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Biography

Thanks to her illustrious career filled with hit albums such as My Life and Share My World, Mary J Blige has come to be known as the Queen of Hip Hop Soul. But her life has not always been so glamorous. She was born in the Bronx and spent the first few years of her life in Savannah, Georgia, before returning to New York at the age of five. She began singing in her church choir at the age of seven and reflects upon those church days with a smile.

She grew up in the Yonkers's Slowbam projects, which were nicknamed "Slow Bomb" by the tenants for its rough reputation. Blige sought refuge in her music during these tumultuous times, and favored hip-hop sounds as well as her mother's musical influence, which included artists such as Otis Redding, Gladys Knight, Al Green, and Donny Hathaway. Her singing improved through her teens as she performed solo in several church and school talent shows. Prodded by her friends, she cut her first demo tape at seventeen in a local shopping mall. The demo was given out by her stepfather and eventually got into the hands of Uptown Records C.E.O. Andre Harrell. Harrell showed interest in Blige, but Sean "Puffy" Combs beat him to the punch. Combs helped Blige fine tune her voice and created her image. In 1992, her debut album What's The 411? saw its first release go straight to No. 1.

The album was so popular that it catapulted her to the top of female R&B. Next for Blige was a remix album, which aside from several guest appearances by some big hip-hop names, was uneventful. Combs took on the role of executive producer for her next album, My Life, which was another instant success. Combs brought forth his hip-hop expertise; he had also received much recognition for his work with Jodeci, another soon-to-be famous name in R&B circles. This album produced the hit songs "All Night Long," "You Gotta Believe," "My Life," and "You Bring Me Joy", which became benchmarks for all future R&B artists.

This album proved that she was a hip-hop force and that was here to stay. Production for Blige's debut album began in 1991. On November 29, 1994, Uptown Records released Blige's second album, My Life. On April 22, 1997, MCA Records released Blige's third album, Share My World. On August 17, 1999, Blige's fourth album, titled Mary was released. On December 14, 1999, the album was re-released as a double-disc set. On August 28, 2001, MCA released Blige's fifth studio album, No More Drama. On July 22, 2002, MCA released Dance for Me, a collection of club remixes of some of her past top hits. On August 26, 2003, Blige's sixth album Love & Life was released on Geffen Records. Geffen Records released Blige's seventh studio album, The Breakthrough on December 9 2005.