Mary Jane Blige, born January 11, 1971, is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Often referred to as the "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul".
Blige had been singing for a long time, she sang in church and later in a small band. She eventually made a cover on an Anita Baker song. Her stepdad at the time, sent this to the record he worked for, Uptown Records. From here Blige's career started.
Blige's career began in 1991 when she was signed to Uptown Records. In 1992, Blige released her debut album, ''What's the 411?'', which is credited for introducing the mix of R&B and hip hop into mainstream pop culture. Its 1993 remix album became the first album by a singer to have a rapper on every song, popularizing rap as a featuring act. Both ''What's the 411?'' and her 1994 album ''My Life'' are featured on the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list and the latter on Time magazine's All-Time 100 Albums. Throughout her career, Blige went on to release 14 studio albums, all of which have reached the top ten on the Billboard 200 chart, including four number-one albums. Her biggest hits include "Real Love", "Not Gon' Cry", "Be Without You" and the Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "Family Affair".
Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, four American Music Awards, and ten Billboard Music Awards. She has been nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and two Academy Awards, including one for her supporting role in the film Mudbound (2017) and another for its original song "Mighty River", becoming the first person nominated for acting and songwriting in the same year. She also received a Legends Award at the World Music Awards in 2006, and the Voice of Music Award from ASCAP in 2007. Billboard ranked Blige as the most successful female R&B/Hip-Hop artist of the past 25 years. In 2017, Billboard magazine named her 2006 song "Be Without You" as the most successful R&B/Hip-Hop song of all time, as it spent an unparalleled 15 weeks atop the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and over 75 weeks on the chart. In 2011, VH1 ranked Blige as the 80th greatest artist of all time. In 2012, VH1 ranked Blige at number 9 in "The 100 Greatest Women in Music" list. In February 2021, Blige became a first-time nominee for the 2021 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A documentary film about her musical career, titled ''Mary J. Blige's My Life'', was released on Amazon Prime Video later that year.