Mary J. Blige
Mary J. Blige was born in Bronx in 1971; however, being a child, she had to moved to New York with her mother and sister. Having found herself in one of the most unfavourable districts of the city, the girl could feel in full measure how it was to face the lowlife when you are a child. Mary's childhood was difficult and it left traces on her works - the first album of Mary J. Blige, released in 1992, was powerful, sharp and it showed in its true colours her attitude to life in New York of those who was not so lucky to be born in a well-to-do family.
Mary J. Blige happened to get into the world of music. As a matter of fact, she was noticed in a shopping mall where she, just for fun, sang a karaoke song and then got the recording of her performance. A husband of Mary's mother, having heard her singing, understood that it would be a sin to waste such a talent and managed to pass the record to a representative of Uptown Records. A producer liked so much the voice of Mary J. Blige that soon she got a job of a background vocalist and it was very good as for a girl from a poor district of New York.
At the beginning of the 1990s she was lucky to meet a famous musician and producer Paff Daddy who was widely known for his ability to discover for the world new talented hip-hop performers. Mary J. Blige was among them and in 1992 under guidance of Uptown Records and with overall support of Daddy there was released her debut album «What’s The 411». It scored a stunning success as professional arrangement of Mary J. Blige's powerful vocal in combination with modern musical techniques acquired a really tremendous sounding. Mary J. Blige was on top of the world and Paff Daddy was also satisfied. And he was so satisfied that in 1995 he again decided to collaborate with the singer helping her in creation of her second album «My Life». There was less of rap music in this album than in the previous one but critics as well as listeners received it with the same favour.
By that time Mary J. Blige had already felt like a star of soul and hip-hop. She was surrounded by crowds of fans and the most famous producers were not averse to work with such a talented and original performer. After release of «My Life» the next hit of the singer was her third album «Share My World» that started from the leading positions of the Billboard chart. Year by year her works became more original and refined, gradually exploding the myth about "bad girl" that covered her first steps on the musical arena. Sounding of her songs became more professional, texts - more diverse and profound and, according to critics and fans, each of her following albums was better than the previous one.
Having worked for several years with such producers as Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, she again returned to collaboration with P.Diddy (Paff Daddy) and released several more albums that were bought by the public with a customary fever. A year of 2011 is planned for a release of her 10th album entitled «My Life 2: The Journey Continues», and the interest in Mary J. Blige's works doesn't quieten down, on the contrary, millions of fans are looking forward to such an event.
