Posts tagged mary j blige
I’d have to give that to Mary J. Blige because I saw her growth. I saw her when she was at her worst point. I saw her make a decision to change her life. I saw her improve with her music, even her ear. It’s something about things I hear in music that other people don’t hear because my teachers just banged into me, “Pitch! Pitch! Pitch!” Mary J. Blige has made the most improvement to me and the depth of the spirit and the soul in her music, the way she sings, gives her that “it” factor.
—Gladys Knight
more.
“ Emotion drives me…anything that makes my skin warm up…I write a lot when I’m angry, and when my feelings get hurt…my feelings get hurt a lot. People say don’t wear your heart on your sleeve. I know nowhere else to put it…So that’s why I like to have a boyfriend, or drama. I don’t like drama–but it does spark. It sparks a feeling…Some people watch sports and yell at the TV. I write songs.”
Ester Dean, 2009
She has written/composed/arranged/produced for/with 50 Cent, Beyoncé, Kelly Clarkson, David Guetta, Mary J. Blige, Keyshia Cole, NIcki Minaj, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Flo-Rida … the list goes on …
…I never wanted to be up front, I was always happy being the backing singer. I sang for so many…like Aretha Franklin, Mary J Blige and Mariah Carey. It was unreal but great…I would have been the highest paid backing singer at the time because of the reputation I had built and the passion I had for it. Mariah called me back to tour with her on several occasions whilst I was working on other projects—I mean, I also wrote music, and so it got to a point where so many people around me were constantly trying to tell me and encourage me to go forward for myself and sing my own songs.
more from Kelly Price.
“ …Mary J. Blige is mainstream, Beyoncé is mainstream, Rihanna is mainstream. Chris Brown…and all the other black artists who are really, really at superstar status are mainstream artists. So for R&B, I really don’t know. I think that rap is R&B today. If that makes any sense…and I love Lil Wayne, I love Jay-Z, I love listening to them. I love some of the rap. I can’t listen to it all day, but I love listening to some of them. I think that’s the new R&B. I mean, you have Keyshia Cole and Monica and Brandy. I’m very happy they came back out and they’re doing R&B…Brandy is kind of mainstream also, but I like their new song. I don’t know, there really isn’t any R&B to really speak of…”
