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| Birth Name(s) : Mary Jane Blige |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, actress |
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Full Mary J. Blige Biography
Mary Jane Blige (born January 11, 1971) is an six-time Grammy Award winning American R&B, soul, and hip hop soul singer, songwriter, occasional rapper, record producer, and actress who has sold over twenty one million records in the United State alone. Around the world she has sold ten million since her career began in 1991. She is also widely known as the "Queen of Hip Hop Soul", and Mary J. Blige earned over 23 Grammy Award nominations for her works.
On July 28, 1992, Uptown Records released What's the 411?. "You Remind Me", the album's lead-off single, peaked at number twenty-nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number one on the R&B singles chart that summer. The second single, "Real Love", was released in the fall. It too topped the R&B singles chart, and became Blige's first top ten Hot 100 single—peaking at number seven. Both singles were also certified Gold.
More What's the 411? singles followed into 1993, including: "Reminisce", a cover of Rufus's "Sweet Thing", and "Love No Limit." By the end of the year, What's the 411? had sold two million copies. Blige, meanwhile, was being christened as 'The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul.' and released a Hip-Hop single around 1993, You Don't Have to Worry (She later confessed that, at the time, she believed the title to be nothing more than a marketing tool.) 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 followup album.
"Be Happy", the album's first single, peaked at number twenty-nine 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 Going Down." Other My Life singles included: "You Bring Me Joy" and "I Love You." Album tracks "Mary Jane (All Night Long)" and "My Life" also received heavy radio play, despite their never being officially released as single. 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. It was around this time that Death Row Records CEO, Suge Knight approached Blige and signed her to Suge Management as a part time manager and consultant.
Share My World debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart and spawned four hit singles: "Love Is All We Need" (featuring Nas), "I Can Love You" (featuring Lil' Kim), "Everything", and "Seven Days." The album became Blige's most commercially successfully; certified quadruple platinum in the United States and selling over five million worldwide. In early 1998, Blige won an American Music 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."
Despite the album debuting at number one on the Billboard 200, Love & Life's lead-off single, the Diddy-produced "Love @ 1st Sight" (which featured a cameo by Method Man), just barely cracked the top ten on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, while altogether missing the top twenty on the Hot 100. The two following singles, "Ooh!" and "Not Today" (featuring Eve) fared worse. Although the album was certified platinum, it became Blige's lowest-selling and biggest commercial disappointment to date. Critics and fans 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.
Blige was featured on Ludacris' inspirational song and music video "Runaway Love" bringing awareness to the phenomenon of girls who run away from home because of some form of abuse by men. The song reached the top five on both the Hot 100 and the Hip-Hop/R&B chart.
Blige had a very public and tumultuous six-year affair with Jodeci frontman Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey, which ended in 1997. Following the run of their union, despite having been linked with singer Case and producer/singer Malik Pendleton, she has kept many of her relationships private. Unfortunately, she had a very bad dependency to drugs & alcohol that nearly destroyed her life as well as career.
In 2000, Blige began a relationship with record industry executive Martin Kendu Isaacs (known simply as "Kendu"), who is now her manager. Blige has also credited Isaacs for helping her to kick her drug & alcohol addiction. The two were married on December 7, 2003 in a small private ceremony at Blige's home attended by fifty guests (none of whom were celebrities).
Blige was a spokesperson for the M·A·C AIDS Fund. She did two ads, one with Lil' Kim in 2000 and the other with Elton John and Shirley Manson in 2002.
She is a spokesperson and investor for Carol's Daughter beauty products. She also has her own record label called Matriarch Records, which is distributed through Geffen. |
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