The Evolution of Mary J Blige
BET.com takes you on a journey of Mary's musical career through photos.
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1992 - Remember What's The 411? How couldn't you? This was the beginning of a long career for Mary J. Blige.
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1994 - In 1994 Mary J. would release "My Life." The album was far more moodier than her debut album but it also gave the listener a peek into her life.
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1995 - Blige was beginning to take form as "The Queen Of Hip-Hop Soul." Her collaboration with Method Man on "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By" punctuated the statement - and delivered Blige her first Grammy.
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1996 - Mary J. released her biggest commercial hit to date. "Not Gon' Cry" off of the Waiting To Exhale soundtrack propelled her career even further.
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1998 - Mary released Share My World, which debuted at #1 on Billboard and spawned 5 hit singles.
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1999 - Her fourth album would be a departure from the Hip-Hop oriented sound. The simply titled Mary oozed of adult-contemporary flavor and featured high profile guests like Elton John and Aretha Franklin.
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2000 - Although Mary didn't perform as well commercially as her previous releases, it still spawned a number-one hit on the Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play for the remix of "Your Child."
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2001 - In preparation for her 5th studio album, Blige released the Dr. Dre produced "Family Affair." The song became her first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for six consecutive weeks.
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2001 - In August of 2001, Mary J. released No More Drama and went double platinum.
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2002 - Blige won a Grammy for 'Best Female R&B Vocal Performance' for the song "He Think I Don't Know."
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2003 - A year after No More Drama, Mary J. released Love & Life which surprisingly ended up becoming Blige's lowest-selling and biggest commercial disappointment to date.
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2005 - After marrying Kendu Issacs in 2003, Blige prepared to hit the scene harder than ever and reclaim her title as "The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul."
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2006 - Blige's aptly titled The Breakthrough found Mary back to her old form. The album sold 27,000 copies in its first week, it became the biggest first-week sales for an R&B solo female artist in SoundScan history. She took home three Grammys off the strength of that album.
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2007 - Mary J. would release Growing Pains in December of 2007. The album would sell 627k units and reached platinum in just two weeks. The single "Just Fine" found Mary J. in rare form and became a testament for women everywhere.
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2008 - Still going strong, Mary looks and sounds better than ever.
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