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Tavis: Erica and Tina Campbell are talented singers better known to gospel fans as Mary Mary. The Grammy-winning duo began their career singing backup for Brian McKnight and writing songs for other acts, but now they are platinum-selling artists in their own right following the success, the huge success, of their debut CD 'Thankful.' Their latest disc is called 'Mary Mary.' Surprise, surprise. And features the hit 'Single Heaven.'

Tavis: Erica, Tina, nice to see you both.

Erica Campbell: Likewise.

Tina Campbell: Good to see you.

Tavis: How you been?

Tina Campbell: Wonderful!

Erica Campbell: Fine!

Tavis: You've all been good. Let me just act like the friends that we are and catch up on all the stuff that's happened since I last saw you for an interview. So both of you are married now.

Erica Campbell: Yes.

Tina Campbell: We're married.

Tavis: Which is my favorite story. Not just that they're married, but your maiden name is Atkins.

Tina Campbell: Yes.

Tavis: Both--this is funny. Both of them got married--both of them got married, two different men obviously, but both of them men happened to have the last name Campbell.

Tina Campbell: How about that?

Tavis: How funny is that? But the Campbells are not related.

Erica Campbell: No.

Tina Campbell: No.

Tavis: So the two Atkins married two Campbells.

Tina Campbell: Yes, one from Chicago and one from L.A. How about that? We are stuck together.

Tavis: Ha ha ha! Well, now, so you were Atkins. Now you're Atkins-Campbells, I guess.

Erica Campbell: And then on top of that, when we had our babies, they were both born in the same month.

Tavis: Born the same month, and both of you had girls.

Tina Campbell: Yes. She went into labor at my baby's first birthday party. How about that?

Tavis: Ha ha ha!

Tina Campbell: We said we got to start separating some of our life.

Tavis: Yeah. Do y'all do anything without this kind of orbit that seems to--

Erica Campbell: You know, we--that stuff wasn't planned. That's what's crazy, so I guess--I don't know.

Tina Campbell: It was just meant to be.

Erica Campbell: Just meant to be.

Tavis: Wow. The new CD, how is it different from the one that everybody is still talking about years later, 'Thankful'?

Tina Campbell: You know, I think I'd have to say that we've grown a lot since then. We came into the music business not really knowing what all of this entailed, what it was all about. We came in very innocent, very--is green the right word to use?

Erica Campbell: Yeah.

Tina Campbell: You know, not knowing the responsibility that we have with this incredible message that we're singing about, and now we understand the responsibility that we have, we accept the responsibility, and, also, we're very comfortable doing what we do the way that we do it.

Erica Campbell: Yeah.

Tina Campbell: I think sometimes you try to find your way after you get criticism here or this person's saying do it a little bit this way or write songs this way or do it that way. We just do what we do the way God gives it to us and hopefully the world will hear it and love it, and I think that's what you'll hear on that CD.

Tavis: When--'cause I see you nodding your head, Erica--I assume that you agree with Tina.

Erica Campbell: Yes.

Tavis: So let me ask you then the follow-up. When Tina suggests that you're more comfortable now doing what it is that you do, I read right between those lines. So you get all this criticism from people who think that the music, the gospel sound may be a little too secular and you might be a little out there for persons who are supposed to be spreading the good news, that your approach, your style, your dress, your apparel, a little different than the typical, you know, gospel. Y'all ain't Albertina Walker or Shirley Caesar.

Tina Campbell: And God bless her. We're different.

Tavis: Yeah. I know you ain't mad at her, but you're different.

Erica Campbell: Right.

Tavis: So I assume that's what she meant when she said you're more comfortable with what you do now.

Erica Campbell: That and along with the fact that there were lots of insecurities that were just all in there in the ear and, you know, we'd done tours with Yolanda Adams and Shirley Caesar, and you're onstage--cause we're the new kids on the block, we're on the side of the stage going maybe we should do that and maybe we should be more like that. Then we have shows with Fred Hammond or Kirk Franklin or, like, a lot of the "legends," you know, and you feel like we should have some element of that in what we do. And we just, you know, we've just gotten to the point to where we are who we are, you know. He gave me the talent that he gave me because this is what I was supposed to have. He didn't accidentally give my talent to Mama Shirley. He didn't accidentally give my gift to someone else, and so, you know, I'm comfortable with that, my flaws, my strength, whatever that is, I'm willing to put it all out there, 'cause I'm comfortable with me.

Tavis: Speaking of being comfortable, what was the challenge, and we all grew up--different churches, but we all grew up in the Pentecostal holiness, speaking in tongues--

Tina Campbell: Yes!

Tavis: Tradition. My mama's still there every Sunday. Go to Bishop Jones' church. I'm still in that, but I know--I can only imagine, 'cause I've had these travails just--and I'm not even a performer, but there are certain aspects of my career that I've had to get comfortable accepting, that there's certain subject matter that I have to talk about, certain things I have to do, certain issues I have to address that you might not be cool with me addressing, but it's part of what I do as a talk show host, and I know who I am. I'm comfortable with that. But I had to really struggle with that coming out of that Pentecostal tradition, which is very, very strict.

Erica and Tina Campbell: Very strict.

Tavis: So how have y'all dealt with accepting who you are, knowing that there are some folks in that tradition that don't see things the way that we see it now?

Erica Campbell: You know, I think it's really good that the pastor that we're under, who's also our uncle, has been very supportive. Even when I was singing background with--

Tavis: Wait. He's your uncle, he better be supportive.

Erica Campbell: You know, but he was supportive even when I was singing background with Brandy and Brian McKnight. You know, he was, "Oh, when you finish this, come back to church and get back in the choir." And there would be people in the front row, like, "Hmm, yeah, we seen old Planet Groove. This was back in the day. We seen--" you know what I mean? Saying different things and I had to get past that, but I did get past it because you have ignorance everywhere. And ignorance is not an insult. It's when someone doesn't know and they're not aware that they're--some people in church unfortunately are not aware that we are not supposed to just be there. We're supposed to go out and reach people. And you can't go out with a long white dress on and think they're going to pay attention to you.

Tavis: But I guess, Tina, I want--I guess the question is whether or not you can go so far. Is there a place where you can go too far where people don't get the message and all they hear is the sound, the music?

Tina Campbell: Absolutely. I won't say that it was our ministry to go sing background with different R&B artists that were singing, you know, about different things that's not necessarily Christian, but I do think that that was part of God's plan for us.

Erica Campbell: Yes.

Tina Campbell: I think that we were exposed to that market, exposed to just how they get down, onstage, behind scenes, all of it so we could know how to--how to do what we do--

Erica Campbell: Professionally.

Tina Campbell: Professionally, do what we do professionally in a way that was relevant, and when it became time for us to be artists ourselves. Because at that point, we didn't know that we were going to be Mary Mary. We didn't know that we were going to be writing songs and on the stage performing what's from our heart and what's representative of us, and when that opportunity came, it was--gospel was the only option. Little did we know that we'd be thrown on the secular side almost more than gospel, so if we had been new to that, didn't know how to be relevant, didn't understand how they operate, we might not have been able to have--

Erica Campbell: Right.

Tina Campbell: We might not have been able to be as effective, so now I understand that that was a part of God's plan to put us in those environments so when it came time to represent him there, we could do it effectively.

Tavis: I'm glad you said--

Erica Campbell: We wouldn't go on stage going "Praise the Lord, saints," you know, at a pop concert.

Tavis: At a pop concert, yeah. Ha ha ha! Although praise the Lord always works. You mentioned some of the environments that you were in. I want to talk about the environment of the White House where you were not long ago. Before I get to that, though, it just occurs to me, 'cause again, I've known you so long and appreciated your music for so long, that there's some people watching right now who may be exposed to you for the first time who are trying to figure out how you got Mary Mary out of Tina and Erica. Somebody explain that right quick before I go back to the White House.

Tina Campbell: Mary the mother of Christ, the Virgin Mary, perfect. Mary Magdalene was filled with evil spirits, had a not-so-good reputation with the men. Once she met Jesus, he was loving to her. He didn't ridicule her or ostracize her because of her lifestyle and that love that he showed her caused her to change, so Mary Mary to us means it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from, we can all be changed by the power of the love of Jesus.

Tavis: And I will resist asking which one is Mary the mother of Jesus and who's Mary Magdalene.

Erica Campbell: Oh, Lord.

Tina Campbell: I'm gonna go on and pick Jesus as my perfect one.

Tavis: I'm going to leave that debate alone, who the perfect one is. Let me go back to the White House, though. There were--there was a big celebration of gospel music in the White House not long ago. And I know this because I'm on black radio every day, and there were some conversations then, as there always are, about what makes somebody who is black who we assume is down with us go to the White House and hang out with that guy.

Tina Campbell: Uh-huh.

Erica Campbell: Right.

Tavis: I'm just being real about it. That's the conversation in black America, so you were there, Smokie Norful was there, a number of other African-American artists were there. Tell me how the invitation came about and, from your perspective, why you accept an invitation to witness inside the White House with this president.

Erica Campbell: Well, it was an invitation. They did, you know, call us and ask us to be a part of the celebration, and I, you know...any time you go to the White House, to me, it's just, like, wow. We had never been there before. But then on the other hand, regardless of who's in office, it was an opportunity for us to sing about God's good news. And that isn't just for a president that we like or--you know what I mean?

Tavis: Or don't like.

Tina Campbell: Or agree with.

Erica Campbell: Or don't like, for that matter, or agree with. So I feel like the message that we sang about there, regardless, you know, whether we like George Bush or not, I think that message was definitely put across in a powerful way.

Tavis: Let me ask this question as an exit question. There's a song on here that I absolutely love. It's the first track. It's called 'Believer.' Let me close with a simple question. A few seconds each. What makes you a believer? Why do you believe?

Tina Campbell: Because God has protected me, he has provided for me, he has been everything that I can't be in and of my own resources; that my parents couldn't be in and of their own resources. He saved my life when I could've been dead. Things like this, when I know it was nothing but the grace of God that spared my life, makes me feel like I'm indebted to him. I owe him my love. I owe him my life. And that's pretty much it. And he keeps proving himself to be the biggest resource that I have every day.

Tavis: Erica, you're a believer because...

Erica Campbell: I'm a believer because of the undeniable power of his love, the times when I know that I've asked questions that nobody on this earth could answer and I know that he gave me the answer. Things like that make me believe without a shadow of a doubt that he is the Lord of this earth and the Lord of the world.

Tavis: We showed you a little clip earlier from 'Heaven' on this CD. We just talked about 'Believer,' the first track. I know you'll like this song 'Believer,' and for that matter, you'll like everything on this new CD by Mary Mary simply titled 'Mary Mary.' Erica and Tina, it's always nice to see you both.

Tina Campbell: Likewise.

Erica Campbell: Thank you.

Tavis: Glad to have you here. That's our show for tonight. You can catch me on public radio this weekend and every weekend, for that matter, on PRI, Public Radio International. Check your local listings. I'll see you back here, though, next time on PBS. Until then, good night from Los Angeles. Thanks for watching and keep the faith.