Mary J. Blige

Mary J. Blige is a Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter who was crowned the “Queen of Hip-Hop Soul” as her early ‘90s hits “Real Love” and “You Remind Me” merged her soulful vocals with boom bap hip-hop beats. In her decades-long career, she has influenced generations of singers who followed her such as Beyoncé, Keyshia Cole, Alicia Keys, Janelle Monáe and Ashanti among others. Born Mary Jane Blige on January 11, 1971, she grew up in Yonkers, New York, which is on the outskirts of New York City. Influenced by the likes of Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan, Mary began singing as a teenager. A random decision to record a cover of “Caught Up in the Rapture” by Anita Baker in a pop-up recording booth at a mall led to MJB getting signed to Uptown Records in 1989 after her tape ended up in the hands of artist Jeff Redd, who passed it to Uptown’s founder, Andre Harrell. After providing background vocals on Father MC’s hit single “I’ll Do 4 U” in 1990, a young intern at Uptown named Sean “Puffy” Combs ended up executive producing Mary’s 1992 debut album What’s The 411?. She followed up her debut with a string of critically acclaimed albums, including 1994’s My Life and 1997’s Share My…