Denise Reid, Freelance Writer

Western Bureau:

From the moment the Gospel duo Mary Mary released the hit single Shackles from their debut album Thankful in 2000, the whole world has been praising, bopping and grooving along with them. Judging from the energy and enthusiasm of this duo, they seem ready to rock the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival when they perform on Saturday night.

The sisters, Erica and Tina Atkins-Campbell who make up the duo Mary Mary are no strangers to Jamaica. They have visited our shores on numerous occasions both for pleasure and to give performances.

'Livest' shows

Though they cannot recall the last time they performed here, the memory of their performances lives in their memories. Said Tina, of their performance in Kingston: "Kingston was definitely one of the 'livest' shows we have ever had anywhere. The people just seemed really excited and ready to enjoy themselves. It was like a big huge party. It was raining but people didn't leave, they got on chairs and enjoyed themselves. We didn't want to leave, but we had to."

The duo who has often been credited with expanding contemporary gospel music, received critical acclaim for their first single Shackles.

The single was a crossover hit which was popular with gospel, pop and R&B audiences and gained top spots on music charts worldwide. Since then, these artistes have been wowing multitudes with their inspirational music.

Gaining a Grammy award for Best Gospel Album in 2000, they have gone on to win numerous awards and have sold millions of albums.

Quality music

"A Jazz festival is not necessarily a gospel event, it's great that they would invite Gospel artistes to a Jazz event and we're ready," Tina stated. "Jazz is for people who really enjoy music. Jazz lovers have an appreciation for music, and we would like to think that our music is rich in quality, so we're gonna come do us and hopefully the people will love us."

Affirming her sister's statement, Erica said: "Absolutely, we have songs that have a jazzy feel to it, but we take great effort to make good music. we put our heart and soul into it, so we are quality artists and it makes sense for us to be there."