DATE=10-10-03

TYPE=Special English Feature

NUMBER=7-29046

TITLE=SPECIAL ENGLISH AMERICAN MOSAIC #943 Mary J. Blige

BYLINE=Lawan Davis

TELEPHONE=619-2585

DATELINE=Washington

EDITOR=Arditti

CONTENT=

HOST:

Mary J. Blige is often called the queen of hip-hop music. She became popular by singing about love and loss. But her newest album takes a new turn. It is called "Love and Life." Jim Tedder has more.

ANNCR:

The songs of Mary J. Blige have always told of the painful experiences in her life. The thirty-two-year-old singer and her sister were raised alone by their mother. They lived in a poor neighborhood just outside New York City. In this song from her first album, Mary J. Blige sings of searching for "real love."

(((CUT ONE "REAL LOVE", CDP-6204)))

By her second album, Mary J. Blige was recognized for her songwriting skills. She sang about bad relationships and drug use.

In two-thousand-one, she released an album called "No More Drama." In the title song, she sings of living a better life.

(((CUT TWO "NO MORE DRAMA", CDP-24030)))

Mary J. Blige has recorded six albums in all since nineteen-ninety-two. Her newest one, "Love and Life," is different from all the others. The words to her songs do not include so much pain. She has happier things to sing about. She says drugs and alcohol are behind her now. And she is going to be married.

We leave you with a song from her new album. Here is "Love at First Sight."

(((CUT THREE "LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT", CDP-27737)))