Mahalia Barnes & Prinnie Stevens

Prinnie and Mahalia have been friends for over 12 years, meeting in their late teens through their love of music, growing up and honing their talent in Sydney’s urban music crowd jamming and performing together, a musical connection that would turn into a lifelong friendship. The Voice pitted the best friends against one another in the battle rounds singing the soul classic ‘Tainted Love’ which became one of the shows most memorable and celebrated moments, so much so they were invited back to sing together in the finale. While preparing, they came up with a lengthy wish list of songs each wanted to perform, and when the chance to record an album together arose they already had the foundation for their dream collaboration. “The hardest part was cutting the list down to 12 songs only!” – Mahalia Barnes. Prinnie and Mahalia have both been heavily influenced by soul and R ‘n’ B throughout their careers and name Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway as some of their biggest inspirations. They describe their styles today as very different; a fork in the musical road saw Prinnie more heavily involved in pop and hip-hop, while Mahalia developed her own unique take on the soul genre and they wanted Come Together to reflect and celebrate those differences. Eric J Dubowsky joined forces with the soul sisters to produce Come To-gether. Having worked with Eric on The Voice the girls knew he had the right dynamic they were looking for when it came to this unique collaboration. Prinnie and Mahalia recorded 12 songs in five days with a full band which consisted of Mahalia’s touring outfit “The Soul Mates” and included a horn and string section. Recording the songs live, the women wanted the album to sound natural and organic. They found the beauty of performing duets and being best friends meant they were able to have a lot of fun with it and play off one another’s energies making the album the perfect harmony of their different vocal styles. “It was a new and exciting experience for me recording live with a full band. After so many years performing on stage I found that it came very naturally and I enjoyed every minute. ” - Prinnie Stevens. Prinnie and Mahalia enjoyed their time recording so much they plan to take the show on the road, touring together later this year and have also been chosen to perform at the VIP launch party of the prestigious 30 Days of Fashion & Beauty festival later this month.