 After changing his name and moving to Atlanta in 1992, Tyler Perry began writing and producing stage plays that became highly successful. All you gotta do is take an R&B song, put Jesus in it, and it's a gospel song. What? It was also during that time that he created his signature character, the iconic Mabel Medea Simmons. Yeah, you know she walked in the valley with the shadow of little Ray Ryan hood and the three bears.