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Mary J. Blige

Mary J. Blige

33 articles

Audio interviews

Mary J. Blige (2005)

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: ****

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Quiet Storm: The Year In R&B

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 ...

Puff Daddy: Born To Be Bad

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. ...

Boyz II Men, TLC, Mary J. Blige, Montell Jordan: Budweiser Superfest, Madison Square Garden, New York NY

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 ...

Mary J Blige: Soul For Real

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 ...

Mary J Blige: Material World

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 ...

Mary J. 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 ...

Mary J. Blige: 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, ...

The Ballad Of Mary J

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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