Mary J. Blige inducted into Apollo Walk of Fame
The Yonkers, N.Y. native, multi-platinum singer and Oscar-nominated actress can now be considered among the famed theater's legends
Mary J. Blige was inducted into the Apollo Theater’s iconic Walk of Fame on Friday morning.
Read More: Mary J. Blige: I’d rather be single than make ‘same mistakes over and over again’
Nestled in the historic New York City neighborhood of Harlem, Blige stood under the Apollo marquee surrounded by media and fans as she accepted the honor.
“It’s so special, I mean, because you have James Brown come through here. You have Aretha Franklin—like, these are people that, you know, if it wasn’t for them, there would be no us in music. They went through all the tough stuff for us,” the nine-time Grammy winner told The Associated Press. “So when you make it to the Apollo, you have to always have appreciation for everybody that came before you and bless the Apollo for, you know, doing that us.”
Blige joins other legends like Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Patti Labelle, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Little Richard, Ella Fitzgerald, the Temptations and more.
During her brief remarks to the crowd, she announced that her My Life documentary will premiere next month. It’s based on her 1994 album of the same name and considered one of the most critically acclaimed and seminal R&B projects of the 90s.
“This is for the fans who had the ‘My Life’ album, and who, you know, even some of the fans who had the ‘What’s the 411’ album. It’s the beginning of the…process of going through the ‘My Life’ album and making it and everything that came with it,” said the woman dubbed “The Queen of Hip-hop Soul.” “It’s too much love in it. And you get it from the horse’s mouth instead of on paper from a, you know,’ as she took a short pause, “reporter”—causing the room to erupt in laughter.
Blige is currently filming the second season of Power Book II: Ghost and also working on new music. Her My Life documentary will drop June 25 on Prime Video.
As reported by theGrio, Blige has recently made peace with being single after a tumultuous marriage and divorce from Kendu Isaacs, who also acted as her manager. She told Taraji P. Henson when she was interviewed for her Peace of Mind with Taraji Facebook Watch podcast last December that while the holidays can get lonely, she’d rather take her time to find the right one.
“[It] gets lonely, and it gets sad, but, you know hey, I just gotta thug this out until something excellent comes along, which I don’t know when that’s gonna happen,” she told Henson. I’d rather be by myself than to keep making the same mistakes over and over again, so I’m gonna be patient and sift through this thing and love on me right now.”
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Watch Blige at an early Apollo Theater performance below:
Additional reporting by Jared Alexander.
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