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Biography
When her debut album, What's the 411?, hit the street in 1992, critics
and fans alike were floored by its powerful combination of modern R&B
with an edgy rap sound that glanced off of the pain and grit of Mary
J. Blige's Yonkers, NY childhood. Called alternately the new Chaka Khan
or new Aretha Franklin, Blige had little 
in
common stylistically with either of those artists, but like them helped
adorn soul music with new textures and flavors that inspired a whole
generation of musicians. With her blonde hair, self-preserving slouch
and combat boots, Blige was street-tough and beautiful all at once,
and the record company execs who profited off of her early releases
did little to dispel the bad-girl image that she earned as she stumbled
through the dizzying first days of her career. As she exorcised her
personal demons and softened her style to include sleek designer clothes,
she remained a hero to thousands of girls growing up in the same kinds
of rough places she came from. Blige reinvented her career again andagain
by shedding the bad habitsand bad influences that kept her down; by
the time her fourth album, Mary,was released in 1999, she had matured
into an expressive singerable to put the full power of her voice behind
her music, while still reflecting a strong urban style. With her fifth
album, No More Drama, it wasn't just Blige's style that shone through
the structures set up for her by songwriters and producers, it was her
own vision - spiritual, emotional, personal, and full of wisdom, and
reflected an artist who was comfortable with who she was and how far
she had come.
Born
in the Bronx on January 11, 1971, Blige spent the first few years ofher
life in Savannah, GA, before moving with her mother and older sister
to the Schlobam housing projects in Yonkers, NY. Her rough life ther
e
produced more than a few scars, physical and otherwise, and Blige dropped
out of high school her junior year, instead spending time doing her
friends' hair in her mother's apartment and hanging out. Whenshewas
at a local mall in White Plains, NY, she recorded herself singing Anita
Baker's "Caught Up in the Rapture," into a karaoke machine.
The resulting tape was passed by Blige's stepfather toUptown Records'
CEO Andre Harrell. Harrell was impressed with Blige's voice and signed
her to sing backup for local acts like Father MC. In 1991, however,
Sean "Puffy" Combs took Blige under his wing and began working
with her on What's the 411?, her debut album. Combs had a heavy hand
in What's the 411?, along with producers Dave Hall, Mark Morales, and
Mark Rooney, and the stylish touches that they added to Blige's unique
vocal style created a stunning album that bridged the gap between R&B
and rap in a way that no female singer had before. Uptown tried to capitalize
on the success of hat's the 411?by issuing a remixed version of it a
year later, but it was only a modest success creatively and commercially.
Her 1995
follow-up, My Life, again featured Combs' handiwork, and if it stepped
back stylistically from its urban roots by featuring less of a rap sound,
it made up for it with its subject matter. My Life was full of ghetto
pathos and Blige's own personal pain shone through like a beacon. Her
rocky relationship with fellow Uptown artist K-Ci Hailey likely contributed
to the raw emotions on the album. The period following the recording
of My Life was also a difficult time professionally for Blige as she
severed her ties with Combs and Uptown, hired Suge Knight as a financial
advisor and signed with MCA.
1997's
Share My World marked the beginning of Blige's creative partnerships
with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The album was another hit for Blige
and debuted at number one on the Billboard charts. Critics soured somewhat
on its more conventional soul sound, but Blige's fans seemed undaunted.
By the time her next studio album, Mary, came out in 1999, the fullness
and elegance of her new sound seemed more developed, as Blige exuded
a classic soul style aided by material from Elton John and Bernie Taupin,
Stevie Wonder, and Lauryn Hill. Mary made it obvious that the ghetto
fabulous style and more confrontational aspects of her music were gone,
while the emotive power still remained. 
That
power also helped carry the more modern-sounding 2001 release, No More
Drama, a deeplypersonalalbum that remained a collective effort musically
yet reflected more of Blige's songwriting than any of her previous efforts.
The Mary J. Blige on No More Drama seemed miles away from the flashy
kid on What's the 411?, yet it was still possible to see the path through
her music that produced an older, wiser, but still expressive artist.
- Stacia Proefrock
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