for the people that we couldn’t stand behind,” Tina explained.

The Black Entertainment Television’s Sunday Best judges seemed equally excited about their latest CD, which is already burning up secular and gospel radio airways. Although they both have busy schedules as wives and mothers, they were anxious to get back to the studio.

“It has to be the right time…we kept asking our producer, Warren, when we gonna put it out…he said we gonna put it out when it’s ready,” Tina said.

“He was working on everybody else’s record. He was working on Men of Standard’s record, then he did Jason Champion’s record, then he worked with Deitrick. He was working with Kiki, and I said ‘Hi are we actually your group. Do you want to work with us, and he said it’s not time yet. We’re not ready yet?’” Erica said.

“And I didn’t know what he was talking about. But once we finally got in there and started putting songs together and we had gone through some things…in the middle of the recording process we found out that Warren had cancer and it was so many things going on. I think God was taking us to a place so that our music would have a different affect on the appeal it would have to the unchurched. We found out on a Friday, and that next Friday he had surgery … He just had to get healed from the physical wound. That was it,” the Grammy Award-winning artists explained.

“I think we combed over the CD moreso than we had ever done because this was our fourth CD. A lot of people put the same thing out that they put (before), just a nice little twist on it. We didn’t want to do what we had already done or just say what we had already said the way that we had done it before,” Erica said.

“In an economy and world the way it is today, people are kinda feeling hopeless and helpless. Folks are losing their homes and don’t know what they are gonna do and have been devastated by all of these tragedies…we wanted to put something out there that could get the church folk to praise God and be encouraged, but also introduce those who don’t know God to him so that they can understand how necessary and how relevant he was to us.”

“So we kinda’ packaged up a whole bunch of messages from Get Up which is a motivational song that pushes you to stop talking about I’m hoping and I’m dreaming and I’m wishing. No, no, no, let’s expect and let’s start walking in it,” Tina said. “

“The human life is one of God’s greatest creations, so why are we the ones that give Him the most problems?” Erica questioned. “We doubt him the most, we question Him the most.”

The two said they do have favorites on this CD. I Worship You and It Will All Be Worth It that features Andre Crouch, Traimaine Hawkins, Daryl Coley, Walter Hawkins, Karen Clark, Rance Allen, Dorinda Clark and Joe Ligon written by Marvin Winans.

“These were all people we listened to growing up. First we wanted to be them or like them ‘cause they inspired us,” said Tina. “For us to call them and them give us a yes, we felt so completely honored to be in the studio. We were sitting up there like we were star struck, smiling hard and didn’t know what to say,” Erica said.

The famous California natives have been juggling their schedules since they hit the gospel stage in 1999. Tina seemed adamant in encouraging listeners, buy the products and CDs to speak to the powers that be. “We do want to make big impressions so that we can speak to the powers that be and show them this is what the consumers want because the suppliers will absolutely positively supply what the consumers want.” Look for their product line in February and enjoy the CD now.

Happy Thanksgiving … Remember You are Blessed by the Best!”

Effie Rolfe is the entertainment religion colunist for the Chicago Defender. E-mail her at effie@theinspirationalcafe.com,