subject: Mary J. Blige-extreme Makeover [print this page] "All the relentless trials and tribulations, the straight suffering and having to press through, I wanted you to feel that in the song," Blige told the L.A. Times. She sang last night along with Neil Diamond as they joined the Obamas for the Christmas in Washington concert.
Not only have we been hearing more of Mary J., she also volunteered her time to help build a new home on last nights episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The show was focused on the woman whose home they were building. She has always extended herself to the children in the community by cooking for them when they did not have food and gave them Christmas presents when their parents could not afford it. Her house has been a safe haven for many unfortunate neighborhood kids that knew they could visit whenever they were in need of a helping hand or a listening ear.
Mary J. helped to paint and decorate as the builders went to work on the dream house. The woman is in a wheel chair and her husband is legally blind. The builders made the home to suit their needs and included plenty of space for the neighborhood children to play along with a kitchen that makes it easier for her to cook the hundreds of meals she was once preparing in a room where she could hardly maneuver. Needless to say, the woman was elated about her new home and the fact that she could do even more for the underprivileged children.
Mary J. took extra time to meet with the neighborhood children. She acted as a motivational speaker as she too has experienced hard times in her life. She explained to the children that they have the power to become anyone they want to be and that she is living proof of a person who had very little growing up and still became highly successful. Mary J. felt that the experience was humbling and stated that most people complain about so many little things in life that really arent that important. She became emotional and was pleased that the people of the community came together to make this happen.
Mary J. Blige has seen many difficult times in her life and seems very grateful that she has risen from the life she once knew and became one of the most famous hip hop and soul singers of our time. Her father was abusive to her mother and eventually ended up abandoning her family when she was four. A friend of the family sexually abused her when she was just five-years-old. Mary J. was born in the Bronx and eventually moved to Savannah where she began singing for her Pentacostal church. She eventually moved back to New York and at seventeen, she recorded her version of Anita Bakers Caught Up in the Rapture in a mall in White Plains. Her moms boyfriend took the tape to a source he knew at Uptown Records and she was soon signing a contract with the recording studio as their youngest star.
