  Born in Atlanta on January 11,
1971, and raised in New York, Mary J. Blige
has risen to the status of one of the most
respected and acclaimed R&B and hip hop
divas of the 90s. Mary's talent for success
comes from her ability to blend pure R&B
vocals, hip hop beats, and streetwise
appearances - resulting in the tag,
"Queen of Hip-Hop Soul."
 # 29
Singles Artist of the Year
Radio listeners first became
aware of Mary with her cross-over hit "You Remind Me." Video play of
her next single, "Real Love" made listeners
realize Mary was not just another hip-hop
singer, but a developing force in music.
 As "Real Love" became a huge
cross-over hit, Mary's debut LP What's
The 411? became a Top 10 smash,
and spawned additional the singles "Reminisce" and "Love No Limit" as well as the
classic remake of Chaka
Khan's "Sweet Thing."
Mary topped the Billboard
R&B Singles chart for 1 week with "You Remind Me."
 Mary hit the Top 40 with "You Remind Me."
The single "You Remind Me" was certified
gold.
What's
The 411? was certified gold.
Mary hit the Top 40 with "Real Love."
 Mary topped the Billboard Top
R&B Albums chart for 7 weeks with What's
The 411?
What's
The 411? was certified platinum.
Mary topped the Billboard
R&B Singles chart for 2 weeks with "Real Love."
Mary hit the Top 10 with "Real Love."
"Real Love" was certified
gold.
Mary hit the Top 40 with her
cover of "Sweet Thing."
 # 25
Singles Artist of the Year
 Mary hit the Top 40 with "Reminisce."
Mary was
nominated for an American Music
Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Female
Artist.
What's
The 411? was certified 2x platinum.
Mary won 2 Soul Train Music
Awards for Best New Artist and Best Single,
Female ("Real Love").
 Mary hit the Top 40 with "Love No Limit."
The video for "Real Love" was nominated
for 2 MTV Video Music
Awards for Best R&B Video and Best Choreography.
 Mary released a remix LP, What's
The 411? Remix Album.
 # 99
Singles Artist of the Year
Mary won a Source Award for
R&B Artist of the Year.
 Mary's second LP, My
Life was released and also
became a Top 10 hit with several cross-over
singles such as "Be Happy" and "I'm Going Down."
Mary hit the Top 40 with "Be Happy."
The appeal of Mary's music and
videos continued with a song for the Waiting
To Exhale soundtrack, "Not Gon' Cry" which to many
became Angela Bassett character's theme song.
 My
Life topped the Billboard R&B
Albums chart for 8 weeks.
 # 27
Singles Artist of the Year
Mary hit the Top 10 with "Be Happy."
My
Life was certified platinum.
 Mary hit the Top 40 with "I'm Going Down."
My
Life was certified 2x platinum.
 Mary could be heard on Method
Man's Top 40 hit, "I'll Be There For You /
You're All I Need" and the remake of Aretha Franklin's classic, "(You
Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman" from
the New
York Undercover soundtrack.
Mary topped the Billboard
R&B Singles chart for 3 weeks, the
R&B Single Sales chart for 5 weeks, the
Hot Dance Music Maxi-Singles Sales chart for
5 weeks, and the Hot Rap Singles chart for 6
weeks with "I'll Be There For You /
You're All I Need."
Mary hit the Top 10 with "I'll Be There For You /
You're All I Need."
Mary topped the Billboard
Singles Sales chart for a week with "I'll Be There For You /
You're All I Need."
 Mary topped the Billboard Hot
Dance Music Club Play chart for a week with
"You Bring Me Joy."
My
Life was certified 3x platinum.
Mary topped the Billboard
Year-End Chart-Toppers with the Top R&B
Album, Top R&B Album Artist, Top R&B
Album Artist - Female, and Top Hot Dance
Maxi-Single Sales ("I'll Be There For You /
You're All I Need").
 # 43
Singles Artist of the Year
 Mary was nominated for an American Music
Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Album
(My
Life).
Mary hit the Top 40 with "Not Gon' Cry" from the Waiting
To Exhale soundtrack.
Mary topped the Billboard Hot
R&B Singles Airplay chart for 6 weeks
with "Not Gon' Cry."
 Mary won a Grammy
Award for Best Rap Performance by
a Duo or Group ("I'll Be There For You /
You're All I Need" with Method Man)
and was nominated for Best R&B Album (My
Life).
Mary topped the Billboard Hot
100 Singles Sales chart for 5 weeks, the Hot
R&B Singles chart for 5 weeks, and the
Hot R&B Singles Sales chart for 4 weeks
with "Not Gon' Cry."
The single "Not Gon' Cry" was certified
gold and hit the Top
10.
The single "Not Gon' Cry" was certified
platinum.
 # 8
Singles Artist of the Year
 Mary was nominated for a Grammy
Award for Best R&B Vocal
Performance - Female ("Not Gon' Cry").
Mary's third LP, Share
My World was released and became Mary's
first #1 LP and produced the Top 40 hit
"Love Is All We Need" - her 5th Top 10
hit. Other hit singles and videos from the LP
included "Everything" and "I Can Love You."
 Share
My World topped the Billboard 200 Albums
chart for a week and the Billboard R&B
Albums chart for 4 weeks.
Mary hit the Top 10 with "Love Is All We Need."
"Love Is All We Need" topped the
Billboard Dance Music Club Play chart for a
week.
 Share
My World was certified platinum.
Mary hit the Top 40 with "I Can Love You."
Mary hit the Top 40 with "Everything."
 Mary hit the Top 10 with "Everything."
Share
My World was certified 2x platinum.
Mary won an American Music
Award for Favorite
Soul/R&B Album (Share
My World) and was nominated for Favorite
Female soul/R&B Artist.
Mary was nominated for a Grammy Award for a
R&B Album (Share
My World).
Mary was nominated for 2 Soul
Train Award nominations for Best R&B Soul
Single ("Everything") and Best
R&B/Soul Album, and won a Soul Train Lady
of Soul Award for R&B Soul Album of the
Year (solo).
Mary was also nominated for a
NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Female
Artist.
 Mary released The
Tour - a live LP containing 23
tracks from her 97-98 tour. The LP contained
many of her hits as well as covers of Aretha Franklin's
"Daydreaming" and Dorothy
Moore's "Misty Blue."
Blige also started her own record label in
the winter called Mary Jane Entertainment.
Blige told SonicNet: "...I'm
confident that I know what I'm doing... I've
got a lot of years behind me in this game,
and my experiences can help my artists
out." Blige talked with CNN about the
mistakes on the live LP: "I just, you
know, decided to give the fans the warning of
what a concert is about instead of going back
and tricking them like I'm that dope, I'm
that perfect 'cause I'm not." She also
stated, "There's a lot of talent out
there in those ghettos and everywhere else...
so you got to realize that what you have is a
gift and a blessing and just move forward
like that, and don't think that you're better
because your job is better."
 Blige could be heard on the
soundtrack to How
Stella Got Her Groove Back with the track
"Beautiful."
The
Tour was certified gold.
Mary could be heard on DMX's LP Flesh
Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood with "Coming
From."
 # 112
Singles Artist of the Year
 Mary was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal
Performance by a Duo or Group ("Lean On
Me" (with Kirk
Franklin & The Family, R.
Kelly, U2, and Crystal
Lewis) from Franklin's Nu
Nation Project).
Share
My World was certified 3x platinum.
 Mary's next LP, Mary, was released and
included some help from Aretha Franklin, Lauryn
Hill, DMX, Eric
Clapton, Elton
John, Nas, and K-Ci
& JoJo. The LP debuted at #2 on the
Pop LP charts and #1 on the R&B LP charts
(for 3 weeks).
The first single from the new LP
was the Top 40 hit "All
That I Can Say" (written and produced by Lauryn
Hill). Another track,
"Time" addresses current issues in
the inner city: "In the ghettos there's
a lot of people dying every day, people
getting shot for no apparent reason, people
gambling in the hallways and getting killed.
When I was living in Yonkers, someone got
shot over a dime. "Time" is for the
inner cities, you know what I mean? There's
not enough room in the hospitals to take care
of people, and nobody wants to fix up the
buildings for the bums. Time is just not on
our sides; it’s just not. Not in a bad
way but what I’m sayin’ is you
should try to work toward doing the right
thing because you could be gone
tomorrow."
Mary topped the Billboard
R&B Albums chart for 3 weeks.
 Mary took part in NetAid.
Mary was nominated for 2 MTV
Europe Music Awards for Best Video and Best
Song ("As" with George
Michael).
Mary was certified
platinum.
Mary was honored at the 1999
Heroes Awards by the RIAA.
MTV: 100
Greatest Videos Ever Made includes
"I'll Be There For You /
You're All I Need" at # 84.
 # 71
Singles Artist of the Year
 Mary was nominated for a Brit
Award for Best International Female Solo
Artist.
What's
The 411? was certified 3x platinum and What's
The 411? Remix Album was certified
gold.
 Mary was nominated for 3 Grammy Awards for Best R&B Vocal
Performance - Female ("All
That I Can Say"), Best R&B Vocal
Performance by a Duo or Group ("Don't Waste
Your Time" with Aretha Franklin), and Best R&B Album (Mary).
Mary won a Soul Train Music
Award for Best R&B/Soul Album, Female (Mary) and was also
nominated for Best R&B/Soul or Rap Album.
Mary took part in South Africa's
Freedom Week celebration.
 Mary hit the Top 40 with "Give
Me You."
Mary teamed with comic book
creator Stan Lee on a cartoon for not only
her tour opening sequence but also an
"Internet-based series." Blige will
lend her voice and contribute storylines to Webisodes
and said of the experience: "Having been
raised on the hard streets of the city, in my
case Yonkers, the chance to be transformed
into a 'Protector of the Hood' sends a
powerful message to my fans that your
community is what you make of it, that you
can be super hero every day."
| 
