Musicians - Mary J. Blige

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	Musicians - Mary J. Blige

Mary Jane Blige (born January 11, 1971 ) is a three-time Grammy Award-winning American R&B/Hip-Hop Soul singer, songwriter and producer.

Background

Born in the Bronx, New York to a jazz musician father and a school teacher mother, Mary was exposed to music from an early age. At the age of four, Mary's father, Thomas, left the family, leaving her mother Cora to raise Mary and her older sister Latonya alone. (On February 1, 2006, Mary revealed on The Oprah Winfrey Show that she was sexually assaulted as a child by a family friend.) A couple years later, Mary's family relocated to Yonkers, where they resided in one of the cities most dangerous housing projects. Music eventually became Mary's refuge, singing lead in her church's choir, and at seven she won a talent contest singing Aretha Franklin's "Respect."

While continuing to remain true to her love of music, as Mary entered her teen years, she began experimenting with recreational drugs and eventually dropped out of high school.

Music Career

In 1988, at age seventeen, Mary recorded an impromptu cover of Anita Baker's "Caught Up in the Rapture" at a recording booth in a local shopping mall. Mary's stepfather later played the cassette for a music industry contact, Jeff Redd, a recording artist and A&R runner for Uptown Records. Redd sent it to the president and CEO of the label, Andre Harrell. At the time, the fledgling Uptown was home to a few noted hip hop and R&B acts of the day, including Heavy D and Guy. Harrell met with Mary, and in 1989, she was signed to the label — becoming the companies youngest, and first female, artist.

After signing with Uptown, Mary's early years at the company were dormant as the label continued to focus most of its attention on its more established acts. In no hurry to make an instant star out of Mary, her first assignment came in 1991 when she sang the hook on "I'll Do 4 U" by rapper and label mate Father MC. Mary also appeared in the concert-themed music video, in the less than dazzly role of a back-up singer.

What's The 411?

Uptown finally greenlit production for Mary's debut album in early 1992. Harrell assigned his young protégée, up and coming label exec., Sean "Puffy" Combs to help oversee the project. Also enlisted were some of the top R&B and hip hop producers of the time, among them were Tony Dofat, Mark Morales (of The Fat Boys fame) and Mark C. Rooney, and Dave "Jam" Hall. Also included in the producers mix were Combs himself, and DeVanté Swing (member of, and driving force behind, fellow Uptown act Jodeci). The latter association would introduce Mary to Jodeci group member K-Ci Hailey, with whom she embarked on a long and tumultuous relationship.

On July 18, 1992, Uptown released What's the 411?. That summer, the albums debut single, "You Remind Me" was released to radio and eventually peaked at #29 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart, and climbed to #1 on the R&B singles chart. It was followed up that fall with "Real Love," which fared even better — becoming Blige's second #1 on the R&B singles charts and first top 10 pop single, peaking at #7 on the Hot 100. Both singles were also certified gold.

More 411 singles followed into 1993, including: "Reminisce," a cover of Chaka Khan's "Sweet Thing," and "Love No Limit." By the end of the year, What's The 411 had sold three million copies, and Mary had been crowned "The Queen Of Hiphop Soul." The albums success spun off What's The 411? Remix, a remix album released in December that was used to extend the life of the 411 singles on the radio into 1994, while Mary prepared for her sophomore album.

My Life

On November 29, 1994, Uptown Records released Blige's second studio album, My Life. Darker, moodier, and slightly less uptempo than its predecessor; the set was again overseen by Sean Combs (now calling himself "Puff Daddy") who, in spite of having left his post at Uptown Records to form his own label (Bad Boy), had an even bigger hand in the pot as he this time co-produced all but one of the albums tracks. At this time, Combs also took over Mary's manager.

Unlike What's the 411?, which featured no self-penned lyrics from Blige herself, this time her role was extended to include songwriter, as she co-wrote a healthy bulk of the material and based it on the happenings of her personal life — hence the title. Although overwhelmingly praised by both critics and fans, Blige also received some flack for the album being so sample-heavily.

The albums first single, "Be Happy," peaked at #29 on the Hot 100, and shot up to #6 on the R&B singles chart. In early 1995, it was followed up with a cover of Rose Royce's "I'm Goin' Down." Other My Life singles included: "You Bring Me Joy," "I Love You," as well as the heavily played (but never officially released as a single) album tracks, "Mary Jane" and "My Life." The album proved to be yet another multi-platinum home-run for Blige, selling another three million. In spite of its success and her growing fame, Blige was in no mood to celebrate, as she later admitted she was simultaneously dealing with long time bouts with drug addiction, alcoholism and depression; in addition to an abusive relationship with Hailey, which all played into why Blige had earned a reputation in the industry for being a bitch.

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