Mary Jane Blige was born on January 11, 1971, in Brooklyn, New York. She spent her early childhood in Richmond Hill, Georgia, where she began singing in a Pentecostal church. Later, she moved back to New York with her family and spent her formative years in the Schlobohm Housing Projects in Yonkers. Blige has said that while she dreamed of being on stage as a child, she thought it was an unattainable goal due to the environment she grew up in.
Her mother, Cora, worked as a nurse, and her father, Thomas Blige, was a jazz musician who left the family in the mid-1970s. His military service during the Vietnam War left him with post-traumatic stress disorder. Blige has spoken openly about her mother’s struggles with alcoholism. She dropped out of high school during her junior year and never completed her diploma.
In 1988, Blige recorded a cover of Anita Baker’s “Caught Up in the Rapture” at a recording booth in a local mall. Her mother’s boyfriend, impressed with her voice, passed the tape to Jeff Redd, an Uptown Records artist. Redd then forwarded it to Andre Harrell, CEO of the label, who was equally impressed and signed Blige to Uptown Records. At just 18 years old, Mary J. Blige became the label's youngest and first female artist. Her emergence marked the beginning of what would become a transformative career in R&B and hip-hop soul music.
Upon signing with Uptown Records, Blige began working closely with producer Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs (now known as Diddy), who served as executive producer on her debut album, What’s the 411? Released in July 1992, the album blended soulful vocals with hip-hop beats and was met with widespread acclaim. It peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 and topped the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Dave McAleer, a respected author of music reference books, described her as the most successful new female R&B artist of 1992 in the U.S.
The title What’s the 411? was inspired by Blige’s former job as a 411 phone operator. Critics, including Tom Moon of Rolling Stone, praised her for her “tough girl persona” and “streetwise lyrics,” establishing her as a compelling storyteller. The album eventually sold over three million copies in the U.S., making her the best-selling female artist on the Uptown label at the time.
Blige recorded her sophomore album, My Life, during the winter of 1993. Released in late 1994, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and sold nearly 500,000 copies in its first week. It spent eight weeks at number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Widely regarded as a landmark in urban music, My Life was ranked number 57 on Blender magazine’s list of the 100 greatest albums of all time in 2002. In 2003, Rolling Stone placed it at number 279 on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
| Birth Date: | 11 Jan, 1971 |
| Age: | 49 yrs |
| Citizenship: | United States of America |
| Birth Place: | New York City |
| Gender: | Female |
| Description: | American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress from New York |
| Net Worth 2021: | 20 million |
