Grammy-Winning R&B/Gospel Duo Mary Mary Crosses Over as New Album Debuts Top 10 On Pop Chart and #1 On Gospel Charts

Grammy-Winning R&B/Gospel Duo Mary Mary Crosses Over as New Album Debuts Top 10 On Pop Chart and #1 On Gospel Charts

Eagerly-Awaited New Album Achieves Best Week's Sales of Duo's Career

NEW YORK, July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The Grammy-winning R&B/gospel duo Mary Mary has crossed over into Top 10 pop territory as the group's self-titled new album debuts at #8 on the Billboard Top 200 best-selling album chart.

Mary Mary has also bulleted from #137 to #4 on the R&B album sales chart and debuted at #1 on Billboard's Gospel album sales chart and Contemporary Christian Music charts.

Released on July 19, Mary Mary has already achieved the highest chart position on the Top 200 in the group's career. Mary Mary's previous albums -- 2000's Thankful and 2002's Incredible -- peaked at #59 and #20, respectively.

With first week's sales of 56,887, according to SoundScan, Mary Mary has achieved the best sales week of the duo's career and, as it debuts at #1 on the Billboard Gospel chart, becomes the best-selling Gospel debut of 2005.

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

Erica and Tina Campbell are Mary Mary, two real-life sisters who have brought revolutionary R&B, urban and hip-hop elements to the world of contemporary gospel music.

Mary Mary, the duo's new album, features guest artist Kirk Franklin. The album's first single is "Heaven," produced by Warryn Campbell. (Erica's husband, 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 in the local church choir and received their first break in 1998 with a song on the "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 Best Contemporary Gospel Album and three Dove Awards, six Stellar Awards, a Lady of Soul Award, a Soul Train Award. Incredible, their second album, became the nation's #1 Top Christian Album in 2002 and featured the Dove Award-winning hits "In The Morning" and "Thank You," featuring Kirk Franklin.

http://www.mary-mary.com/

http://www.columbiarecords.com/

Source: My Block Records; Sony Urban Music; Columbia Records

CONTACT: Tony Ferguson of Sony Urban Music, +1-212-833-4595, Tony.Ferguson@sonybmg.com

Web site: http://www.columbiarecords.com/

------- Profile: Ent