Mary Jane Blige is an R&B/soul singer from New York. She was born in a family of jazz musician on 11 of January in 1971.
Dropping out of high school to dedicate herself to music, Mary chased various producers, sending them copies of her version of “Caught Up in the Rapture” by Anita Baker. Eventually, she was helped by her mother’s lover Jeff Redd, who worked in Uptown Records and presented one such tape to his CEO Andre Harrell. Thus, Blige first contract was signed.
She immediately began working together with Puff Daddy on her debut album – “What's the 411?”. It was released in summer of 1992 and was hailed as qualified fusion of soul and hip hop values. Her next album received even more praise from critics and journalists, as Rolling Stone included album “My Life” to their book “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. Great sales were also there, as album became triple platinum in United States and golden in United Kingdom and Canada. Late 90’s was time when Mary moved from typical hip-hop sound of that decade to more retro sound, closer to early 80’s songs. This trend peaked in 1999 album “Mary”, which many fans consider her best album to this day.
