MARY MARY

When it comes to urban gospel superstars Mary Mary, everything is done on a big scale. All of their pursuits—musical, spiritual, or otherwise—are larger-than-life: not a single thing is left to chance. For them, there's simply no room for halfway, half-done, half-baked efforts. No matter the venture, the bar is always sky-high. Absolutely everything must be handled with an utmost sense of excellence.

From their breakout, career-defining first single, "Shackles (Praise You)" in 2000, to The Sound, their landmark fifth album, Mary Mary is committed to greatness.

"We represent a great, big God who is excellent, so we like to think that our work represents that, too," says Tina Campbell, one-half of the best-selling duo. "God's blessings are new every day. He's blowing our minds every day. We should be able to speak to a new day in a new way." Her sister Erica Campbell can't help but concur: "I wholeheartedly agree," she says.

With nothing to prove, Mary Mary could very well rest on past successes and settle for the middle-of-the-road. After all, they are multiple Grammy, Dove, and Stellar award winners, and all of their studio albums—2000's Thankful, 2002's Incredible, and 2005's Mary Mary—are either platinum- or gold-certified. But independent of older glories, The Sound proves they go all out, all the time.

TYE TRIBBETT
and
GREATER ANOINTING

Tye Tribbett -- husband, father of two, Gospel singer, songwriter, producer, preacher and businessman -- has touched many with his message. Recognizing that it is all the "anointing of God," Tye stands out not only on what believes, but what he wants people to understand about his calling.

Tribbett and his choir, Greater Anointing, broke into the popular mainstream in 1998 with a group of performances on the Prince of Egypt (Inspirational) album, one of three high profile soundtrack collections released for the Academy Award winning animated film from DreamWorks. He says knew from the beginning they'd tapped into something real and glorious.

RICKY DILLARD
and
THE NEW GENERATION

Since the age of three, Dillard watched church choirs. His Grandma used to stand Little Ricky on top of his baby potty and he would direct and sing. At five years old, he began directing the junior choir at St. Bethel Baptist Church in Chicago, and in 1981 he formed the first gospel choir at Bloom High School. "There were so many church kids there and they liked to sing," he says.

In 1984, he began recording dance and hip-hop records. Dillard made a half dozen-guest appearances on various dance tracks, and recorded his own album "Let The Music Use You," which was released in Europe and was imported into the United States. In spite of his growing success in the club market, Dillard says, "My heart was in the gospel. I always wanted to do gospel. The other stuff was just an opportunity to record. I wanted to bring a more contemporary style into gospel for choirs."

In 1988, Dillard founded the New Generation Chorale. The group has won the McDonald's Chicagoland Choir competition, a Grammy nomination and a GMWA Excellence award, and was featured in Steve Martin's movie "Leap of Faith."

Now in a new stage in his life, Dillard has started his own label, Animated Entertainment Inc. The first project from the label is the new Ricky Dillard & New G project entitled The 7th Episode: "Live in Toronto". This historical project will definitely delight the ears of many as it truly defines a new level of ministry for Ricky & his aggregation.