Mary Dukes was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles. She works for the city of Carson California. She has two grown children, Freddie Williams Jr. and Diedra D. Williams. Mary has been singing gospel music her entire life and presently sings in two choirs. She also acts regularly in dramatic productions. Mary has been the lead singer for the 32 - 20 Band for the past year and a half.

Mary has been performing her entire adult life. She has sung background for Marvin Gaye, Natalie Cole, M.C. Hammer, Stevie Wonder, Lou Rawls' United Negro Fund, Archie Bell and the Drells, Peggy Adams and Earth Wind and Fire, just to mention a few. Mary is also an active member of the C.ME Community Choir under the direction of Michael Pyles and she has shared the stage with great artists such as the late Rev. James Cleveland, Sandra Crouch, Tramaine Hawkins and many others.

Mary Dukes and the 32 - 20 Band released a CD, for South Side Records, called "Introducing the Divine Ms. Mary - Mary Dukes and the 32 - 20 Band." This CD is being distributed nationally and has gotten excellent reviews in Living Blues, Blues Access, Blues Revue, Big City Blues and Real Blues magazines. The CD charted for two consecutive months (October, November 2(01) on the Living Blues radio chart. In January 2002,the House of Blues radio program aired an interview with Mary that was hosted by Dan Aykroyd.

Mary recently performed at the Handy Award winning Biscuit 'N Blues club in San Francisco and at the Sacramento Heritage Festival on June 2 and will be also appearing at the North Atlantic Blues Festival on July 20th, in Maine, as part of her July tour of the Northeast.

Mary Dukes is one of those performers who immediately connects with the audience. She loves people and the audience responds to this. Wearing her sparkly sun glasses and clock stopping outfits, Mary will always "get down" with the crowd. Mary and band now have a national/international booking agency and are being booked around the country. Mary's booking is being handled by Bluestar Musical Productions. Please contact Tim Antonel at 573 - 365 0304 if you are interested in booking Mary Dukes.

" It looks like South Side has found itself another winner in Mary Dukes - this should easily rank among the year's best debut recordings." - Jim Dekoster, Living Blues

"Ever so often a new blues talent comes along as a refreshing surprise, and The Divine Ms. Mary Dukes is one unexpected pleasure. Backed by the 32-20 Band, the Los Angeles - based blueswoman serves up a solid debut disc..with a vocal style rooted in the ''tough'' tradition." - Jon Marko, Blues Access

"The Divine Ms Mary tells you what's on her mind... This L.A. diva has sung backup for Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder and her debut is well overdue. It's a set of sturdy blues with guitarist Jerry Rosen (who also pens every track here) leading a crack lineup of West Coast pros, including Deacon Jones." Tom Hyslop, Blues Revue

When looking to discover new blues talent, rmding Ms. Mary is like striking gold; immediately and continually rewarding." - Mark A. Cole, Big City Blues