Her 4th album, 'Mary' came out in 1999, with a fuller, more elegant sound and classic soul style. She then released the more conventional R&B-ballad 'My Life' in 1994, and the follow up, 'Share My World' took her into the R&B mainstream, entering the Billboard charts at No.1 in 1997.

She has the distinction of being the first to fully seize the narrative possibilities of rap: Her tough-girl persona and streetwise lyrics give her 1992 debut 'What's the 411?' a realism and gritty undertone. A bridge between the R&B world and the hip-hop nation, she pioneered the movement that would later become neo-soul, generating gripping songs that were also massive radio hits. The lead single, 'Be Without You,' ruled the R&B charts for fifteen straight weeks, and the powerhouse collaboration with U2 on their classic 'One' reached an even bigger audience - proving without a doubt that Blige is the pre-eminent soul singer of our time.īlige has long been called the 'Queen of Hip-Hop Soul'.

The album, her seventh studio album, has sold more than 3 million copies, starting with 727,000 in its opening week - the highest ever for a female R&B singer. The accomplished six-time Grammy Award winning R&B, soul, and hip-hop soul singer, songwriter, producer, and actress who has sold more than 34 million records worldwide, has just completed a season sweep of the 'big three' major music awards, having won the American Music Award in November 2006, the Billboard Music Awards in December 2006, and the Grammy Awards in February 2007, where she took home 3 awards for her last studio album, 'The Breakthrough'. The tour which was set to kick off in Johannesburg on the 12th of May was postponed in order to accommodate a routing change on her world tour.ĭescribed by the media as having a 'smouldering stage presence' during her last South African concerts in April 2000, the tour saw her performing to 48 000 ecstatic fans countrywide.

The new dates will see the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, kicking off in Johannesburg at the Coca-Cola Dome on 18 October, before heading to Durban's Westridge Park Stadium on the 19th followed by the Bellville Velodrome in Cape Town on the 21st of October 2007. Blige, is set to perform in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town in October 2007įollowing last weeks postponement of Mary J Blige's South African tour, it has been announced that new dates have been confirmed for October this year. Blige to Tour South Africa! One of R&B/Hip Hop's most celebrated artists, Mary J.

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