Mary Jane Blige is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and actress. Often referred to as the "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and "Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Awards, twelve NAACP Image Awards, and twelve Billboard Music Awards, including the Billboard Icon Award. 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.
What's the 411? is the debut album by American R&B singer Mary J. Blige. It was released on July 28, 1992, by Uptown Records and MCA Records. After signing a record contract with Uptown, Blige began working on the album with producer Sean "Puffy" Combs. Other producers and songwriters included DeVante Swing, Tony Dofat, Dave Hall, Mark Morales and Mark "Cory" Rooney. The resulting music covered hip hop soul, contemporary R&B, and new jack swing styles.
Raphael Saadiq is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to fame as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! In addition to his solo and group career, he has also produced songs for such artists as Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé, Total, Joss Stone, D'Angelo, TLC, En Vogue, Kelis, Mary J. Blige, Ledisi, Whitney Houston, Solange Knowles and John Legend. Music critic Robert Christgau has called Saadiq the "preeminent R&B artist of the '90s".
Midnight Love is the seventeenth studio album by Marvin Gaye and the final album to be released during his lifetime. He signed with the label Columbia in March 1982 following his exit from Motown. Technically, it would be Marvin Gaye’s last album before his tragic death in April 1984, a day before his 45th birthday.
Love It to Death is the third studio album by American rock band Alice Cooper, released on March 9, 1971. It was the band's first commercially successful album and the first album that consolidated the band's aggressive hard-rocking sound, instead of the psychedelic and experimental rock style of their first two albums. The album's best-known track, "I'm Eighteen", was released as a single to test the band's commercial viability before the album was recorded.
Contemporary R&B is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music.
Love & Life is the sixth studio album by American R&B recording artist Mary J. Blige. It was released by Geffen Records on August 26, 2003. The album marked Blige's debut on the Geffen label, following the absorption of her former record company MCA Records. In addition, it saw her reuniting with Sean "Diddy" Combs, executive producer of her first two studio albums What's the 411? (1992) and My Life (1994), who wrote and executive produced most of Love & Life with his Bad Boy in-house production team The Hitmen, including Mario Winans, D-Dot, and Stevie J.
"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" is a 1967 song by American soul singer Aretha Franklin released as a single by the Atlantic label. The lyrics were written by Gerry Goffin from an idea by Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler, and the music was composed by Carole King. Written for Franklin, the record reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, and became one of her signature songs. It made history on the UK Singles Chart a week after her death, finally becoming a hit almost 51 years after it was first released, entering at No. 79. Franklin also included a live recording on the album Aretha in Paris in 1968.
Share My World is the third studio album by American R&B singer Mary J. Blige, released by MCA on April 22, 1997. The album became Blige's first to open at number one on the US Billboard 200 album chart. Moreover, it is her first album where she serves as an executive producer, alongside Steve Stoute, who also shared executive producer credits on the album.
Mary is the fourth studio album by American singer Mary J. Blige, released August 17, 1999, on MCA Records. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 239,000 copies in its first week. It spent 57 weeks on the chart and produced five charting singles. Upon its release, Mary received acclaim from music critics. It has been certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of two million units in the United States.
Rough Mix is an album by the Who's guitarist Pete Townshend and former Small Faces and Faces bassist Ronnie Lane. The album was released in September 1977 as Polydor 2442 in the UK and MCA 2295 in the US. It peaked at number 44 on the UK album chart, and at number 45 on the Billboard 200.
My Life is the second album by American R&B recording artist Mary J. Blige, released on November 29, 1994, by Uptown Records and MCA Records. Many of the topics on My Life deal with clinical depression, Blige's battling with both drugs and alcohol, as well as being in an abusive relationship. Unlike her debut, What's the 411? (1992), Blige contributed lyrics to fourteen of the album's tracks, making it her most introspective and personal album at the time. Similar to her debut album, My Life features extensive production from Sean "Puffy" Combs for his newly founded label, Bad Boy Entertainment, which was at the time backed by Arista Records.
Growing Pains is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige. An R&B album that was released on December 18, 2007, by Geffen Records, it debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200, selling 629,000 copies in its first week, and reached number one in January 2008. Growing Pains was ranked number 29 on Rolling Stone's list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007 and was eventually certified Platinum by RIAA.
"Missing You" is a song by American singer Mary J. Blige. It was written and produced by Babyface for her third studio album, Share My World (1997). In the United Kingdom, the song was released as the album's third single where it reached number 19 on the UK Singles Chart. "Missing You" features background vocals from singer Shanice and talks about a woman in a dilemma over a relationship with a man that she at first claimed she "wasn't in love" with but then finds herself "thinking about him all the time" and her missing him.
The Heart of the City Tour was a co-headlining concert tour by American singer Mary J. Blige and American rapper Jay-Z. The North America tour supports Blige's eighth studio album, Growing Pains (2007) and Jay-Z's tenth studio album American Gangster (2007). According to Pollstar.com the Heart of the City Tour grossed over $34.2 million, making it the most successful male-female hip-hop/R&B tour in history. The-Dream was the opening act for the tour, supporting his 2007 debut album Love/Hate.
"Mr. Wrong" is a song taken from American R&B singer Mary J. Blige's album My Life II... The Journey Continues (2011). It features rapper Drake. The song was written by Drake, Jim Jonsin, Danny Morris, and Rico Love, while production was helmed by Jonsin and Love. The song contains a sample from "Me and Mrs. Jones" (1972) by American singer Billy Paul. Due to the inclusion of the sample, Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, and Cary Gilbert are also credited as songwriters. The song was released as the album's second official single on October 28, 2011.
The Share My World Tour was the first headlining concert tour by American recording artist Mary J. Blige. It was launched in support of her multi-platinum third studio album Share My World (1997), and also contained material from her first and second studio albums What's the 411? (1992) and My Life (1994). The eight-month tour began on September 2, 1997, in the United States and continued through May 3, 1998. Concerts were held in North America and Europe.
The Boy Is Mine is the second studio album by American R&B singer Monica. It was released by Arista Records on July 14, 1998, in the United States. The album deviated from the formula of her debut Miss Thang (1995) as she had more creative control over the material she recorded; a step that she considered a "natural progression". On the record, Monica worked with a variety of producers and writers from different genres such as gospel, R&B, and hip hop, including frequent collaborators Dallas Austin, Colin Wolfe, and Daryl Simmons. Additional producers included David Foster, Diane Warren, Jermaine Dupri, and Rodney Jerkins and his Darkchild crew, some of which would become household names on subsequent albums.
The King and Queen of Hearts Tour was a co-headlining tour by American singers Maxwell and Mary J. Blige. The tour began October 2016 in Europe then moved to North America. The North American leg of the tour grossed $13.1 million, averaged $545,000 per show, and ranked 90 on Pollstar's Top 200 North American Tours.
The Liberation Tour is a co-headlining concert tour by American recording artists, Mary J. Blige and D'Angelo. The North America tour supports Blige's tenth studio album, My Life II... The Journey Continues (2011) and D'Angelo's third studio album, Black Messiah (2014). The tour also features special guest Melanie Fiona.
