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Thursday, January 23, 2014

Mary J. Blige, The #37 Female Artist of the Rock Era

Mary Jane Blige was born in The Bronx, New York.  Her father, Thomas, taught her to sing.  She sang in a Pentecostal church in Richmond Hill, Georgia for several years before Mary and her mother moved to Yonkers, New York.  Blige went to Roosevelt High School but dropped out in the eleventh grade.  

While at a mall, Mary recorded a cover of "Caught Up in the Rapture" by Anita Baker at a recording booth.  The tape found its way to Jeff Redd of Uptown Records, who forwarded it to Andre Harrell, president and CEO of the label.  In 1989, Mary signed a recording contract with Uptown.    


In 1992, Blige began working with producer Sean Combs on her debut album, and What's the 411?, was released in July.  The first single, "You Remind Me", only reached #29, but it was a #1 R&B song.  "Real Love" was the song that caught on, landing at #7 overall and #1 R&B.  It was nominated for Best R&B Video at the MTV Video Music Awards.


"Real Love" was largely responsible for the album selling over three million copies in the United States and five million worldwide.  Three additional singles from the album did fairly well on the R&B chart, but they were unsuccessful on the Popular chart.

In 1994, Blige released the album My Life, which debuted at #7 on the Album chart.  Unfortunately, she was 0-4 on singles from the album, with "I'm Goin' Down" (at #22 overall) being the best she could do.  My Life won a Billboard Music Award for R&B/Hip-Hop Album of the Year, was nominated for Best R&B Album at the Grammy Awards for Best R&B Album, and it received a nomination at the American Music Awards for Favorite Soul/R&B Album.  


Mary teamed up with Method Man for the hit "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By", which went #3 overall and #1 on the R&B chart in the U.S. and #10 in the U.K.  The song won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.






Blige recorded "Not Gon' (sic) Cry" for the "Waiting to Exhale" Soundtrack, which became one of her biggest career hits.  The song reached #2 overall and #1 on the R&B chart, and earned Mary a Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.


Mary collaborated with several artists, including Case and Jay-Z.  In 1997, Blige released her third album Share My World on MCA Records, the parent company of Uptown.  Once again, Blige did well with singles on the R&B chart, but the songs were mid-charters at best overall.  Mary won the American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Album and she was nominated for a Grammy for Best R&B Album.  

The track "All That I Can Say" earned a Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, and Blige teamed with Bono, R. Kelly, Kirk Franklin and Crystal Lewis to earn a nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for the song "Lean On Me".

In the summer, Blige went on an extensive tour, which sparked a Gold-certified live album (The Tour).  Blige was nominated for Best R&B Album (Mary) at the Grammys, and her duet with Aretha Franklin ("Don't Waste Your Time") was nominated for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.  By this time, Blige had a loyal following, and even though her 1999 album Mary didn't have any mainstream hits, it sold over two million copies. 

That trend of success only on the R&B chart changed in 2001 with Blige's album No More Drama.  "Family Affair" became a #1 smash for six weeks.  Mary J. was nominated at the Grammys for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and No More Drama was nominated for Best R&B Album.
Sales of the album spiked to three million in the U.S. and seven million copies worldwide.  Blige won a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for the song "He Think I Don't Know", and Blige was nominated for an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist.  The title song also won an MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video.


  Blige combined with Sting on "Whenever I Say Your Name", which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

Combs returned to produce Mary's sixth album, and expectations were high.  But the momentum captured by No More Drama didn't continue, as the album Love & Life again had no big overall hits.  The album did end up selling one million copies.  Blige earned a nomination for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the Grammys, and she won the American Music Award for Favorite Hip-Hop/R&B Female Artist.  

Blige made her motion picture debut in the independent movie Prison Song.  In 2004, Mary starred in the Off-Broadway play, The Exonerated.  The same year, she also launched her own record label, Matriarch Records.

In 2005, Blige switched to Geffen Records, and released the album The Breakthrough.  The album debuted at #1, selling 727,000 copies its first week.  It was all due to the lead single, "Be Without You", which peaked at #3 overall in the U.S..  On the segmented R&B chart, Blige set a record when the single remained at #1 for 15 consecutive weeks.  It also was one of her biggest worldwide hits, peaking at #5 in Switzerland and #9 in New Zealand.  "Be Without You" was nominated for Best R&B Video at the MTV Video Music Awards.


Like No More Drama, The Breakthrough sold three million copies in the United States and seven million worldwide.  Blige received eight Grammy Award nominations, including the prestigious Record of the Year and Song of the Year categories.  Mary won three:  Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song (for "Be Without You") and Best R&B Album. 

Blige's other Grammy nominations were for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals (for "One" with U2), Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group (for "Love Changes" with Jamie Foxx, Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for "I Found My Everything", and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (for "Just Fine".  

Blige came away with one American Music Award (Favorite Soul/R&B Album), was nominated for another for Artist of the Year, and she won nine Billboard Music Awards--Hot 100 Airplay of the Year, R&B/Hip-Hop Song of the Year, R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay of the Year and Video Clip of the Year (for "Be Without You"), R&B/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year, R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Artist of the Year, R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Artist of the Year, R&B/Hip-Hop Album of the Year and Female Hip-Hop Artist of the Year.   

Blige was a big winner at the ASCAP Awards, taking home Song of the Year and Pop Music Awards for "Be Without You", while also winning Songwriter of the Year and The Voice of Music Awards.  In 2006, Blige recorded "Runaway Love" with Ludacris, which became a #2 smash.  Mary captured the World Music Award as the World's Best-Selling R&B Artist.

Blige recorded "Never Gonna' Break My Faith" with Aretha Franklin and the Harlem Boys Choir for the "Bobby" Soundtrack.  The song won the Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song from a Motion Picture.

Blige has released three studio albums since without additional mainstream success.  The 2007 album Growing Pains went to #1, won the Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album, was nominated at the American Music Awards for Favorite Soul/R&B Album, and Blige won an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist.  The top single, "Just Fine", peaked at #22 overall and #3 on the R&B chart, and was nominated for Best Hip-Hop Video at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Blige was nominated at the Grammys for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for the song, but she won Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for her duet with Chaka Khan--"Disrespectful" (on Khan's album Funk This).  


Blige continued to collaborate with other artists, including 50 Cent and Musiq Soulchild.  She toured with Jay-Z in 2008.  The following year, as part of her efforts to halt domestic violence, Blige opened the Mary J. Blige Center for Women in Yonkers, New York.  Mary received the Legend Award at the MTV Video Music Awards for her "Outstanding Contribution to R&B Music".

Blige sang the National Anthem of the United States at game six of the 2009 World Series, and she became in demand for the singing of the song, repeating the feat at the 2012 NBA All-Star Game and Game 1 of the 2013 World Series.  

In 2010, Mary introduced her first perfume, My Life.  The fragrance's unprecedented success broke sales records and was awarded two prestigious awards from the Fragrance Foundation.  To her tremendous credit, Blige went back and earned her GED in 2010.  She was nominated for Favorite R&B Artist at the People's Choice Awards.

Blige also released a line of sunglasses called Melodies by MJB.  She released another fragrance, My Life Blossom in 2011.  Blige starred with Tom Cruise and Alec Baldwin in the movie Rock of Ages in 2012.  Mary J. also recorded "The Living Proof" for the blockbuster movie The Help, taking home her second Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song from a Motion Picture.

Blige has sung backing vocals and collaborated with dozens of artists, including Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Rod Stewart, George Michael, Santana, Faith Hill, Sting, Ray Charles, Maroon 5, Missy Elliott, Brandy, LL Cool J, Patti Labelle, Faith Evans, Lauryn Hill, Robin Thicke, Dr. Dre, Lil' Kim, Busta Rhymes, Nas, Gerald Levert, Wyclef Jean, DMX, Foxy Brown and Father MC.



Blige has nine Grammy Awards to her credit out of an amazing 28 nominations.  She has also won four American Music Awards, ten Billboard Music Awards, two World Music Awards and one MTV Video Music Award and has sold over 50 million albums worldwide.  Blige is the only artist to have won Grammys in the R&B, Rap, Pop and Gospel fields.

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