Mary J. Blige
Mary Jane Blige (last name: ˈblaɪd͡ʒ ; born January 11, 1971 in New York City ) is an American singer , songwriter and actress . With more than 40 million records sold and nine Grammys , she is considered one of the most successful R&B interpreters.
life and work
youth
Mary J. Blige was born on January 11, 1971 in the Bronx, New York . Her father Thomas was a jazz musician , her mother Cora was a nurse. In 1975 her father left the family and her mother moved to the suburb of Yonkers with Mary and her older sister LaTonya .
Mary J. Blige was sexually assaulted at the age of five. In Yonkers, at the age of seven, she performed as the lead singer of the local church choir in singing competitions in front of larger audiences.
Mary J. Blige continued to listen to music as a teenager, but began experimenting with drugs at 15 , and dropped out of high school at 16 .
Music career
In 1988, at the age of 17, Blige recorded her first demo tape, an improvised cover version of Anita Baker's Caught Up in the Rapture . Through contacts of her mother's boyfriend at the time, the tape got to Andre Harrell , the chairman of the independent hip-hop label Uptown Records . After a successful audition the following year, Blige signed her first record deal with this label.
1990s
At Uptown Records, Blige immediately began recording her debut album. However, at first she was only heard publicly as a background singer for her label colleagues Heavy D. and Father MC , until her debut album What's the 411? has been published. Thanks to two number one hits in the American R&B charts, the record developed into a great success within six months with more than three million copies sold. In addition to the singers DeVante Swing and K-Ci from the R&B group Jodeci, the young producer Sean Combs was also involved . Due to its continued success, Uptown Records released What's the 411? Remix another, revised edition of the album.
In December 1994, Blige's second album, My Life , was released and again produced by Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, who was also her manager at the time. Despite four less successful singles, the album was another hit for Uptown Records with another three million albums sold. At that time, Blige was in a private crisis of meaning due to her drug addiction , alcohol addiction and depression . Still, she continued to work on several different projects in 1995, including Not Gon 'Cry , a successful collaboration with Babyface , and I'll Be There for You / You're All I Need to Get By , a duet with rapper Method Man that im Was awarded a Grammy in the following year .
After the dissolution of Uptown Records, Blige moved to MCA Records and released her third studio album Share My World there in 1997 . With Combs, who had founded his label Bad Boy Records the previous year , private and business conflicts arose. Therefore this third album was not produced by Combs, but by a group of no less respected producers like Darkchild , Babyface and R. Kelly . Not least thanks to the four successful releases Love Is All We Need ( feat. Nas ), I Can Love You (feat. Lil 'Kim ), Everything and Seven Days , the album reached number one in the US album charts. 1998 followed with The Tour Bliges first live album .
In August 1999, Blige's fourth album Mary was released . Compared to their previous releases, it offers a more mature compilation of retro stylistic songs recorded with Aretha Franklin , Elton John , Lauryn Hill and Eric Clapton , among others . Although the record received mostly positive reviews, it could not quite build on the success of the previous albums with two million copies sold. Still, Blige landed two more chart hits with As , a duet with George Michael , and 911 , a collaboration with Wyclef Jean .
2000s
After two years of work, Blige's fifth album, No More Drama , was released in August 2001 . By Dr. Dre- produced pre-released single Family Affair grew into Blige's first international number one hit. In the German-speaking area, she reached the top ten of the single charts for the first time. Due to the continued success of the releases Dance for Me and No More Drama , the album was re-released the following year. Additional songs included Rainy Dayz, recorded in collaboration with Ja Rule , and the Grammy-winning He Think I Don't Know .
After a label change to Geffen Records , Blige released her sixth studio album Love & Life in August 2003 . After the earlier differences were settled, the album was mostly produced by Sean Combs, who was now called P. Diddy . The album reached number one on the US album charts. But due to the less successful singles Love @ 1st Sight (feat. Method Man ), Ooh! , Not Today (feat. Eve ) and It's a Wrap , it ultimately became Blige's biggest commercial failure.
Blige's first greatest hits album, Reminisce , was actually planned for summer 2005 . But since both the promo single MJB Da MVP and the pre-release Be Without You received unexpectedly positive feedback, it was decided instead to bring forward the next album, which was planned for spring 2006. Blige's seventh album, The Breakthrough , was released in December 2005 . The record, produced by Darkchild , will.i.am and Raphael Saadiq , among others , sold over 730,000 copies in just one week in the United States and has been the fastest-selling album by an African-American singer ever since. The extractions Be Without You and One , a duet with U2 , developed into Blige's biggest chart success since 2,001th
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Blige released her greatest hits album under the title Reflections - A Retrospective in autumn 2006. It was able to reach high chart positions in several countries. The first single from it was titled We Ride (I See the Future) . At the end of 2007 her twelfth album Growing Pains was released , from which the single Just Fine comes. The album peaked at number one in the US in January 2008 and was in the top 10 of the UK and Switzerland charts. The single Just Fine reached number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 16 in the UK singles chart .
Their thirteenth album Stronger with Each Tear was released in 2009. The single I Am from it reached number 55 on the Billboard Hot 100. In total, the album was on the Billboard 200 for 74 weeks.
On September 3, 2011 her album number 14 was released in the United States with the title "My Life II ... The Journey Continues". The single Someone to Love Me (Naked) (feat. Diddy & Lil Wayne ) was released in April 2011 and reached number 28 on the Billboard charts.
In 2008, Rolling Stone listed Blige as 100 of the 100 best singers of all time .
Acting career
Mary J. Blige made her acting debut in 1998 with a brief appearance on Jamie Foxx 's sitcom The Hotel Boy ; As Ola Mae, she played the role of a young pastor's daughter who longs for more than “just” gospel music . Three years later she was seen for the first time in a leading role on the big screen; in the independent film Prison Song, Blige acted as the single mother of a young prisoner (played by rapper Q-Tip ). At the end of 2001, the singer was also in a single episode in a guest role in the series Strong Medicine: Two Doctors Like Fire and Ice .
In spring 2004 she made her Broadway debut in The Exonerated . Blige portrayed the role of Sunny Jacobs, a woman who is released after twenty years of illegitimate imprisonment.
In 2005, it was reported that Mary J. Blige was about to star in an MTV- produced autobiographical film adaptation of singer Nina Simone . The film Nina has been shot since 2010 and released in 2016, but the main role went to Zoe Saldana . In the movie Mudbound , Blige took on the role of Florence Jackson and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Since 2018 she can be seen in the Netflix series The Umbrella Academy as the hit man Cha Cha .
Private life
Blige married her manager, Martin "Kendu" Isaacs, on December 7, 2003. In July 2016, Blige filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences". Blige and Isaacs divorced on June 21, 2018.
Trivia
On January 11, 2018, her 47th birthday, she received the 2,626th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame .
Discography
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
R&B
|
|||
| 1992 | What's the 411? | - | - | - |
UK53  (1 week)UK |
US6th  × 3
(58 weeks)US |
R&B1 (64 weeks) R&B |
First published: July 28, 1992
|
| 1994 | My life | - | - | - |
UK59  (14 weeks)UK |
US7th × 3
(46 weeks)US |
R&B1 (85 weeks) R&B |
First published: November 29, 1994
|
| 1997 | Share My World |
DE37 (11 weeks) DE |
- |
CH41 (2 weeks) CH |
UK8th (39 weeks)UK |
US1 × 3
(57 weeks)US |
R&B1 (75 weeks) R&B |
First published: April 22, 1997
|
| 1999 | Mary |
DE38 (6 weeks) DE |
- |
CH16 (7 weeks) CH |
UK5 (7 weeks)UK |
US2 × 2
(57 weeks)US |
R&B1 (69 weeks) R&B |
First published: August 17, 1999
|
| 2001 | No more drama |
DE13 (35 weeks) DE |
AT17 (17 weeks) AT |
CH7th (49 weeks)CH |
UK4th (64 weeks)UK |
US2 × 2
(24 weeks)US |
R&B1 (27 weeks) R&B |
First published: August 28, 2001
|
| 2003 | Love & Life |
DE21 (6 weeks) DE |
AT49 (3 weeks) AT |
CH3 (9 weeks) CH |
UK8th (6 weeks)UK |
US1 (25 weeks)US |
R&B1 (42 weeks) R&B |
First published: August 26, 2003
|
| 2005 | The Breakthrough |
DE28 (29 weeks) DE |
AT42 (19 weeks) AT |
CH7th (37 weeks)CH |
UK22nd (33 weeks)UK |
US1 × 3
(72 weeks)US |
R&B1 (102 weeks) R&B |
First published: December 9, 2005
|
| 2007 | Growing pains |
DE32 (4 weeks) DE |
AT36 (4 weeks) AT |
CH6 (11 weeks) CH |
UK6th (7 weeks)UK |
US1 (36 weeks)US |
R&B1 (76 weeks) R&B |
First published: December 18, 2007
|
| 2009 | Stronger with Each Tear | - | - |
CH66 (6 weeks) CH |
UK33 (2 weeks) UK |
US2 (37 weeks)US |
R&B1 (49 weeks) R&B |
First published: December 18, 2009
|
| 2011 | My Life II ... The Journey Continues (Act 1) |
DE93 (1 week) DE |
- |
CH31 (3 weeks) CH |
UK76 (1 week) UK |
US5 (29 weeks)US |
R&B2 (78 weeks) R&B |
First published: November 18, 2011
|
| 2013 | A Mary Christmas | - | - | - |
UK28 (4 weeks) UK |
US10 (12 weeks)US |
R&B2 (12 weeks) R&B |
First published: October 15, 2013
|
| 2014 | The London Sessions | - | - |
CH27 (2 weeks) CH |
UK40 (2 weeks) UK |
US9 (13 weeks) US |
R&B1 (26 weeks) R&B |
First published: November 24, 2014
|
| 2017 | Strength of a Woman | - | - |
CH63 (1 week) CH |
UK54 (1 week) UK |
US3 (8 weeks) US |
R&B2 (4 weeks) R&B |
First published: April 28, 2017
|
Filmography (selection)
- 2001: Prison Song
- 2001: Angel: One More Road to Cross
- 2001: Strong Medicine: Two Doctors Like Fire and Ice ( Strong Medicine , TV series, episode History )
- 2007: Ghost Whisperer - Voices from Beyond ( Ghost Whisperer , TV series, episode witch cult )
- 2009: I Can Do Bad All By Myself
- 2009: 30 Rock (TV series, episode concert for a kidney )
- 2012: Rock of Ages
- 2015: Empire (TV series, 2 episodes)
- 2015: Black-ish (TV series, episode 1x24)
- 2016: How to Get Away with Murder (TV series, 2 episodes)
- 2017: Mudbound
- 2019: The Umbrella Academy (TV series, 9 episodes)
- 2019: Scream (TV series, 3 episodes)
- 2020: Trolls 2 - Trolls World Tour ( Trolls World Tour , voice)
- 2020: The Violent Heart
- 2020: Body Cam
Awards (selection)
- 1996: Grammy - Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group - for "I'll Be There for You" / "You're All I Need to Get By" (with Method Man )
- 2003: Grammy - Best Female R&B Vocal Performance - for "He Think I Don't Know"
- 2004: Grammy - Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals - for "Whenever I Say Your Name" (with Sting )
- 2006: Women's World Award - World Artist Award
- 2007: Grammy - Best Female R&B Vocal Performance - for "Be Without You"
- 2007: Grammy - Best R&B Song - for "Be Without You"
- 2007: Grammy - Best R&B Album - for "The Breakthrough"
- 2008: Grammy - Best R&B Performance by a Duo / Group with Vocals - for "Disrespectful" (with Chaka Khan )
- 2008: Grammy - Best Gospel Performance - for "Never Gonna Break My Faith" (with Aretha Franklin )
- 2009: Grammy - Best Contemporary R&B Album - for Growing Pains
- 2017: Hollywood Film Award - Hollywood Breakout Performance Actress Award
- 2017: Gotham Award - nomination for best young actress ( Mudbound )
- 2018 : Critics' Choice Movie Award - nomination for best supporting actress (Mudbound)
- 2018 : Golden Globe Award - nomination for best supporting actress (Mudbound)
- 2018 : Screen Actors Guild Award - nomination for best supporting actress (Mudbound)
- 2018 : Oscar - nomination for best supporting actress ( Mudbound ) / nomination for best song "Mighty River" (Mudbound)
Web links
- Official website (English)
- Mary J. Blige at Discogs (English)
- Mary J. Blige at the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Mary J. Blige at laut.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rise and Shine: Mary's J. Blige's Struggle on oprah.com
- ↑ Record review Growing Pains ( Memento of the original from April 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on hiphopjudge.com
- ↑ Discography by Mary J. Blige
- ↑ I Am on Billboard.com
- ↑ Stronger With Each Tear on Billboard.com
- ↑ 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. Rolling Stone , December 2, 2010, accessed August 8, 2017 .
- ↑ Mary J. Blige plays Nina Simone on mtv.com
- ↑ Nina Simone is played by Zoe Saldana on IMDB.com
- ↑ No-drama Nuptials
- ^ Mary J. Blige Files For Divorce From Husband / Manager
- ↑ Mary J. Blige and Kendu Isaacs Are Officially Divorced
- ^ Mary J. Blige | Hollywood Walk of Fame. Retrieved June 15, 2018 (American English).
- ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US US R&B albums US R&B singles
- ↑ Daniel Montgomery: Hollywood Film Awards announce their first winners: Mary J. Blige, Timothee Chalamet, 'I, Tonya' In: goldderby.com, October 11, 2017.
- ↑ Gordon Cox: 'Get Out' Leads 2017 Gotham Awards Nominations In: Variety, October 19, 2017.
- ↑ Grace Mendoza: Critics' Choice Awards Nominations In: ktla.com, December 6, 2017.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Blige, Mary J. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Blige, Mary Jane (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 11, 1971 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York , USA |