Mary J. Blige

Mary Jane Blige is an American singer, songwriter, model, record producer and actress. Starting her career as a background singer on Uptown Records in 1989, Blige released her first album, Whats the 411, in 1992, and has releasedstudio albums since and made over 150 guest appearances on other albums and soundtracks.

Blige was born on January 11, 1971 in the Slowbam Projects in Yonkers, New York. She is the second of four children born to mother Cora, a nurse, and second to father Thomas Blige, a jazz musician. The family subsisted on her mothers earnings as a nurse after her father left the family in the mid1970s.

Source: Wikipedia