Mary J. Blige
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
Born in the Bronx on January 11, 1971, Blige spent the first few years of her life in Savannah, GA, before moving with her mother and older sister to the Schlobam housing projects in Yonkers, NY. Her rough life there produced more than a few scars, physical and otherwise, and Blige dropped out of high school her junior year, instead spending time doing her friends hair in her mothers apartment and hanging out. When she was at a local mall in White Plains, NY, she recorded herself singing Anita Bakers Caught Up in the Rapture into a karaoke machine. The resulting tape was passed by Bliges stepfather to Uptown Records CEO Andre Harrell. Harrell was impressed with Bliges voice and signed her to sing backup for local acts like Father MC. In 1991, however, Sean Puffy Combs took Blige under his wing and began working with her on Whats the 411?, her debut album. Combs had a heavy hand in Whats the 411?, along with producers Dave Hall, Mark Morales, and Mark Rooney, and the stylish touches that they added to Bliges unique vocal style created a stunning album that bridged the gap between R&B and ap in a way that no female singer had before. Uptown tried to capitalize on the success of Whats the 411? by issuing a remixed version of it a year later, but it was only a modest success creatively and commercially.
Her 1995 follow-up, My Life, again featured Combs handiwork, and if it stepped back stylistically from its urban roots by featuring less of a ap sound, it made up for it with its subject matter. My Life was full of ghetto pathos and Bliges own personal pain shone through like a beacon. Her rocky relationship with fellow Uptown artist K-Ci Hailey likely contributed to the raw emotions on the album. The period following the recording of My Life was also a difficult time professionally for Blige, as she severed her ties with Combs and Uptown, hired Suge Knight as a financial advisor, and signed with MCA.
Released in 1997, Share My World marked the beginning of Bliges creative partnerships with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The album was another hit for Blige and debuted at number one on the ~Billboard charts. Critics soured somewhat on its more conventional soul sound, but Bliges fans seemed undaunted. By the time her next studio album, Mary, came out in 1999, the fullness and elegance of her new sound seemed more developed, as Blige exuded a classic soul style aided by material from Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Stevie Wonder, and Lauryn Hill. Mary made it obvious that the ghetto fabulous style and more confrontational aspects of her music were gone, while the emotive power still remained.
That power also helped carry the more modern-sounding 2001 release No More Drama, a deeply personal album that remained a collective effort musically yet reflected more of Bliges songwriting than any of her previous efforts. The Mary J. Blige on No More Drama seemed miles away from the flashy kid on Whats the 411?, yet it was still possible to see the path through her music that produced an older, wiser, but still expressive artist. In 2003 she was reunited with P. Diddy, who produced the majority of that years patchy Love and Life album. The Breakthrough followed two years later and was a tremendous success, spawning a handful of major singles. By the December 2006 release of Reflections (A Retrospective), The Breakthroughs lead single, Be Without You, had spent nearly a year on the R&B chart, while the albums fifth single, Take Me as I Am, had been on the same chart for over four months.
