With her tough New York upbringing offsetting a powerful, husky voice, Mary J. Blige mixes the pain of old-time jazz and blues singers with slick, modern R&B aesthetics and street smart hip-hop cool to create her unique style of music. Signed by Uptown Records on the strength of a demo recorded at a local mall, Sean 'Puffy' Combs (then an A&R man) oversaw her debut album 'What's The 411?' in 1992, which soon became a big hit reaching number seven in the US Album Charts and producing the top ten single 'Real Love'. From there Blige went on to become one of America's biggest and most respected female artists, collaborating with musicians as diverse as Bono, Jay-Z and Andrea Bocelli, notching up record sales of over 45 million and performing at President Obama's inauguration celebrations in 2009. Her albums 'Share My World', 'Love & Life', 'The Breakthrough' and 'Growing Pains' all topped the US album charts with 'Not Gon Cry', 'Be Without You' and 'Family Affair' becoming her biggest hits to date. In 2012 Blige appeared as a guest judge and mentor on 'American Idol'. She followed up this appearance with the release of a Christmas album, 'A Mary Christmas', which managed a top ten position. In 2014 she moved to London to work on new music with Sam Smith, Emeli Sandé, Naughty Boy and Disclosure and released an album of these collaborations title 'The London Sessions'. The album made the top ten of the Billboard 200 and was named Best R&B Album of 2014 by iTunes in the UK. As well as music, Blige has also tried her hand at acting, starring in the 1998 sitcom 'The Jamie Foxx Show', the 2012 film version of the stageshow 'Rock of Ages' and the period drama 'Mudbound' released in 2017. She has also had cameo roles in 'Entourage', 'Ghost Whisperer' and 'How to Get Away With Murder'.