Mary Jane Blige (/blaɪʒ/; born January 11, 1971)[4] is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and philanthropist. Her career began in 1991 when she was signed to Uptown Records.[1] She went on to release 13 studio albums, eight of which have achieved multi-platinum worldwide sales. Blige has sold 50 million albums in the United States and 80 million records worldwide. Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, four American Music Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards and has also received three Golden Globe Award nominations, including one for her supporting role in the film Mudbound (2017) and another for its original song "Mighty River". Furthermore, she also received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Song, becoming the first person nominated for acting and songwriting in the same year.
Blige played a leading role in the upcoming horror film Body Cam.[96] She starred in the independent drama film Pink Skies Ahead that will premiere at the 2020 South by Southwest film festival.[97][98] She played singer Dinah Washington in the biographical drama film Respect about life and career of Aretha Franklin.[99] The film is scheduled to be released theatrically on January 15, 2021. In late 2019, Blige began production on an untitled documentary about her life and career directed by Vanessa Roth.[100] Blige stars as Monet Stewart in Power Book II: Ghost, the first spin-off for the highly rated Starz cable drama Power which premieres in September 2020n August 2016, Blige was recruited to perform the new theme song for the ABC Daytime talk show The View for its twentieth season titled "World's Gone Crazy" written by Diane Warren. A music video was also shot for the new theme song with co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Candace Cameron Bure, Raven-Symoné, Paula Faris, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin and Jedediah Bila. Blige also appeared on The View alongside Maxwell during its premiere week on September 9, 2016 to discuss their joint tour and theme song.