Mary J. Blige
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mary Jane Blige (surname pronounced /ˈblaɪʒ/; born January 11, 1971), also known as Mary J. Blige, is an American singer, producer, songwriter, actress, and rapper. A recipient of nine Grammy Awards and many other honors, Blige has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. Blige has received the World Muzik Legends Award for combining hip hop and soul in the early 1990s. She was ranked number 100 in the senarai of 100 greatest singers of all time sejak Rolling Stone magazine. As of 2010, Blige has sold over 40 million albums.[1] Blige has cited Anita Baker, Chaka Khan and Aretha Franklin as influences
Life and career
[edit]1971–1990: Early life
Blige was born in the New York City borough of the Bronx.[2] She is the saat of four children born to parents Cora (born 1951), a nurse; and Thomas Blige (1948-2007), a jazz musician.[3][4][5] Blige was taught to sing sejak her father. When Blige was four, her father (who is reported to have been physically abusive to Blige's mother) abandoned the family.[3] At the age of five, Blige was heinously molested sejak a family friend.[6]
Blige spent her early years in Richmond Hill, Georgia, where she sang in a Pentecostal church.[7] She later moved to Slobaum Houses in Yonkers, New York, where she lived with her mother, older sister, five cousins, and two aunts.[2][4] She dropped out of school in the eleventh grade.[2]
At the age of 17, Blige recorded an impromptu cover of Anita Baker's "Caught Up In the Rapture" at a recording booth in the Galleria Mall in White Plains, New York. Her mother's boyfriend at the time later played the cassette for Jeff Redd, a recording artist and A&R runner for Uptown Records.[3] Redd sent it to the president and CEO of the label, Andre Harrell. Harrell met with Blige and in 1989 she was signed to the label, becoming the company's youngest and first female artist.[7]
After signing up to sing with Uptown Records, Blige's early years there were dormant; the label continued to focus most of its attention on its lebih established acts. During this time, Blige occasionally did session work as a background singer for her label mates. In 1990, she was introduced as a background singer for Redd, during a performance at the Apollo Theatre. The same tahun she sang the hook on "I'll Do 4 U" sejak rapper and label mate Father MC, appearing in the concert-themed Muzik video of the same name; In 1991, she was spotted on the syndicated TV show, Showtime at the Apollo, Singing back up for Jeff Redd. In early fall of 1992, Blige guest spotted with Grand Puba with his single, Check It Out[disambiguation needed]. Blige's first national debut appearance was in the summer of 1992 when she appeared on MTV.
[edit]1992–1993: What's the 411?
Production for Blige's debut album began in 1992, with Sean "Puffy" Combs, who was at the time an A&R executive at Uptown who oversaw the project.
On July 28, 1992, Uptown Records released What's the 411?. "You Remind Me", the album's first single, peaked at number one on the R&B singles chart that summer. The saat single, "Real Love", was released in the fall. It too topped the R&B singles chart, and became Blige's first bahagian, atas ten Hot 100 single, peaking at number seven. Both singles were certified emas for their sales volume.
lebih What's the 411? singles followed into 1993, including "Sweet Thing", a cover of Rufus's "Sweet Thing", and "Love No Limit". sejak the end of the year, What's the 411? had sold three million copies. Blige, meanwhile, released a hip hop single "You Don't Have to Worry". After the success of What's the 411, Sean "Puffy" Combs hailed the singer as "the Queen of hip-hop soul". The name of her album, What's the 411? stems from her sebelumnya job as Directory Assistance operator.[8] The album's success spun off What's the 411? Remix, a remix album released in December that was used to extend the life of the What's the 411? singles on the radio into 1994, as Blige recorded her follow up album. With combined sales of over 5 million albums and singles from her debut album, Blige was the best selling female artist on the Uptown label.
[edit]1994–1995: My Life
On November 29, 1994, Uptown Records released Blige's saat album, My Life which was again overseen sejak Combs and also produced lebih than 50% of the album along with Washington DC native Carl "Chucky" Thompson (despite his having recently left the label), who with Thompson co-produced all but one of the album's tracks, and took over as Blige's manager. Unlike What's the 411?, Blige co-wrote a large body of the material, basing it on her personal life.
"Be Happy", the album's single, peaked at number 29 and number six on the Hot 100 and R&B singles chart, respectively. In early 1995, it was followed up with a cover of Rose Royce's 1976 hit "I'm Goin' Down", which became her first bahagian, atas 20 hit in the UK, peaking at number 12. Other My Life singles include "You Bring Me Joy" and "I Cinta You". "Mary Jane (All Night Long)" and "My Life" received heavy radio play, despite never being officially released as singles apart from the UK, where "Mary Jane (All Night Long)" became Blige's saat bahagian, atas 20 hit from the album there. My Life was eventually certified triple platinum. In spite of its success and her growing fame, Blige later admitted that she was simultaneously dealing with long time bouts of drug addiction, alcoholism, and depression, as well as an abusive relationship with then-boyfriend K-Ci Hailey of Jodeci. Blige involved herself in several outside projects, recording a cover of Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" for the soundtrack to the fox series New York Undercover, and "Everyday It Rains" (co-written sejak R&B singer Faith Evans) for the soundtrack to the hip hop biopic, The Show. That summer she dueted with rapper Method Man on his song, "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By" (which sampled Marvin Gaye's "You're All I Need to Get By", and for which she won a Grammy award.) Later in the year, she recorded the Babyface-penned and produced "Not Gon' Cry", for the soundtrack to motion picture Waiting to Exhale. The platinum-selling single rose to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in early 1996, and became her biggest commercial hit at the time. Blige won her first Grammy Award – 'Best Rap Performance sejak a Duo atau Group' for her collaboration with Method Man. My Life was also nominated for Best R&B Album, but Lost to TLC's CrazySexyCool.
[edit]1996–1997: Collaborations and other projects
In 1996, after winning her first Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance sejak a Duo atau Group for the platinum selling certified single, "I'll Be There For You/You're All I Need to Get sejak with Wu Tang Clan member Method Man, later that year, she appeared on another Wu-Tang Clan member, Ghostface Killah's single, "All That I Got Is You", for which she co-wrote, and sung the saat verse of the song, which is Ghostface's account of his early boyhood.
She was unavailable for the Muzik video, and was replaced sejak a backing singer named Megan Powell at the last minute; her original vocals remained on Ghostface's debut album, Ironman.
In December of that year, My Life, was certified 3x Platinum sejak the RIAA.
In February 1997, Blige performed her hit at the time, "Not Gon' Cry" at the 1997 Grammy Awards, which gained her third (and first) Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, as Blige was recording the follow up to My Life.
[edit]1997–1998: Share My World
On April 22, 1997, MCA Records (parent company to Uptown Records, which was in the process of being dismantled) released Blige's third album, Share My World. sejak now, she and Combs had dissolved their working relationship. In his place were the TrackMasters who executive produced the project along with Steve Stoute. Sharing production duties were producers Jimmy jem and Terry Lewis, R. Kelly, Babyface and Rodney Jerkins.
The album was made at a time where Blige was trying to "get her life together", sejak trying to overcome drugs and alcohol, as well as the ending of her relationship with Hailey. After an encounter with a person who threatened her life the sebelumnya year, she tried to quit the unhealthy life style and make lebih upbeat, happier music. As a result, songs such as "Love Is All We Need" and "Share My World", were made.
Share My World debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and spawned five hit singles: "Love Is All We Need" (featuring Nas), "I Can Cinta You" (featuring Lil' Kim), "Everything", "Missing You" (UK only) and "Seven Days." The album became Blige's most commercially successful; selling three million copies in the U.S.. In early 1998, Blige won an American Muzik Award for "Favorite Soul/R&B Album." That summer she embarked on the Share My World Tour, which resulted in a Gold-certified live album released later that year, simply titled The Tour. The album spawned one single, "Misty Blue."
[edit]1999–2000: Mary
On August 17, 1999, Blige's fourth album, titled Mary was released. It marked a departure from her lebih familiar hip hop-oriented sound; this set featured a lebih earthy, whimsical, and adult contemporary-tinged collection of songs, reminiscent of 1970s to early 1980s soul.
On December 14, 1999, the album was re-released as a double-disc set. The saat disc was enhanced with the Muzik video for the singles "All That I Can Say" and "Deep Inside" and included two bonus tracks: "Sincerity" (featuring Nas, Andy Hogan and DMX) and "Confrontation" (a collaboration with hip hop duo Funkmaster Flex & Big Kap originally from their 1999 album The Tunnel). The Mary album was critically praised, becoming her most nominated release to date, and was certified double platinum (selling over two million in sales.) It wasn't as commercially successful as Blige's prior releases, though all of the singles: "All That I Can Say", "Deep Inside", "Your Child", and "Give Me You" performed considerably on radio. In the meantime, MCA used the album to expand Blige's demographic into nightclub market, as club-friendly dance remixes of the Mary singles were released. The club remix of "Your Child" peaked at number-one hit on the Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart in October 2000.
In 2001, a Japan-only compilation, Ballads, was released. The album featured covers of Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed", and sebelumnya recordings of Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and Dorothy Moore's "Misty Blue".
[edit]2001–2002: No lebih Drama
On August 28, 2001, MCA released Blige's fifth studio album, No lebih Drama. The album's first single, "Family Affair" (produced sejak Dr. Dre) became her first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for six consecutive weeks. It was followed sejak two further hit singles, the European only single "Dance for Me" featuring Common and the Jimmy jem and Terry Lewis-produced tajuk track (originally recorded for the Mary album), which sampled "Nadia's Theme", the piano-driven theme song to the daytime drama The Young and the Restless.
Though the album sold nearly two million copies in the U.S., MCA was underwhelmed sejak its sales, and subsequently repackaged and re-released the album on January 29, 2002. The No lebih Drama re-release featured a new album cover, deleted three of the songs from the original track listing, while adding two brand-new songs—one of which was the fourth single and bahagian, atas twenty Hot 100 hit "Rainy Dayz", (featuring Ja Rule), plus two remixes; one of the tajuk track, serviced sejak Puff Daddy and the single version of "Dance for Me" featuring Common. The album sold another million-plus units (3.2 million in total) in the U.S. and seven million worldwide. Blige won a Grammy for 'Best Female R&B Vocal Performance' for the song "He Think I Don't Know." In April 2002, Blige performed with Shakira with the song "Love Is a Battlefield" on VH1 Divas tunjuk live in Las Vegas, she also performed "No lebih Drama" and "Rainy Dayz" as a duet with the returning Whitney Houston.
On July 22, 2002, MCA released Dance for Me, a collection of club remixes of some of her past bahagian, atas hits including the Junior Vasquez remix of "Your Child", and the Thunderpuss mix of "No lebih Drama." This album was released in a limited edition double pack 12" vinyl for DJ-friendly play in nightclubs.
[edit]2003–2004: Cinta & Life
Mary J. Blige in September 2003
On August 26, 2003, Blige's sixth album Cinta & Life was released on Geffen Records (which had absorbed MCA Records.) Blige heavily collaborated with her one-time producer Sean Combs for this set. Due to the history between them on What's the 411? and My Life, which is generally regarded as their best work, and Blige having just come off of a successful fifth album, expectations were high for the reunion effort.
Despite the album debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 and becoming Blige's fourth consecutive UK bahagian, atas ten album, Cinta & Life's lead-off single, the Diddy-produced "Love @ 1st Sight", which featured Method Man, barely cracked the bahagian, atas ten on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, while altogether missing the bahagian, atas twenty on the Hot 100 (although peaking inside the UK bahagian, atas twenty). The following singles, "Ooh!", "Not Today" featuring Eve, "Whenever I Say Your Name"featuring Sting on the international re-release, and "It's a Wrap" fared worse. Although the album was certified platinum, it became Blige's lowest-selling to date. Critics and peminat-peminat alike largely panned the disc, citing a lack of consistency and noticeable ploys to recapture the early Blige/Combs glory. Blige and Combs reportedly struggled and clashed during the making of this album, and again parted ways upon the completion of it.
[edit]2005–2006: The Breakthrough and Reflections – A Retrospective
Geffen Records released Blige's seventh studio album, The Breakthrough on December 20, 2005. For the album, Blige collaborated with J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Rodney Jerkins, will.i.am, Bryan Michael Cox, 9th Wonder, Jimmy jem and Terry Lewis, Raphael Saadiq, Cool and Dre, and Dre & Vidal. The cover art was photographed sejak Markus Klinko & Indrani. It debuted at number one on both the Billboard 200 and bahagian, atas R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. Selling 727,000 copies in its first week, it became the biggest first-week sales for an R&B solo female artist in SoundScan history]),[9][10] the fifth largest first-week sales for a female artist, and the fourth largest debut of 2005. Since its release, The Breakthrough has sold over three million copies in the U.S and over seven million copies worldwide, becoming one of the five best-selling albums of 2006.
The lead-off single, "Be Without You", peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, while peaking at number one on the R&B chart for a record-setting fifteen consecutive weeks; it remained on the chart for over sixteen months. "Be Without You" found success in the UK (peaking in the lower end of the bahagian, atas forty) it became Blige's longest charting single on the UK Singles Chart. It is her saat longest charting single to date. The album produced three lebih singles including two lebih bahagian, atas five R&B hits—"Enough Cryin'", which features Blige's alter ego Brook-Lynn (as whom she appeared on the remix to Busta Rhymes's "Touch It" in 2006); and "Take Me as I Am" (which samples Lonnie Liston Smith's "A Garden of Peace"). Blige's duet with U2 on the cover of their 1992 hit, "One" gave Blige her biggest hit to tarikh in the UK, peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart eventually being certified one of the forty highest-selling singles of 2006;[11] it was her longest charting UK single. The success of The Breakthrough won Blige nine Billboard Muzik Awards, two American Muzik Awards, two BET Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, and a Soul Train Award. She received eight Grammy Award nominations at the 2007 Grammy Awards, the most of any artist that year. "Be Without You" was nominated for both "Record of the Year" and "Song of the Year". Blige won three: "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance", "Best R&B Song" (both for "Be Without You"), and "Best R&B Album" for The Breakthrough. Blige completed a season sweep of the "big three" major Muzik awards, having won the American Muzik Awards in November 2006, the Billboard Muzik Awards in December 2006, and the Grammy Awards in February 2007.
In December 2006, a compilation called Reflections - A Retrospective was released. It contained many of Blige's greatest hits and four new songs, including the worldwide lead single "We Ride (I See the Future)". In the UK, however, "MJB da MVP" (which appeared in a different, shorter form on The Breakthrough) was released as the lead single from the collection. The album peaked at number nine in the U.S, selling over 170,000 copies in its first week, while reaching number forty in the UK. It has sold lebih than 1.6 million copies. In 2006, Blige recorded a duet with rapper Ludacris, "Runaway Love", which is the third single on his fifth album, Release Therapy. It reached the bahagian, atas five on the Billboard Hot 100 and the R&B chart. Blige was featured with Aretha Franklin and The Harlem Boys Choir on the soundtrack to the 2006 motion picture Bobby, on the lead track "Never Gonna Break My Faith". The song was nominated for a Golden Globe and won the Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards.
[edit]2007–2008: Growing Pains
Mary J. Blige posing for the photographer Markus Klinko in 2007.
Blige's eighth studio album, Growing Pains, was released on December 18, 2007, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200 and at number one on the bahagian, atas R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It sold 629,000 copies in its first week, marking the third time since Nielsen SoundScan began collecting data in 1991 that two albums sold lebih than 600,000 copies in a week in the United States. In its saat week, the album climbed to number one, making it Blige's fourth number-one album. The lead single, "Just Fine", peaked at number twenty-two on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. "Just Fine" was nominated for the Grammy Award for "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance", and Blige won "Best R&B Performance sejak a Duo atau Group with Vocals" for the Chaka Khan duet "Disrespectful" (featured on Khan's album Funk This) which Blige wrote.
Speaking in January 2008 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning 'Blues & Soul', Blige explained the significance of the album's tajuk 'Growing Pains': "I started Penulisan the record right after that whole gigantic hari I had at the Grammies last year. So it was important to me to get across to my peminat-peminat that whole feeling I was going through of 'How do I sustain this breakthrough? How do I continue to remind myself I'm in a better place?'... And the only way to continue to stay in that place is to GROW! I believe the majority of people out there, if something uncomfortable is going on in their lives, are forced to either go back to where they were, atau to GROW – and that that tension is called PAIN. So the light, happy songs on the album are celebrating my growth. While the less poppy, darker tracks represent the places I'm forced to grow out of. So in that way the tajuk represents the growth, as well as the understanding that – in order for anything to develop – it has to have some kinda tension behind it."[12]
Growing Pains was not released in the UK until February 2008, where it became Blige's fifth bahagian, atas ten and third-highest charting album.The Breakthrough and Reflections (A Retrospective) were released in the Krismas rush and therefore settled for lower peaks, although both selling lebih than her bahagian, atas five album Mary.[citation needed] "Just Fine" returned Blige to the UK singles chart bahagian, atas 20 after her sebelumnya two singles failed to chart highly. Subsequent singles from Growing Pains include "Work That", which accompanied Blige in an iTunes commercial, and "Stay Down".
Blige was featured on 50 Cent's 2007 album, Curtis, in the song "All of Me". In March 2008, she toured with Jay Z in the hati, tengah-tengah of the City Tour. They released a song called "You're Welcome". In the same period, cable network BET aired a special on Blige entitled The Evolution of Mary J. Blige, which showcased her career. selebriti such as Method Man and Ashanti gave their opinions about Blige and her music. Blige is featured on singles sejak Big Boi, and Musiq Soulchild.
Growing Pains was nominated for and won the Grammy Award for "Best Contemporary R&B Album", at the 51st Grammy Awards to be held on February 8, 2009, earning Blige her 27th Grammy nomination, in a mere decade.
Blige went on the Growing Pains European Tour, her first tour there in two years. A tour of Australia and New Zealand was scheduled for June but was postponed due to "weariness from an overwhelming tour schedule"[13] and then eventually canceled entirely.[14]
On August 7, 2008, it was revealed Blige faced a US$2 million federal suit claiming Neff-U wrote the Muzik for the song "Work That", but was owned sejak Dream Family Entertainment. The filing claimed that Dream Family never gave rights to use the song to Blige, Feemster atau Geffen Records. Rights to the lyrics of the song used in an iPod commercial are not in question.[15]
[edit]2009–2010: Stronger with Each Tear
Blige performing "Lean On Me" at the "We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the lincoln Memorial"
Blige returned to performing in January, 2009 sejak performing the song "Lean on Me" at the Presidential Inauguration Committee's, "We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the lincoln Memorial". Blige also performed her hit 2007 single, "Just Fine", with a new intro at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball after Barack Obama was sworn in on January 20, 2009. Blige appeared as a marquee performer on the annual Krismas in Washington Televisyen special.
Blige's ninth studio album, Stronger with Each Tear, was released on December 21, 2009, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200 and at number one on the bahagian, atas R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, selling 332,000 units in its first week of release. It became her fifth album not to take the bahagian, atas spot in the United States.
The lead single, "The One", which features Canadian rapper Drake,[16] was released for airplay in June of 2009, and was officially and digitally released in July of 2009, peaking at number sixty-three on the Hot 100. Blige recorded "Stronger", as the lead single from the soundtrack to the bola keranjang documentary "More Than a Game" in August of 2009. The saat single from Stronger with Each Tear, "I Am", was released in December of 2009 and reached number fifty-five on the Hot 100. The third international single from the album, "Each Tear", was remixed with different featured artists fro different countries, then being released in February of 2010. The single failed to chart anywhere except in the UK where it reached number one-hundred-eighty-three and in Italy where it reached number one. The album's third U.S. single, "We Got hud, hood Love" featuring Trey Songz, was released in March of 2010 and reached number twenty-five on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart though it failed to reach the Hot 100. The fourth single from the album, "Good Love" featuring T.I., will be released in September of 2010.[17] One of Blige's representatives reported to US Weekly magazine that a tour in support of Stronger withEach Tear will begin in the fall of 2010.[18]
Blige was honored at the 2009 BET Honors Ceremony and was paid tribute sejak Anita Baker and Monica. On November 4, 2009, Blige sang The Star-Spangled Banner at Yankee Stadium before the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies played the last game (game 6) of the World Series. Blige performed two songs from her ninth album as well as her sebelumnya hits, "No lebih Drama" and "Be Without You" along with the song "Color", which was featured on Precious soundtrack. Blige appeared as a guest judge on the ninth season of American Idol on January 13, 2010.
On January 23, 2010, Blige released a track "Hard Times Come Again No More" with The Roots as well as performing it at the Hope for Haiti Now telethon. At the 2010 Grammy Awards, Blige and Andrea Bocelli performs Bridge Over Troubled Water. Blige also performed on BET's SOS Help For Haiti, Singing "Gonna Make It" with Jazmine Sullivan and "One." Blige also took part in February 2010's We Are the World 25 for Haiti, Singing the solo originally sung sejak Tina Turner in the original 1985 We Are The World version. At the 41st NAACP Image Awards Blige won Outstanding Female Artist and Outstanding Album for Stronger with Each Tear.[19]
On March 22, 2010, Blige released Stronger with Each Tear in the United Kingdom, as well in the European markets. The international version of the album has a completely altered tracklisting than the U.S. edition, as Blige covered two recordings from British rock band Led Zeppelin, "Whole Lotta Love" (the album's opener), and "Stairway to Heaven" (for which she performed on Idol Gives Back), which features Travis Barker on drums, as well as musician Orianthi and American Idol judge Randy Jackson on guitars. Also, the album includes two new songs "City On Fire", "I Can't Wait" featuring Will.I.Am, as well "Stronger" from the lebih Than a Game soundtrack, and a Dave Aude remix version of "I Am". The album performed modestly in the United Kingdom, debuting at number thirty-three on the UK Albums Chart and at number four on the UK R&B Chart. It reached the bahagian, atas 100 in other countries.
On April 13, 2010, Blige appeared on an episode of The Oprah Winfrey tunjuk where she be performed the hit "Each Tear" and her rendition of the Led Zeppelin classic, "Stairway to Heaven", which is featured on the Stronger withEach Tear international edition and on iTunes as a digital single. Blige also provided backing vocals and chorus/hook to the song "Fancy" off of Canadian rapper Drake's debut album, Thank Me Later, which also features rapper T.I. and producer Swizz Beatz, the original leaked version (which can be found via YouTube) had Blige guest vocals on the song, with Beatz rapping.
[edit]2011: LovHer
It was confirmed in August of 2010 that Blige had begun work on her tenth studio album with Swizz Beatz, with the album due for release in mid-2011.[20] [21] Reports are saying the album will be titled LovHer and be released first quarter of 2011.[22]
Three songs from the new album have leaked called "Anything anda Want" ft. Busta Rhymes and Gyptian,"Break up to Make up", and "Care" ft. T.I. and Kid Rock.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mary Jane Blige (surname pronounced /ˈblaɪʒ/; born January 11, 1971), also known as Mary J. Blige, is an American singer, producer, songwriter, actress, and rapper. A recipient of nine Grammy Awards and many other honors, Blige has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. Blige has received the World Muzik Legends Award for combining hip hop and soul in the early 1990s. She was ranked number 100 in the senarai of 100 greatest singers of all time sejak Rolling Stone magazine. As of 2010, Blige has sold over 40 million albums.[1] Blige has cited Anita Baker, Chaka Khan and Aretha Franklin as influences
Life and career
[edit]1971–1990: Early life
Blige was born in the New York City borough of the Bronx.[2] She is the saat of four children born to parents Cora (born 1951), a nurse; and Thomas Blige (1948-2007), a jazz musician.[3][4][5] Blige was taught to sing sejak her father. When Blige was four, her father (who is reported to have been physically abusive to Blige's mother) abandoned the family.[3] At the age of five, Blige was heinously molested sejak a family friend.[6]
Blige spent her early years in Richmond Hill, Georgia, where she sang in a Pentecostal church.[7] She later moved to Slobaum Houses in Yonkers, New York, where she lived with her mother, older sister, five cousins, and two aunts.[2][4] She dropped out of school in the eleventh grade.[2]
At the age of 17, Blige recorded an impromptu cover of Anita Baker's "Caught Up In the Rapture" at a recording booth in the Galleria Mall in White Plains, New York. Her mother's boyfriend at the time later played the cassette for Jeff Redd, a recording artist and A&R runner for Uptown Records.[3] Redd sent it to the president and CEO of the label, Andre Harrell. Harrell met with Blige and in 1989 she was signed to the label, becoming the company's youngest and first female artist.[7]
After signing up to sing with Uptown Records, Blige's early years there were dormant; the label continued to focus most of its attention on its lebih established acts. During this time, Blige occasionally did session work as a background singer for her label mates. In 1990, she was introduced as a background singer for Redd, during a performance at the Apollo Theatre. The same tahun she sang the hook on "I'll Do 4 U" sejak rapper and label mate Father MC, appearing in the concert-themed Muzik video of the same name; In 1991, she was spotted on the syndicated TV show, Showtime at the Apollo, Singing back up for Jeff Redd. In early fall of 1992, Blige guest spotted with Grand Puba with his single, Check It Out[disambiguation needed]. Blige's first national debut appearance was in the summer of 1992 when she appeared on MTV.
[edit]1992–1993: What's the 411?
Production for Blige's debut album began in 1992, with Sean "Puffy" Combs, who was at the time an A&R executive at Uptown who oversaw the project.
On July 28, 1992, Uptown Records released What's the 411?. "You Remind Me", the album's first single, peaked at number one on the R&B singles chart that summer. The saat single, "Real Love", was released in the fall. It too topped the R&B singles chart, and became Blige's first bahagian, atas ten Hot 100 single, peaking at number seven. Both singles were certified emas for their sales volume.
lebih What's the 411? singles followed into 1993, including "Sweet Thing", a cover of Rufus's "Sweet Thing", and "Love No Limit". sejak the end of the year, What's the 411? had sold three million copies. Blige, meanwhile, released a hip hop single "You Don't Have to Worry". After the success of What's the 411, Sean "Puffy" Combs hailed the singer as "the Queen of hip-hop soul". The name of her album, What's the 411? stems from her sebelumnya job as Directory Assistance operator.[8] The album's success spun off What's the 411? Remix, a remix album released in December that was used to extend the life of the What's the 411? singles on the radio into 1994, as Blige recorded her follow up album. With combined sales of over 5 million albums and singles from her debut album, Blige was the best selling female artist on the Uptown label.
[edit]1994–1995: My Life
On November 29, 1994, Uptown Records released Blige's saat album, My Life which was again overseen sejak Combs and also produced lebih than 50% of the album along with Washington DC native Carl "Chucky" Thompson (despite his having recently left the label), who with Thompson co-produced all but one of the album's tracks, and took over as Blige's manager. Unlike What's the 411?, Blige co-wrote a large body of the material, basing it on her personal life.
"Be Happy", the album's single, peaked at number 29 and number six on the Hot 100 and R&B singles chart, respectively. In early 1995, it was followed up with a cover of Rose Royce's 1976 hit "I'm Goin' Down", which became her first bahagian, atas 20 hit in the UK, peaking at number 12. Other My Life singles include "You Bring Me Joy" and "I Cinta You". "Mary Jane (All Night Long)" and "My Life" received heavy radio play, despite never being officially released as singles apart from the UK, where "Mary Jane (All Night Long)" became Blige's saat bahagian, atas 20 hit from the album there. My Life was eventually certified triple platinum. In spite of its success and her growing fame, Blige later admitted that she was simultaneously dealing with long time bouts of drug addiction, alcoholism, and depression, as well as an abusive relationship with then-boyfriend K-Ci Hailey of Jodeci. Blige involved herself in several outside projects, recording a cover of Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" for the soundtrack to the fox series New York Undercover, and "Everyday It Rains" (co-written sejak R&B singer Faith Evans) for the soundtrack to the hip hop biopic, The Show. That summer she dueted with rapper Method Man on his song, "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By" (which sampled Marvin Gaye's "You're All I Need to Get By", and for which she won a Grammy award.) Later in the year, she recorded the Babyface-penned and produced "Not Gon' Cry", for the soundtrack to motion picture Waiting to Exhale. The platinum-selling single rose to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in early 1996, and became her biggest commercial hit at the time. Blige won her first Grammy Award – 'Best Rap Performance sejak a Duo atau Group' for her collaboration with Method Man. My Life was also nominated for Best R&B Album, but Lost to TLC's CrazySexyCool.
[edit]1996–1997: Collaborations and other projects
In 1996, after winning her first Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance sejak a Duo atau Group for the platinum selling certified single, "I'll Be There For You/You're All I Need to Get sejak with Wu Tang Clan member Method Man, later that year, she appeared on another Wu-Tang Clan member, Ghostface Killah's single, "All That I Got Is You", for which she co-wrote, and sung the saat verse of the song, which is Ghostface's account of his early boyhood.
She was unavailable for the Muzik video, and was replaced sejak a backing singer named Megan Powell at the last minute; her original vocals remained on Ghostface's debut album, Ironman.
In December of that year, My Life, was certified 3x Platinum sejak the RIAA.
In February 1997, Blige performed her hit at the time, "Not Gon' Cry" at the 1997 Grammy Awards, which gained her third (and first) Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, as Blige was recording the follow up to My Life.
[edit]1997–1998: Share My World
On April 22, 1997, MCA Records (parent company to Uptown Records, which was in the process of being dismantled) released Blige's third album, Share My World. sejak now, she and Combs had dissolved their working relationship. In his place were the TrackMasters who executive produced the project along with Steve Stoute. Sharing production duties were producers Jimmy jem and Terry Lewis, R. Kelly, Babyface and Rodney Jerkins.
The album was made at a time where Blige was trying to "get her life together", sejak trying to overcome drugs and alcohol, as well as the ending of her relationship with Hailey. After an encounter with a person who threatened her life the sebelumnya year, she tried to quit the unhealthy life style and make lebih upbeat, happier music. As a result, songs such as "Love Is All We Need" and "Share My World", were made.
Share My World debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and spawned five hit singles: "Love Is All We Need" (featuring Nas), "I Can Cinta You" (featuring Lil' Kim), "Everything", "Missing You" (UK only) and "Seven Days." The album became Blige's most commercially successful; selling three million copies in the U.S.. In early 1998, Blige won an American Muzik Award for "Favorite Soul/R&B Album." That summer she embarked on the Share My World Tour, which resulted in a Gold-certified live album released later that year, simply titled The Tour. The album spawned one single, "Misty Blue."
[edit]1999–2000: Mary
On August 17, 1999, Blige's fourth album, titled Mary was released. It marked a departure from her lebih familiar hip hop-oriented sound; this set featured a lebih earthy, whimsical, and adult contemporary-tinged collection of songs, reminiscent of 1970s to early 1980s soul.
On December 14, 1999, the album was re-released as a double-disc set. The saat disc was enhanced with the Muzik video for the singles "All That I Can Say" and "Deep Inside" and included two bonus tracks: "Sincerity" (featuring Nas, Andy Hogan and DMX) and "Confrontation" (a collaboration with hip hop duo Funkmaster Flex & Big Kap originally from their 1999 album The Tunnel). The Mary album was critically praised, becoming her most nominated release to date, and was certified double platinum (selling over two million in sales.) It wasn't as commercially successful as Blige's prior releases, though all of the singles: "All That I Can Say", "Deep Inside", "Your Child", and "Give Me You" performed considerably on radio. In the meantime, MCA used the album to expand Blige's demographic into nightclub market, as club-friendly dance remixes of the Mary singles were released. The club remix of "Your Child" peaked at number-one hit on the Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart in October 2000.
In 2001, a Japan-only compilation, Ballads, was released. The album featured covers of Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed", and sebelumnya recordings of Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and Dorothy Moore's "Misty Blue".
[edit]2001–2002: No lebih Drama
On August 28, 2001, MCA released Blige's fifth studio album, No lebih Drama. The album's first single, "Family Affair" (produced sejak Dr. Dre) became her first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for six consecutive weeks. It was followed sejak two further hit singles, the European only single "Dance for Me" featuring Common and the Jimmy jem and Terry Lewis-produced tajuk track (originally recorded for the Mary album), which sampled "Nadia's Theme", the piano-driven theme song to the daytime drama The Young and the Restless.
Though the album sold nearly two million copies in the U.S., MCA was underwhelmed sejak its sales, and subsequently repackaged and re-released the album on January 29, 2002. The No lebih Drama re-release featured a new album cover, deleted three of the songs from the original track listing, while adding two brand-new songs—one of which was the fourth single and bahagian, atas twenty Hot 100 hit "Rainy Dayz", (featuring Ja Rule), plus two remixes; one of the tajuk track, serviced sejak Puff Daddy and the single version of "Dance for Me" featuring Common. The album sold another million-plus units (3.2 million in total) in the U.S. and seven million worldwide. Blige won a Grammy for 'Best Female R&B Vocal Performance' for the song "He Think I Don't Know." In April 2002, Blige performed with Shakira with the song "Love Is a Battlefield" on VH1 Divas tunjuk live in Las Vegas, she also performed "No lebih Drama" and "Rainy Dayz" as a duet with the returning Whitney Houston.
On July 22, 2002, MCA released Dance for Me, a collection of club remixes of some of her past bahagian, atas hits including the Junior Vasquez remix of "Your Child", and the Thunderpuss mix of "No lebih Drama." This album was released in a limited edition double pack 12" vinyl for DJ-friendly play in nightclubs.
[edit]2003–2004: Cinta & Life
Mary J. Blige in September 2003
On August 26, 2003, Blige's sixth album Cinta & Life was released on Geffen Records (which had absorbed MCA Records.) Blige heavily collaborated with her one-time producer Sean Combs for this set. Due to the history between them on What's the 411? and My Life, which is generally regarded as their best work, and Blige having just come off of a successful fifth album, expectations were high for the reunion effort.
Despite the album debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 and becoming Blige's fourth consecutive UK bahagian, atas ten album, Cinta & Life's lead-off single, the Diddy-produced "Love @ 1st Sight", which featured Method Man, barely cracked the bahagian, atas ten on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, while altogether missing the bahagian, atas twenty on the Hot 100 (although peaking inside the UK bahagian, atas twenty). The following singles, "Ooh!", "Not Today" featuring Eve, "Whenever I Say Your Name"featuring Sting on the international re-release, and "It's a Wrap" fared worse. Although the album was certified platinum, it became Blige's lowest-selling to date. Critics and peminat-peminat alike largely panned the disc, citing a lack of consistency and noticeable ploys to recapture the early Blige/Combs glory. Blige and Combs reportedly struggled and clashed during the making of this album, and again parted ways upon the completion of it.
[edit]2005–2006: The Breakthrough and Reflections – A Retrospective
Geffen Records released Blige's seventh studio album, The Breakthrough on December 20, 2005. For the album, Blige collaborated with J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Rodney Jerkins, will.i.am, Bryan Michael Cox, 9th Wonder, Jimmy jem and Terry Lewis, Raphael Saadiq, Cool and Dre, and Dre & Vidal. The cover art was photographed sejak Markus Klinko & Indrani. It debuted at number one on both the Billboard 200 and bahagian, atas R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. Selling 727,000 copies in its first week, it became the biggest first-week sales for an R&B solo female artist in SoundScan history]),[9][10] the fifth largest first-week sales for a female artist, and the fourth largest debut of 2005. Since its release, The Breakthrough has sold over three million copies in the U.S and over seven million copies worldwide, becoming one of the five best-selling albums of 2006.
The lead-off single, "Be Without You", peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, while peaking at number one on the R&B chart for a record-setting fifteen consecutive weeks; it remained on the chart for over sixteen months. "Be Without You" found success in the UK (peaking in the lower end of the bahagian, atas forty) it became Blige's longest charting single on the UK Singles Chart. It is her saat longest charting single to date. The album produced three lebih singles including two lebih bahagian, atas five R&B hits—"Enough Cryin'", which features Blige's alter ego Brook-Lynn (as whom she appeared on the remix to Busta Rhymes's "Touch It" in 2006); and "Take Me as I Am" (which samples Lonnie Liston Smith's "A Garden of Peace"). Blige's duet with U2 on the cover of their 1992 hit, "One" gave Blige her biggest hit to tarikh in the UK, peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart eventually being certified one of the forty highest-selling singles of 2006;[11] it was her longest charting UK single. The success of The Breakthrough won Blige nine Billboard Muzik Awards, two American Muzik Awards, two BET Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, and a Soul Train Award. She received eight Grammy Award nominations at the 2007 Grammy Awards, the most of any artist that year. "Be Without You" was nominated for both "Record of the Year" and "Song of the Year". Blige won three: "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance", "Best R&B Song" (both for "Be Without You"), and "Best R&B Album" for The Breakthrough. Blige completed a season sweep of the "big three" major Muzik awards, having won the American Muzik Awards in November 2006, the Billboard Muzik Awards in December 2006, and the Grammy Awards in February 2007.
In December 2006, a compilation called Reflections - A Retrospective was released. It contained many of Blige's greatest hits and four new songs, including the worldwide lead single "We Ride (I See the Future)". In the UK, however, "MJB da MVP" (which appeared in a different, shorter form on The Breakthrough) was released as the lead single from the collection. The album peaked at number nine in the U.S, selling over 170,000 copies in its first week, while reaching number forty in the UK. It has sold lebih than 1.6 million copies. In 2006, Blige recorded a duet with rapper Ludacris, "Runaway Love", which is the third single on his fifth album, Release Therapy. It reached the bahagian, atas five on the Billboard Hot 100 and the R&B chart. Blige was featured with Aretha Franklin and The Harlem Boys Choir on the soundtrack to the 2006 motion picture Bobby, on the lead track "Never Gonna Break My Faith". The song was nominated for a Golden Globe and won the Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards.
[edit]2007–2008: Growing Pains
Mary J. Blige posing for the photographer Markus Klinko in 2007.
Blige's eighth studio album, Growing Pains, was released on December 18, 2007, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200 and at number one on the bahagian, atas R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It sold 629,000 copies in its first week, marking the third time since Nielsen SoundScan began collecting data in 1991 that two albums sold lebih than 600,000 copies in a week in the United States. In its saat week, the album climbed to number one, making it Blige's fourth number-one album. The lead single, "Just Fine", peaked at number twenty-two on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. "Just Fine" was nominated for the Grammy Award for "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance", and Blige won "Best R&B Performance sejak a Duo atau Group with Vocals" for the Chaka Khan duet "Disrespectful" (featured on Khan's album Funk This) which Blige wrote.
Speaking in January 2008 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning 'Blues & Soul', Blige explained the significance of the album's tajuk 'Growing Pains': "I started Penulisan the record right after that whole gigantic hari I had at the Grammies last year. So it was important to me to get across to my peminat-peminat that whole feeling I was going through of 'How do I sustain this breakthrough? How do I continue to remind myself I'm in a better place?'... And the only way to continue to stay in that place is to GROW! I believe the majority of people out there, if something uncomfortable is going on in their lives, are forced to either go back to where they were, atau to GROW – and that that tension is called PAIN. So the light, happy songs on the album are celebrating my growth. While the less poppy, darker tracks represent the places I'm forced to grow out of. So in that way the tajuk represents the growth, as well as the understanding that – in order for anything to develop – it has to have some kinda tension behind it."[12]
Growing Pains was not released in the UK until February 2008, where it became Blige's fifth bahagian, atas ten and third-highest charting album.The Breakthrough and Reflections (A Retrospective) were released in the Krismas rush and therefore settled for lower peaks, although both selling lebih than her bahagian, atas five album Mary.[citation needed] "Just Fine" returned Blige to the UK singles chart bahagian, atas 20 after her sebelumnya two singles failed to chart highly. Subsequent singles from Growing Pains include "Work That", which accompanied Blige in an iTunes commercial, and "Stay Down".
Blige was featured on 50 Cent's 2007 album, Curtis, in the song "All of Me". In March 2008, she toured with Jay Z in the hati, tengah-tengah of the City Tour. They released a song called "You're Welcome". In the same period, cable network BET aired a special on Blige entitled The Evolution of Mary J. Blige, which showcased her career. selebriti such as Method Man and Ashanti gave their opinions about Blige and her music. Blige is featured on singles sejak Big Boi, and Musiq Soulchild.
Growing Pains was nominated for and won the Grammy Award for "Best Contemporary R&B Album", at the 51st Grammy Awards to be held on February 8, 2009, earning Blige her 27th Grammy nomination, in a mere decade.
Blige went on the Growing Pains European Tour, her first tour there in two years. A tour of Australia and New Zealand was scheduled for June but was postponed due to "weariness from an overwhelming tour schedule"[13] and then eventually canceled entirely.[14]
On August 7, 2008, it was revealed Blige faced a US$2 million federal suit claiming Neff-U wrote the Muzik for the song "Work That", but was owned sejak Dream Family Entertainment. The filing claimed that Dream Family never gave rights to use the song to Blige, Feemster atau Geffen Records. Rights to the lyrics of the song used in an iPod commercial are not in question.[15]
[edit]2009–2010: Stronger with Each Tear
Blige performing "Lean On Me" at the "We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the lincoln Memorial"
Blige returned to performing in January, 2009 sejak performing the song "Lean on Me" at the Presidential Inauguration Committee's, "We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the lincoln Memorial". Blige also performed her hit 2007 single, "Just Fine", with a new intro at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball after Barack Obama was sworn in on January 20, 2009. Blige appeared as a marquee performer on the annual Krismas in Washington Televisyen special.
Blige's ninth studio album, Stronger with Each Tear, was released on December 21, 2009, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200 and at number one on the bahagian, atas R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, selling 332,000 units in its first week of release. It became her fifth album not to take the bahagian, atas spot in the United States.
The lead single, "The One", which features Canadian rapper Drake,[16] was released for airplay in June of 2009, and was officially and digitally released in July of 2009, peaking at number sixty-three on the Hot 100. Blige recorded "Stronger", as the lead single from the soundtrack to the bola keranjang documentary "More Than a Game" in August of 2009. The saat single from Stronger with Each Tear, "I Am", was released in December of 2009 and reached number fifty-five on the Hot 100. The third international single from the album, "Each Tear", was remixed with different featured artists fro different countries, then being released in February of 2010. The single failed to chart anywhere except in the UK where it reached number one-hundred-eighty-three and in Italy where it reached number one. The album's third U.S. single, "We Got hud, hood Love" featuring Trey Songz, was released in March of 2010 and reached number twenty-five on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart though it failed to reach the Hot 100. The fourth single from the album, "Good Love" featuring T.I., will be released in September of 2010.[17] One of Blige's representatives reported to US Weekly magazine that a tour in support of Stronger withEach Tear will begin in the fall of 2010.[18]
Blige was honored at the 2009 BET Honors Ceremony and was paid tribute sejak Anita Baker and Monica. On November 4, 2009, Blige sang The Star-Spangled Banner at Yankee Stadium before the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies played the last game (game 6) of the World Series. Blige performed two songs from her ninth album as well as her sebelumnya hits, "No lebih Drama" and "Be Without You" along with the song "Color", which was featured on Precious soundtrack. Blige appeared as a guest judge on the ninth season of American Idol on January 13, 2010.
On January 23, 2010, Blige released a track "Hard Times Come Again No More" with The Roots as well as performing it at the Hope for Haiti Now telethon. At the 2010 Grammy Awards, Blige and Andrea Bocelli performs Bridge Over Troubled Water. Blige also performed on BET's SOS Help For Haiti, Singing "Gonna Make It" with Jazmine Sullivan and "One." Blige also took part in February 2010's We Are the World 25 for Haiti, Singing the solo originally sung sejak Tina Turner in the original 1985 We Are The World version. At the 41st NAACP Image Awards Blige won Outstanding Female Artist and Outstanding Album for Stronger with Each Tear.[19]
On March 22, 2010, Blige released Stronger with Each Tear in the United Kingdom, as well in the European markets. The international version of the album has a completely altered tracklisting than the U.S. edition, as Blige covered two recordings from British rock band Led Zeppelin, "Whole Lotta Love" (the album's opener), and "Stairway to Heaven" (for which she performed on Idol Gives Back), which features Travis Barker on drums, as well as musician Orianthi and American Idol judge Randy Jackson on guitars. Also, the album includes two new songs "City On Fire", "I Can't Wait" featuring Will.I.Am, as well "Stronger" from the lebih Than a Game soundtrack, and a Dave Aude remix version of "I Am". The album performed modestly in the United Kingdom, debuting at number thirty-three on the UK Albums Chart and at number four on the UK R&B Chart. It reached the bahagian, atas 100 in other countries.
On April 13, 2010, Blige appeared on an episode of The Oprah Winfrey tunjuk where she be performed the hit "Each Tear" and her rendition of the Led Zeppelin classic, "Stairway to Heaven", which is featured on the Stronger withEach Tear international edition and on iTunes as a digital single. Blige also provided backing vocals and chorus/hook to the song "Fancy" off of Canadian rapper Drake's debut album, Thank Me Later, which also features rapper T.I. and producer Swizz Beatz, the original leaked version (which can be found via YouTube) had Blige guest vocals on the song, with Beatz rapping.
[edit]2011: LovHer
It was confirmed in August of 2010 that Blige had begun work on her tenth studio album with Swizz Beatz, with the album due for release in mid-2011.[20] [21] Reports are saying the album will be titled LovHer and be released first quarter of 2011.[22]
Three songs from the new album have leaked called "Anything anda Want" ft. Busta Rhymes and Gyptian,"Break up to Make up", and "Care" ft. T.I. and Kid Rock.
