David and Tamela Mann have always been known for their portrayals of Cora and Leroy Brown from Tyler Perry’s onstage and offstage production of Meet the Browns. Their wacky chemistry onset is just another execution of their talents. They have a reality series called “The Manns (TV One),” where they allow viewers to tailgate their life experiences, tough lessons and marriage with the best of them. They portray Daniel and Toni on Mann & Wife (Bounce TV)
Tamela Mann, the soul rendering voice behind timeless singles, Take Me to the King and God Provides, won awards for both songs alongside Kirk Franklin. In 2017 she won her first Grammy Award, and in 2018, she won “The James Cleveland Lifetime Achievement Award” at the 33rd Stellar Gospel Music Awards.
Meanwhile, David Mann always cut a rug, while bringing a round of funnies with him, ashy knees and all. Originally, he started out as a local success singing with Kirk Franklin in his home town. If there must be a time-frame attached to his career, he sung on stage as Mr. Brown from 2004 until the show hit prime-time. He crooned with a grainy tone similar to Al Green. Knowing how to separate the two, he never pursued recording, and stuck to clean comedy during his routines. In fact, Both David and Tamela won the 2018 NAACP Award for outstanding Reality Program/Reality Competition Series for their hit docu-series The Manns. Although entertainment seems to be their livelihood, The Manns have other things in the works. For instance, Tamela inked a deal with Ashley Stewart, with “The Manns” at leisure wear, launching this fall. They have a new movie coming out called, Merry Wish MAS, airing on TV One, December 2nd at 7:00pm EST.
“It’s a Christmas movie that’s about forgiveness, and it’s about family, but I have a starring role. David is my co-star in the movie. Yawl, David happens to be serious. He’s having to be serious in this movie. It’s no joking, so you get a straight David Mann.”
Tamela said that God allowed the provision for them to use their platform to engage the conversation about their lifestyles. They made definite sure that success didn’t change the core of who they are as entertainers, and that is the reason they are able to be compellingly transparent about their 30-year journey as husband and wife.
“I think it kind of happened with how the lord set us up, even with coming from Kirk Franklin and the Family, going into the plays, and people finding out and understanding that we were a couple—Not just two people with the same last name, that we were a couple. For so many years, people didn’t know that we were a couple as him being Mr. Brown and me being Cora. I just think it’s like a setup for us. It’s not that we were trying. It just kind of happened that way, to kind of being an example. We’ve been influencing people since we’ve gotten married, even in our earlier days, before all of this came about.
“It kind of morphed into that," says David. "We realized that this platform wasn’t just given to us to be rich and famous. This platform was given to us to make a difference. Even out on this tour, if we bless one couple that comes to see the show, then our job is done. We talked and heard from couples that said, ‘Our story is your story. Thank yawl for sharing and being transparent. It blessed us.’ There was one couple that came who was separated. Once they left the show and understood our story, they said, ‘Okay, we’re going to work it out.'
“It was because of the knock at the door in their lives. That’s kind of what it’s all about. It’s about forgiveness. Sometimes, we have we have to start over. We have to start at the basics of apologizing, and start dating each other again. Just talking to each other and becoming friends."
Aint no such thing as outworking them…
Queuing the good vibrations accompanying holiday spirit, The Manns wrapped up their Us Against The World Family Tour. The tour ran from October 11th until November 11th. On November 13th, David and Tamela released their memoir, Us Against the World: Our Secrets to Love, Marriage, and Family.
Conspiring brilliantly, The Manns fused their projects together, where they exemplified love, marriage, family and afflictions that couples grow through. They express affectionately with pen and lyrics that their sweeping 30 year journey was anything but great; however, their experiences were well worth it, and they find love daily as a result of it.
About The Us Against The World Project:
“First, we’ll talk about the tour,” says David. “We wanted to have something that we could physically go out and be a ministry to, for us, and our marriage ministry. We wanted to do something where it wasn’t just a concert and it wasn’t just a comedy show or a conference. We wanted to do something that was an experience so we came up with the concept of having it all in one night. We start the thing off with the whole family doing the title song… “Us Against the World,” Tamela finished David sentence.
“Then, my son kicks it off with a family reunion, backyard, party. He’s a DJ, so he gets it all hype and crunck up.”
“Do they still say crunk,” David interjected comically. “I’m old and that’s okay,” laughed Tamela.
The two continued to lay out details of the show by explaining that Tia, David and Tamela’s daughter, performed a tribute for Aretha Franklin. David performed comedy while scooping the audience on he and Tamela’s three decades of marriage. David says that they had teachable moments.
“In one of the sets, we ask a couple if they love each other. If they tell us, "Yes," we then ask, “Are you guys in love?” It’s possible to love somebody and not be in love with them. You don’t realize I’m giving moments of teaching and love, and stuff like that because I’m wrapping in comedy.”
After David is done with his set, Tamela does her portion of upbeat songs, and this includes songs from their love ballads from newest album, Us Against the World: The Love project. The album is a collaboration album from David and Tamela.
Click below where links are highlighted, to get the feels about love.
“We start out like a roller coaster ride. We start out fast and then we slow it down.”
Us Against the World: The Love Project:
“We start the love set off with some of our friends and family to give what their definition of love is. We video that to introduce the love set and we give you the definition of what love is, the biblical definition of what love is and they’re practical. Tam and I, for the first time, we sing together. For the first time on tour, on the road anywhere,” he exclaimed.
“Finally, I got David in the studio, and on the stage to sing with me, which he’s been running for quite a few years,” jeered Tamela.
“I haven’t been running,” dejected David. “I just been… I just been honestly intimidated by sharing the stage with Tamela Mann, and that’s what it is.”
If you haven’t realized by now, David and Tamela Mann are quite the hoots, it’s a wonder they’re able to stay under one roof or get anything done, with all their side splinter humor. Moreover, that’s additional reason that people should’ve hit the show, just to get a taste of their magnetic and euphoric energies.
Us Against the World: Memoir
“With the book, we take everybody on a journey, a journey of 30-years with the Manns. We kind of take you on our ups and we take you on our downs. Even while we were writing the book, we had to go back and revisit some things, issues, problems, situations that we thought we had resolved,” shared David.
“There were a few things that we talked about and were transparent. Our goal is to encourage families that they get hope and inspiration that they can stay together and not give up on each other,” explained Tamela in a more serious tone than previously.
“There’s a few negative things in there that you haven’t heard from the Manns. In the book, also we shared some prayers for different situations. We talk about love. We talk about finances, keeping the fire in your marriage. We talk about simple things like even laughing with each other in the book.”
According to Tamela and David, they talk about heartstrings stuff like commitments, patience, loyalty and arguments. Yes, you read correctly… arguments.
“We talk about the art of arguing, where we share our biggest arguments that we’ve had in the book. We started out real rough and rugged. It ended up being funny because… you have to read the book. It didn’t quite go according to plan,” David chuckled.
In the book, David and Tamela also discuss the beauty of their blended family, renewing vows, and getting that unexpected knock at the door.
“It was a kind of a hard place in our marriage. We were five years into the marriage, and I got a knock at the door, and surprise,” yelped Tamela animatedly. “I had another child by another woman, and that happened before our marriage” confesses David without letting Tamela ride the wave of explanations alone.
“Just kind of giving you a backstory without giving it all away. That’s Where the “Us Against the World" title and saying came from, it was from that knock at the door in the book. With that knock at the door, Tam was like, ‘I’m not going to be able to do this.’
“We were already blended," Tamela resounded. "We had one child when we started out as a couple, and I didn’t know know where I fit in. I thought I was going to be lost in the shuffle of things. I thought, where do I fit, here, since we had the child come in while we were dealing with the other baby mama drama. He explained to me that it was us against the world. He really made it plain to me."
David had the exacting discussion with Tamela, he reassured her that they were in it together, and that he loved his kids but he also loved her.
“I told her that I love my kids and I take care of my kids, but you are my first priority. It’s us against everything else. It’s us against the world. It’s us against anything that’ll come against tearing us apart. That’s where the whole Us Against the world title came from. Even when we’re out on the road, when we say, "Us against the world," we’re not necessarily talking about the Manns against the world. We’re talking about the body of Christ [we as a people and family], and just representing us against anything that’s going to tear up the family structure, [and] tear the marriage. Anything that will come and try to destroy that, we are against that. It’s not like us fighting against everybody, it’s all of us,” David finished.
Tamela clarified, "The U in us means you as a family, [and] all of us. That all filters from, and that goes into leading into the actual album. It’s based off the stories we have in the book and that’s where the love CD comes from. All us Against the World: The Love Project. So, that’s how all that kind of filtered. David is singing some songs to me and I’m singing some songs to him, and we’re also singing songs together."
The album is sensual and inspirational, its cleverly spun as intoxicating Country Music & Rhythm & Blues from the 70's when Minnie Ripperton set the standard in Loving You... The album is done jointly by David and Tamela. It’s a secular project encouraging marriages, but not to be confused with a crossover compilation. It's love floating freely on beats and melodies.
“It’s just to sing about love. It’s something from us, to us, and to just actually show another side that I’m in love with my husband, that I like my husband, and I like being with him. I feel very secure in our marriage, and the love I have for him, I wanted to share that,” Tamela expounded a little further that people shouldn’t get the wrong idea about the project.
According to David, it was his son who pulled the producers and writers together, to kick off this cross-production.
“I was afraid at first,” says David. “It’s been so long since I’ve been in the studio. I guess it’s a bit of being insecure about singing and then signing with Tam. Once they got the songs and tailor-made them just for me, and for my voice-- We wanted to do genuine love music. We wanted to do a soundtrack from the book, and once they put the songs together, and we did it, but we didn’t know where to put it.”
“I think it’s an amazing body of work that we put together, and I really hope that everyone enjoyed it the way we’re enjoying it,” Tamela interposed David lovingly, which is the whole idea for the project in the first place… Love.
Both David and Tamela suggest that people should listen to the tribute, “Mason Jars.”
"It’s a song about discovery. “Most of my friends experiences love early and they had boyfriends and things. I never had that," uttered Tamela, "but I finally found love that I can preserve, like you preserve things in Mason Jars, that you can package up and put in the jar and hold dear to your heart. That’s what Mason Jars is all about... Finally, love that I can cherish forever.”
“Then, I’m doing a song on the album called, Still Do. I’m rededicating my love, my vows to her. It’s kind of me saying, I will do this all over again. There are songs like, 'Feels Like," says David.
"Feels Like' is a song that I’m singing to David when he touches me. When he touches me, he makes me feel like a special girl, a special woman. It’s really a wonderful thing. It gets more in-depth as you go in the song, but he makes me feel like I’m on top of the world.”
David said, “A couple of the lyrics are, ‘every time we fight, it feels the end. Butterflies in my stomach, and I just don’t think we’re going to come back from this [Making Up].’
The album is a contribution to married couples, it’s a reminder that at the end of the day, David and Tamela are human, they are husband and wife who love with energy of steam ships moving across the seas where there is no such thing as calculated distances, and no landing or ending to their journey…
“The president keeps talking about, 'Let’s Make America Great Again.' That cannot begin to happen until we get the foundation, the base, and that’s family. That’s husband and wives unified, [and] families unified. That’s when we’ll start seeing America become great, when we’re starting in the house, at home, then it will start to infest and affect everything around us,” David closed it out as deep and emotive as he could.
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