Mary J. Blige

Mary J. Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She has won nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in R&B, Rap, Gospel, and Pop.

She released her debut album, What's the 411?, in 1992, which went multi-platinum. In 1994, My Life was released followed by Share My World in 1997 and Mary in 1999. No More Drama was released in 2001, Love & Life in 2003, The Breakthrough in 2005, Growing Pains in 2007, and Stronger with Each Tear in 2009. Her tenth album, My Life II... The Journey Continues (Act 1) was released in 2011 making it her tenth consecutive albums debut in the top 10 on the Billboard 200.

Blige has sold over 50 million albums and 15 million singles worldwide. Billboard Magazine ranked Blige as the most successful female R&B artist of the past 25 years. The magazine also lists her 2006 song "Be Without You" as the top R&B song of the 2000s, as it spent 15 weeks atop the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. In 2011, VH1 ranked Blige as the 80th greatest artist of all time.

Among Blige's most popular songs are "Family Affair", "Real Love", "Not Gon' Cry" and "Be Without You". Blige has had four Billboard Hot 100 top-ten singles as a lead artist in the United States, and has had a total of sixteen total top-forty charting singles in the United States. She has had thirty-three singles charting inside the top one hundred on the Billboard Hot 100, making Blige one of the best-performing R&B artists to date on the chart.