We got the Queen of Hip Hop Soul taking over the AOTW segment today. The soulful Yonkers-born singer has sold over 50 million albums and received countless awards and accolades. She’s won the Grammys for close to 10times (9). This underscores the fact that she’s got over 200 awards and over 300 nominations in her sleeves with more in the pipelines. Beat that! She’s ain’t “one hit wonder since the American music industry ushered her in as a young, talented, and highly creative personality,
This persona, in addition to her music career, is an actress. She made her debut with ‘Prison Song’ in 2001. Prior to that, she had appeared on the TV sitcom ‘The Jamie Foxx Show. she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her acting performance in the film at the 90th Oscars in March 2018
Well, the personality of the girl name Maryjane exudes nurturing, loving, and caring energy. Their human relationships are always primary. They thrive in giving back to others rather than being motivated by their own desires. So let’s get into how her name translates to her career.
attended Lincoln High School—a school that specialized in the performing arts—studied music and participated in school sponsored talent shows, she dropped out of high school in the eleventh grade.
Blige grew up in Yonkers, New York, and was signed to Uptown Records as a teenager in the late 80s, after a tape of her singing an Anita Baker track in a shopping mall found its way to the label. She was a backing singer first, before she released her debut album, What’s the 411?, produced by Puff Daddy, in 1992.. The album is a unique blend of two distinct genres of music, soul and hip-hop. The album topped the ‘Billboard 200’ chart. Two singles from the album, ‘Real Love’ and ‘You Remind Me,’ became particularly famous,
*2nd album, ‘My Life,’ released in 1995. This album actually expresses the pains she had gone through in her personal life and mellowed down the hip-hop part. The album topped the music charts and sold millions of records. ‘My Life’ the album received a ‘Grammy’ nomination for the ‘Best R&B Album but to won the ‘Best Rap Performance in honor of her performance with Method Man. This 2nd album marked the end of her run with several of her close associates and with the label ‘Uptown.’ This happened partly because of the internal struggle she faced with drug and alcohol abuse In 1995 My Life album won R&B/Hip-Hop Album of the Year Billboard Music Awards and got nominated in the category of Best R&B Album at the Grammys in 1996
*Her 3rd album ‘Share My World’ was released in 1997 after signing with ‘MCA. Working with an entirely new team literally changed something about her music making it sound more like traditional soul music as well as her 4th album Mary in 199. Then and there it was clear that MaryJ was parting ways with her usual style which was a mix of ghetto beats and soul music. It was perceived as a good sign though. Share My World and Mary the albums were both nominated under the category of Best R&B Album nominated at the Grammys in 1998 and 2000 respectively as well as her 5th album No More Drama in 2001. When she released No More Drama, there was a sense that she was drawing a line under the pain. No More Drama actually introduced some more commercial elements repeating the success of both 3rd and 4th albums. The album is the most personal work of Mary yet, and the songs reflected her struggles in life and her heartbreaks. No More Drama won Best R&B video MTV Video Music Awards in 2002
She came through with her 6th and 7th albums in 2003 and 2005, ‘Love and Life’ and ‘The Breakthrough,’ proved that she had transcended her usual hip-hop and soul music style and was evolving as an artist. The lead single from ‘The Breakthrough,’ ‘Be Without You,’ became a sensational hit and remained on the top of many charts for weeks. Love & Life nominated Best Contemporary R&B Album in 2004 The Breakthrough (Album) Won Best R&B Album at the Grammys in 2007.
In 2006, The Breakthrough album won the Billboard Music Awards under the category of R&B/Hip-Hop Album of the Year. The same year she won for Herself, R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Artist of the Year, R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Artist of the Year, Female Artist of the Year. R&B/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year at the Billboard Music Awards
No 4: Real Love Peaked at #7 on 12.5.1992
In 2007, her 8th album, ‘Growing Pains,’ released and helped her complete her hat-trick, as the album graced the ‘Billboard 200’ and the ‘Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs’ charts. . Growing Pains Won Best Contemporary R&B Album in 2009 at the Grammys. Then Stronger Each Year 2009, she released 9th album, ‘My Life II… The Journey Continues (Act 1) in 2011,’.This 9th albumachieved the “gold” certification
In 2013, she released her 10th and first holiday album, ‘ A Mary Christmas. The release of this album was a lot more cheerful than her previous attempts and went on to garner immense critical and commercial acclaim. In 2014, she collaborated with a few other musicians to work on the soundtrack of the film ‘Think like a Man Too.’ Although it was received well, Mary was severely unhappy with the producers for not promoting it much. It was one of Mary’s most underrated performances to date. She then went to London to record 11th album, ‘The London Sessions in 2014.’ Soon, two singles from the album topped the ‘Billboard’ charts. More MJB about MJB after the No3and2 hits before the Strength of a Woman the album in 2017 where collaborated with Kanye West, on the single ‘Love Yourself,’ the album released to immense critical and commercial acclaim.
No 3. Family Affair (off 5th album No More Drama in 2001) Peaked at #1 on 11.3.. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks starting from November 3, 2001, ending a ten-week lockup of the top two positions on the chart
No2 Love Yourself ft Kanye West
No 1 Be with You (off the 7th album won the Billboard Music Awards R&B/Hip-Hop Album of the Year in 2006 and Best R&B Album at the Grammys in 2007 album)
Be Without You Peaked at #3 on 2.11.2006. In 1995, won Billboard Music Awards Video Clip of the Year, Hot 100 Airplay of the Year , R&B/Hip-Hop Song Airplay of the Year, R&B/Hip-Hop Song of the Year. Basically Blige has won nine awards from thirty-one nominations, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. In 2007 “Be Without You” won Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and won Best R&B Song
Controversy
She’d had problems with drink and drugs. Her music was often raw, and laid out the suffering she endured in toxic relationships. Speaking of relationship, she said overwhelming disrespect” led her to start questioning her relationship with Isaacs. You start to realize that this man doesn’t want you and he’s just gone all the time and you’re by yourself in the relationship. Mary J. Blige has also ventured into films. She made her debut with ‘Prison Song’ in 2001. Prior to that, she had appeared on the TV sitcom ‘The Jamie Foxx Show.
When things were going wrong in her professional life, personal alarm bells began to ring. she in responding to Burger King Commercial Controversy sometime ago, she said she agreed to be part of a fun and creative campaign that was supposed to feature a dream sequence. Unfortunately, that’s not what was happening in that clip. I understand my fans being upset by what they saw. she starred in an ad that was quickly pulled when it was criticised for racial stereotyping,
then my taxes and my business were all over the TV, and then it was this, then it was that. I was like, ‘What the hell is going on? Have I been abandoned? Yes.’ That was a big signal. I had been abandoned in my marriage.” What was the big signal? “Every single thing that was happening. It was one bad thing after the next.”
Burger King has pulled the spot claiming it was “released prematurely before all of the licensing and final approvals were obtained,The fast-food franchise apologized to Blige and her fans for airing an incomplete commercial.
Awards and Nominations
American Music Awards 4 (w) 11 (n), BET Awards, 4, 17, Billboard Music Awards 10, 10.Grammy Awards9, 31.MTV Video Music Awards1, 5.Soul Train Music Awards 5, 17. World Music Awards 2 ,2. ASCAP Pop Music Awards4,4 making a total of 200 awards and 303 nominations . 5 times her albums were consistently nominated at the Grammys in 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002 2004
At the Golden Globe Awards in 2018, Mighty River in was nominated under the category of Best Original Song but lost to “Remember Me” from the animated film Coco while Mudbound Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Motion Picture. She happens to be the first person to earn nominations in the acting and song categories
At the WORLD MUSIC AWARDS in 2007 she won World’s Best Selling R&B Artist Won and in2008, she won Herself Legend Award: For Outstanding Contribution to R&B music
Hollywood Film Awards: 2016 won Breakthrough Ensemble and for Mudbound in 2017 won Breakout Performance Actress for Herself. She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her acting performance in the film Mudbound at the 90th Oscars at the Hollywood & Highland Center in March 2018 where she sang “Mighty River”—the track she recorded for Mudbound.
It was during her divorce in 2016 that Blige found herself in Louisiana on the set of Netflix’s civil war movie Mudbound
CONCLUSION
Mary J Blige is said to not to having a hit single since 2011, when her largely forgotten collaboration with Drake, Mr Wrong, limped to No 87 in the Billboard Hot 100. There’s a lot going on in Blige’s life. In 2016, she filed for divorce from her husband of 12 years, Kendu Isaacs, citing irreconcilable differences. He had also been her manager. She moved to Los Angeles towards the end of her marriage in order to take acting more seriously. In 2017 in an interview, she said the past five years have been hard, but change is on the horizon saying it is a whole other chapter of her life.
Wondering how tough her skin really is. She’s had plenty of dramas over the course of her life, despite declaring that there would be no more of them, but whenever she talks about the various scandals or controversies she’s encountered, she sounds genuinely upset by it all. She’s an achiever and sure represents her name well.
