Mary J Blige to tour SA
2007-03-29 12:10
Cape Town - The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul Mary J Blige is set to perform at the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg on the 12th of May, before heading to Durban's Westridge Park Stadium on the 13th and on to the Bellville Velodrome in Cape Town on the 16th of May 2007.
The accomplished six-time Grammy Award winning R&B, soul, and hip-hop soul singer, songwriter, producer, and actress has sold more than 34 million records worldwide, and has just completed a season sweep of the "big three" major music awards.
She won the American Music Award in November 2006, the Billboard Music Awards in December 2006, and the Grammy Awards in February 2007, where she took home 3 awards for her last studio album, The Breakthrough.
The album, her seventh studio album, has sold more than 3 million copies, starting with 727 000 in its opening week - the highest ever for a female R&B singer.
The lead single, Be Without You, ruled the R&B charts for fifteen straight weeks, and the powerhouse collaboration with U2 on their classic One reached an even bigger audience - proving without a doubt that Blige is the pre-eminent soul singer of our time.
Electrifying live performances
Blige has long been called the "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul". A bridge between the R&B world and the hip-hop nation, she pioneered the movement that would later become neo-soul, generating gripping songs that were also massive radio hits.
Known for her electrifying live performances, Mary J Blige is capable of conveying heartache and happiness in a single musical phrase.
Blige has been described by the media as having a "smouldering stage presence". During her last South African concerts in April 2000, the tour saw her performing to 48 000 ecstatic fans countrywide.
The upcoming South Afican tour is a nothing Big Concerts experience and presented by METRO FM and Edgars Music Series.
Tickets are on sale at Computicket from Thursday 29 March 2007.