Grammy Award-Winner Tina Campbell Says Gospel Music Artists Face Unique Challenges
Despite earning multiple Grammy awards as a member of the Christian singing duo Mary Mary, Tina Campbell believes that getting people interested in gospel music can be a challenge.
"I don't find it difficult to market gospel music necessarily. I do find it sometimes difficult to be received," Campbell revealed in an interview with the Atlanta Business Chronicle earlier this month. "When people hear the word 'gospel' they think, 'that word doesn't apply to me.' To some degree we have to be strategic in marketing it and presenting it."
The 41-year-old mother of five built a career as one half of the gospel music duo Mary Mary along with her sister, Erica Campbell, who also serves as her reality television co-star in the WE tv hit reality television show "Mary Mary."
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"You have to show what's good about it, you have to show what's relevant about it, you have to show how it applies to the everyday person and their everyday life. It's very important to include those elements of it because some people think it's just for Sundays," the 41-year-old singer told the Chronicle.
"If people understand that it's relatable everyday for every situation — it's what you laugh to, cry to, party to, be encouraged by, it's your easy listening, it's your workout music, it's your motivation before you take that college exam — if you show people how it's relatable, they are able to understand how amazing this music is."
Tina found a way to relate to people with her first solo album, It's Personal, and book I Need A Day To Pray last year. She previously spoke to The Christian Post about enduring challenges with her husband's infidelity and father's death that led her to create the projects.
"I went through my challenges that I went through last year with infidelity. In the process of writing journals to God, I ended up writing a book that I didn't know I was writing," she told CP. "Once I finished, God started downloading all of this music into me and I knew that God gave it to me to give it away. I knew when it came time to give it away, I didn't want to just do things as usual."
During an interview on "The Boris and Nicole Show" in July, The singer admitted she almost walked away from her Christian faith as she struggled to overcome her husband, Teddy's, infidelities.
"Initially, I lost my way, and I said 'forget this faith thing it doesn't work,'" Tina revealed on the Fox talk show. "I pursued vengeance and I was going to get him back and everybody back and make the world understand they should have never hurt me."
"I crashed, I cursed, I attacked, I drank myself to sleep," she admitted. "I was miserable."
Her husband, however, said he made the decision to fight for their marriage.
"In the moment where I did all of this to her, I was like, 'OK, either I'm going to run, like I normally did, or I'm gonna rise up and I'm gonna stand up and be the man that I know that she needs,'" Teddy said.
As she worked on her first solo album last year, Campbell reached out to her fans on Instagram to explain: "I've been fighting discouragement for three weeks because I'm doing something I've never done before with limited experience, expertise, resources, and help to do it. Setbacks have worked to distract and discourage me. Sometimes I've fallen back but I wake up everyday and choose to move forward because God is with me and if God be for me, who can be against me: 1 John 4:4.
"Today I am encouraged because THE ULTIMATE ENCOURAGER 'THE HOLY SPIRIT' LIVES INSIDE OF ME and I'm choosing to tap into that and ignore everything else that conflicts with it: Isaiah 41:10, Deuteronomy 31.8, Joshua 1:9," Campbell added. "God is more than amazing, more than able, and more than willing to manifest His love, His grace, and His power in my life and yours. All of you who have already began to support this project have encouraged me more than I can explain."
