Monday, October 10, 2005

Mary Mary Up for Favorite Artist in the Contemporary Inspirational Category

NEW YORK, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Congratulations to the Grammy-winningR&B/gospel duo Mary Mary as sisters Erica and Tina Campbell add another award nomination to a growing collection of critical and popular kudos. Mary Mary has earned a Favorite Artist nomination in the ContemporaryInspirational music category of the 33rd Annual American Music Awards.

AMAnominations were announced September 20 at the Beverly Hills Hotel bysinger/writer/producer Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds and dancehall reggae singerRihanna. The 33rd Annual American Music Awards ceremony will be telecast onTuesday, November 22 (8:00-11:00 p.m., ET), from the Shrine Auditorium in LosAngeles, California, hosted by Cedric "The Entertainer."

The Grammy-winning R&B/gospel duo Mary Mary recently crossed over into Top10 pop territory when the group's self-titled new album debuted at #8 on theBillboard Top 200 best-selling album chart, the highest Top 200 chart positionin the group's career. (Mary Mary's previous albums -- 2000's Thankful and2002's Incredible -- peaked at #59 and #20, respectively.) When the albumsubsequently debuted at #1 on the Billboard Gospel album sales chart, thealbum became the best-selling Gospel debut of 2005.

"Heaven," the first single from Mary Mary, has been making history as itbreaks chart records, most notably an unprecedented 9 week run as the #1record on Billboard's Gospel Radio chart, the first and only single to run 8consecutive weeks or longer at #1. "Heaven" was also a #1 R&R Gospel RadioSingle and hit the #3 slot on the Billboard Bubbling Under -- Hot R&B Singleschart.

Erica and Tina Campbell are Mary Mary, two real-life sisters who havebrought revolutionary R&B, urban and hip-hop elements to the world ofcontemporary gospel music. Mary Mary, the duo's new album, features guest artist Kirk Franklin. Thealbum's first single is "Heaven," produced by Warryn Campbell. (Erica'shusband, Warryn Campbell helmed the first two Mary Mary albums, the RIAA gold-and platinum-certified Thankful and the RIAA gold-certified Incredible).

Growing up in Inglewood, California, Erica and Tina first sang publicly inthe local church choir and received their first break in 1998 with a song onthe "Prince of Egypt" soundtrack. In 2000, Mary Mary's platinum debut album, Thankful -- featuring the hit"Shackles (Praise You)" -- earned numerous awards including a Grammy for BestContemporary Gospel Album and three Dove Awards, six Stellar Awards, a Lady ofSoul Award, a Soul Train Award.

Incredible, their second album, became thenation's #1 Top Christian Album in 2002 and featured the Dove Award-winninghits "In The Morning" and "Thank You," featuring Kirk Franklin.


SOURCE My Block Records/Sony Urban Music/Columbia RecordsWeb Site: http://www.mary-mary.com http://www.columbiarecords.com

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