Mary J. Blige Biography

Mary J. Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress and a nine- Grammy award winning R&B artist. Debuting in the early 90s, she has been named since as the Queen of Hip-hop Soul.

Early Life

Mary Jane Blige was born in The Bronx, New York on January 11, 1971. Mary spent most of her time singing in church as her family was broken. A cassette of her singing ended up in the hands of CEO Andre Harrell of Uptown Records.

Career Beginnings

In 1991, Sean “Puffy” Combs took faith in Blige, a background singer at the time. They started working on her debut album What’s the 411?. The album transitioned from R&B and rap in a way that no female singer had before. Again, with Combs’ help, Mary released My Life in 1995. The album was heavy with hardships which that were obviously personal. More hardship followed shortly after when she broke contact with Combs and got signed to a different label called MCA.

Breakthrough

The 1997Share My World LP debuted at the top spot on Billboard. Her next effort Mary would prove to be more developed and elegant. The soul album was made with contributions from giants like Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and Lauryn Hill. No More Drama another highly personal album was showcasing Blige’s songwriting ability. After a reunion with P. Diddy on Love and Life, she followed with the successful project The Breakthrough. Be Without You, the album’s lead single spent a year on the charts. Growing Pains was her third LP to peak on both the Billboard 200 and the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. Mary embarked on a tour with Robin Thicke in 2008 and in 2009 she released Stronger with Each Tear. In 2011 she welcomed My Life II…The Journey Continues (Act 1) with features from Beyoncé, Drake, Rick Ross, and Busta Rhymes. It was certified gold. Inspired by genre-blurring acts Blige released The London Sessions recorded with Sam Smith, Naughty Boy, and Emeli Sandé. Thick of It was revealed as the lead single from her upcoming 13th album Strength of a Woman.

Photo credit: This is RnB