Ravinia 2019, Issue 7, Week 14

8:00 PM FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019 PAVILION 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF MY LIFE MARY J. BLIGE MARY J. BLIGE Growing up in Georgia in New York, Mary J. Blige changed her life with an impromptu record- ing of Anita Baker’s “Caught Up in the Rapture” made at a mall in 1988. The tape found its way to Uptown Records, which made her its youngest and first female artist. In the early 1990s, Blige began working with Sean “Diddy” Combs, who would become the executive producer of her first album, What’s the 411? , which revealed a gritty, urban-rooted style that fused hip-hop and soul, interpolating such early influences as Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, and Gladys Knight with her own experience. The disc quickly became a top-10, multiplatinum hit off the popularity of her first two singles, “You Remind Me” and “Real Love,” both gold-selling R&B number ones, and it earned Blige a Soul Train Award as Best New R&B Artist. She followed up in 1994 with the deeply personal My Life , which has since been included in “best of all time” lists by both Rolling Stone and Time Magazine and earned Blige her first Grammy nomination. Blige transitioned to a more traditional soul sound on 1997’s Share My World , her first number-one disc, which featured her platinum-selling contribution to the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack, “Not Gon’ Cry.” Her 2001 disc, No More Drama , featured her first num- ber-one hit, “Family Affair,” which has remained one of her best-loved songs, along with the title track. Blige then released three straight num- ber-one albums, Love and Life (2003), The Break- through (2005), and Growing Pains (2007), add- ing the multiplatinum single “Be Without You,” which was nominated for both Record and Song of the Year at the 2007 Grammys, to her cata- logue of hits. Her most recent album is Strength of aWoman (2017), her 14th top-10 disc. Blige be- gan acting in 2009 in Tyler Perry’s comedy I Can Do Bad All By Myself before taking a dramatic turn in Betty & Coretta (2013) and starring as Evillene in NBC’s 2015 live broadcast of The Wiz . She earned Oscar nominations in 2018 for both her starring role in Mudbound and her original song, “Mighty River,” on its soundtrack. After re- leasing the single “Thriving” with Nas this year, Blige was given BET’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Mary J. Blige is making her first return to Ravinia following her debut at the festival last season. RAVINIA MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 3 – SEPTEMBER 15, 2019 116