Real Love, No Drama: The Music of Mary J. Blige

Danny Alexander

Published by University of Texas Press 2016

Real Love, No Drama

The Music of Mary J. Blige

Danny Alexander

In the series American Music Series

https://doi.org/10.7560/759435

Overview
Contents

About this book

Mary J. Blige is an icon who represents the political consciousness of hip hop and the historical promise of soul. She is an everywoman, celebrated by Oprah Winfrey and beloved by pop music fans of all ages and races. Blige has sold over fifty million albums, won numerous Grammys, and even played at multiple White House events, as well as the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Displaying astonishing range and versatility, she has recorded everything from Broadway standards to Led Zeppelin anthems and worked with some of popular music’s greatest artists—Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Whitney Houston, Sting, U2, and Beyoncé, among them.

Real Love, No Drama: The Music of Mary J. Blige tells the story of one of the most important artists in pop music history. Danny Alexander follows the whole arc of Blige’s career, from her first album, which heralded the birth of “hip hop soul,” to her critically praised 2014 album, The London Sessions. He highlights the fact that Blige was part of the historically unprecedented movement of black women onto pop radio and explores how she and other women took control of their careers and used their music to give voice to women’s (and men’s) everyday struggles and dreams. This book adds immensely to the story of both black women artists and artists rooted in hip hop and pays tribute to a musician who, by expanding her reach and asking tough questions about how music can and should evolve, has proven herself an artistic visionary.

Author / Editor information

DANNY ALEXANDEROverland Park, KansasBeginning his career about the same time Mary J. Blige signed her first record deal, music journalist Danny Alexander has worked as an associate editor for Dave Marsh’s music newsletter Rock & Rap Confidential and co

Reviews

"Danny Alexander’s soulful, beautifully written book unravels the mystery of how a struggling young woman from Yonkers earned a place beside Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, and Aretha Franklin in the pantheon of African American song. Necessary reading for anyone interested in African American music, American culture, or the challenge of being human in a cold and heartless world."

— Craig Werner, author of A Change Is Gonna Come: Music, Race & the Soul of America

"I’ve been waiting for this book for a long time. Real Love, No Drama recognizes Mary J. Blige as one of this era’s crucial artists and places her at the center of a profound story about race, gender, class, and American life in recent decades. An expert listener and writer, Danny Alexander has written a sophisticated and deeply soulful book that takes the music, its makers, and its audiences seriously. This is essential reading."

— Charles L. Hughes, author of Country Soul: Making Music and Making Race in the American South

"Real Love, No Drama is a marvelous telling of Mary J. Blige’s story, as well as a reflection of the many years Danny Alexander has spent studying, analyzing, and, above all, enjoying pop music made by female performers. To trace its evolution through Salt’n’Pepa to Mary J. Blige is a journey not many have had the instinct—or the acuity about race, in particular—to take. This book shows us the glory and the problems associated with living, for the first time in memory, in a pop world where women are the dominant voices."

— Dave Marsh, host of Sirius XM’s Kick Out the Jams and author of The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
1 The Artist of a Generation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 The Slow Bomb Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
3 Ladies, Ladies, It Is Our Turn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	20
4 Uptown Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
5 What’s the 411? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
6 Changes I’ve Been Going Through Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
7 Hip Hop a Go-Go Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	50
8 My Life Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
9 Natural Woman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	62
10 Share My World Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
11 On the Road with MJB Alyson Williams Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	74
12 The Tour Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
13 Sisters in the Studio CHANNETTE AND CHANNOAH HIGGENS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
14 Mary, the Album Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
15 No More Drama Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
16 Love & Life Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
17 Live from Los Angeles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
18 Message in Our Music Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
19 The Breakthrough Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	129
20 Growing Pains Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	138
21 Stronger with Each Tear Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	144
22 Hard Times Come Again No More Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
23 My Life II . . . The Journey Continues (Act 1) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	158
24 A Mary Christmas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	166
25 Think Like a Man Too Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
26 The London Sessions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	178
27 Being with You Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	184
Selected Discography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	190
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	196

Language: English
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 208

eBook

Published: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 9781477310557