How Old Is Mary J. Blige the Singer

How Old Is Mary J. Blige the Singer

Mary Jane Blige (born January 11, 1968)[citation needed] is an eight-time Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actress who has sold more than forty million albums worldwide. Blige is a Golden Globe nominated singer and grammy award winning R&B superstar. She has received over twenty-six Grammy Award nominations for her work, winning eight, and has been awarded the World Music Legends Award for combining hip hop and soul together. She is widely known as the "Hip Hop artist of the Century".

In 1988, Blige recorded an impromptu cover of Anita Baker's "Caught Up In the Rapture" at a recording booth in a local mall. Her mother's boyfriend at the time later played the cassette for Jeff Redd, a recording artist and A&R runner for Uptown Records. Redd then sent it to the president and CEO of the label, Andre Harrell. Harrell met with Blige and, in 1989, she was signed to the label; becoming the company's youngest and first female artist.