Mary J. Blige
Biography
Life Story
Mary J. Blige was born on January 11, 1971 in Yonkers, New York, USA as Mary Jane Blige. She was previously married to Kendu Isaacs.
Family
Trivia
Never graduated from high school.
Her job before she became a singer was a Directory Assistance operator, thus the title of her debut album "What's the 411?" (1992).
The title track from Mary's album "No More Drama" (2001) contains samples of the theme from The Young and the Restless (1973).
Younger sister of LaTonya Blige-DaCosta. Younger half-sister of Bruce Miller.
Credits her husband, Kendu Isaacs, for helping her clean up her act and to overcome her drug and alcohol addiction.
Used scenes from the movie Waiting to Exhale (1995) in her music video "Not Gon' Cry".
Her hit song and music video "Be Without You" from her double platinum selling album "Breakthrough", was just retired on BET's 106 & Park, after 65 consecutive days of being on the countdown [March 3, 2006].
Stepmother of Kendu Isaacs' three children: Briana Isaacs, Nasir Isaacs and Jordan Isaacs.
Her mother, Cora Blige, survived a stabbing by a neighbor (1987).
Her father, Thomas Bilge, was a Vietnam War veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Her music video "No More Drama" was shot on September 12, 2001, the day after the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York City.
Personal Quotes
It almost kills me to say I'm in love, because as soon as men hear that shit, they're gone.
I don't know. Only God knows where the story ends for me, but I know where the story begins. It's up to us to choose, whether we win or lose and I choose to win.
My God is a God who wants me to have things. He wants me to bling. He wants me to be the hottest thing on the block. I don't know what kind of God the rest of y'all are serving, but the God I serve says, "Mary, you need to be the hottest thing this year, and I'm gonna make sure you're doing that."
I don't think there's anything they can say about me that I haven't said about myself already. And I would be an absolute total liar, and my fans would not respect me, if I said that my life and my marriage are perfect. But we absolutely love each other; we have fun together - it's great. Then we have our struggles, and we work through it. That's life.
The important thing is to realize that no matter what people's opinions may be, they're only just that - people's opinions. You have to believe in your heart what you know to be true about yourself. And let that be that.
I believe there are certain things that God uses to get us out of a bad situation, and I believe music was one of the things he used for me.
I know who I am. I am not perfect. I'm not the most beautiful woman in the world. But I'm one of them.
If you're looking for inner peace from the outside world, you're not going to get that. The inner peace starts with looking at you from the inside. Understanding that everything that comes to you is what you are. Everything from friends to boyfriends to the job you get - it's all a direct reflection of what you are on the inside.
There's so many things that life is, and no matter how many breakthroughs, trials will exist and we're going to get through it. Just be strong.
