Mary J. Blige is beautiful and sings of problems because she had them all. Her songs like country music tells a story but her stories are heartfelt and revealing of feelings sometimes about the terrible times she grew up set to a soulful beat.

She has risen to be a superstar with 9 Grammies and 6 multi platinum albums to her credit . She has earned the title of Queen of Hip-Hop Soul. To some people, when you say Mary, they think of Mary J. not the Virgin Mary from the Bible. This Mary sings of the ups and downs of her life uniquely communicating with her fans.

Her lyrics reflect her struggles, heartache and joy. Her latest album is called My Life II. In 1994 she released My Life I when she was just 23 years old. She sang then of the many terrible things she already experienced in her life and found that there were millions of other women that were going through the same problems.

The sexual abuse she experienced when she was 5 years old from a family acquaintance is even revealed in one of her songs. At 23 she was an angry girl who fought with her interviewers and her record label sent her to edict classes. She also refused to change her name at the record label’s request to Mary Brown.

Mary Jane was born in the Bronx, N.Y. and was raised in a rough neighborhood in Yonkers, a suburb of New York City. Like so many unfortunate families, her father left home when she was 4 years old. And like so many broken families, her mother Corrine raised 4 children by herself in a housing project. Her down times or sad times would be spent singing out to the waters while sitting on a pier nearby.

At the pier she could sing really loud and like a kind of therapy it would relieve her from all the oppression and depression. When a tape of her singing Karaoke at 17 years old made it to a record producer, she was immediately signed up. After years of drinking and cocaine abuse she was able to change her ways with the help from her husband and manager to whom she has been married to for 8 years.

Even after she started to be successful and married she had doubts that things were finally going good for her. She still felt broken down. She dropped out of high school, and did not feel worthy of her successes. Self esteem issues were always bothering her. Now after 2 decades in the spotlights, 40 year old Mary has finally made peace with her past, present and future.

She enjoys her career more now than ever because she has calmed down. Before she was singing from pain now she sings for pleasure. She also has a unique sense of style known as ghetto fabulous. More importantly she has been the voice of the women in Hip-Hop that tells stories from a woman’s prospective.