Mary J. Blige
33 articles
Audio interviews
Interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages audio, 2005
Mary J. speaks frankly about her life: drink and drugs, domestic abuse, marriage, tattoos, clothes and wearing fur!
File format: mp3; file size: 28.6mb; Interview length: 31 16"; sound quality: ****
List of articles in the library
Report by Frank Owen, Vibe, December 1993
While no one was looking, a new kind of R&B became the dominant force in pop music. And still it gets no respect. ...
TLC: Crazysexycool (LaFace/Arista): Mary J. Blige: My Life (Uptown/MCA)
Review by Amy Linden, Request, February 1995
WRITER F. SCOTT Fitzgerald once said there are no second acts in American Life, but had he been in the pop-music business, he might have ...
Interview by Frank Broughton, i-D, May 1995
A multi-platinum music mogul at just twenty four, Sean "Puffy" Combs is the face of future hip hop. meet a Bad Boy made good. ...
Live Review by Amy Linden, New York Daily News, 31 July 1995
Budfest: State of the Art Black pop is in fine shape, even if Garden sound isn't ...
Mary J. Blige: Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 9 August 1995
Blige Is Solid but Elusive Hip-Hop Queen ...
Jodeci, Mary J. Blige: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Paul Sexton, The Times, 22 September 1995
Invitation to the dance ...
Jodeci/Mary J. Blige: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, November 1995
TO YER AVERAGE SOUL traditionalist, the notion of New Jack City as today's Muscle Shoals is tantamount to heresy. But the point is that hip ...
Profile by Bill Brewster, The Face, December 1995
She is the soul queen of urban America. So why is it so sad to be Mary J Blige, asks Bill Brewster ...
Andre Harrell: Resurrection of the Soul
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 22 March 1996
Andre Harrell is a man with a mission. The youngest head of Motown since Berry Gordy, he tells Sean O'Hagan how he plans to put ...
Interview by Angus Batey, Vox, June 1997
WHAT'S THE most embarrassing item of clothing you've ever bought? ...
Eryka Badu: Baduizm (Universal); Mary J. Blige: Share My World (MCA)
Review by Amy Linden, Fi, September 1997
The Main Event: Badu vs. Blige ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Rolling Stone, 13 November 1997
UNITING GENERATIONS with her twin allegiances to R&B and rap, Mary J. Blige delivers emotional intimacy packaged in a luxurious voice. ...
Mary J Blige: From the Bronx to the Big Time
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 18 November 1997
Caroline Sullivan has an audience with Mary J Blige, queen of hip hop soul ...
Mary J. Blige: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 18 November 1997
Mary not so contrary ...
Mary J. Blige: Amager Bio, Copenhagen ****
Live Review by David Quantick, Q, January 1998
Once grumpy and so hopeless live she'd get booed offstage. Now... Nice Girl ...
Report and Interview by David Quantick, Q, January 1998
Once grumpy and so hopeless live she'd get booed off stage. Now… ...
Rodney Jerkins: The Beats Are Mine
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, The Source, 1999
WITHIN THE rhythmic belly of the Hit Factory studio, chunky-funky 21-year-old producer Rodney Jerkins is beginning to look slightly fatigued. ...
The Mary Changed: Mary J. Blige: Mary (MCA)
Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 21 August 1999
THE LATE-'90S HAVE BEEN something of a golden period for female-fronted soul/R&B music. ...
Mary J. Blige: "My Boyfriend Was Trying To Kill Me. There Were Weapons."
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 February 2002
THE WORLD LOVES a troubled diva, and for 10 years Mary Jane Blige has provided her public with a continuous flow of what her friend, ...
Mary J Blige: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Gavin Martin, The Independent, 26 April 2002
IT WAS FOOLISH to think that the first lady of hip hop soul would abide by the title of her latest, and greatest-selling, album, No ...
Mary J. Blige: Wembley Arena, London/Gonzales Scala, London
Live Review by Simon Price, Independent on Sunday, 27 April 2002
SOMETHING VERY bad happened to Mary J. Blige once, right here, in London. She won't tell us what it is, but alludes to it cryptically, ...
Interview by Precious Williams, Scotland on Sunday, 31 August 2003
MARY J BLIGE'S daunting reputation as a volatile, prickly diva has always threatened to eclipse her extraordinary vocal talent. Legend has it that her record ...
Mary J. Blige (2005) [transcript]
Audio transcript of interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 2005
This is a transcription of Gavin's audio interview with Mary J. Blige. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
The Drama of Being Mary J. Blige
Profile by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, November 2005
"WE LOVE YOU, MARY!" The shouts float up from isolated pockets in the plush auditorium housed within Columbus Circle's glitzy Time Warner building. Mary J. ...
Mary J Blige: The Breakthrough
Review by Dan Gennoe, dotmusic.co.uk, 19 December 2005
THE EIGHTH ALBUM of Mary J Blige's 13 year career, is, like so many before it, a slick and elegant record. Another quality product from ...
Mary J Blige: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 19 June 2006
THAT MARY J BLIGE HAS BEEN THROUGH some troubles in her life is well known; it's what makes her an icon of strength and survival ...
Mary J. Blige, Steak-Loving Soul Diva, Really "Vomited" That Precious Song
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, New York Magazine, 10 January 2010
WHILE POP DIVAS ARE often fashionably late, Mary J. Blige has already ordered her steak when I arrive for our noon lunch at Del Frisco's ...
Mary J. Blige: My Life II… The Journey Continues (Act I)
Review by Lloyd Bradley, bbc.co.uk, 21 November 2011
Blige's most enjoyable, exciting and consistent album in years ...
Mary J. Blige: "Whitney Houston's funeral freaked me out"
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 28 November 2013
The queen of hip-hop soul on giving up alcohol, getting fit and cutting out the drama in her life. ...
Mary J Blige: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 26 September 2014
A masterful Mary J. Blige takes the audience to giddy heights of joy and depths of pain as she showcases her imminent London Sessions album. ...
Mary J. Blige/Maxwell: O2 Arena, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 30 October 2016
Blige commands the stage with raw rage and consciousness-raising while neo-soul pioneer Maxwell melts the room with trademark loose grooves. ...
Mary J Blige: Kew Gardens, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 17 July 2017
PERFORMING AMID amid a messy divorce, Mary J Blige delivers a hugely emotional set, her voice both racked and silky as she rebukes men for ...
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