Feb 11, 2007 3:45 pm US/Eastern
Mary J. Blige: Back From The Depths
Singer-Songwriter Has New Husband, New Outlook — And More Grammy Nominations Than Anyone
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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Mary J. Blige was nominated for eight Grammy's, which is more than any other artist.
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images
Singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige appears to be the artist to beat at Sunday night's Grammy Awards.
She leads the pack with eight nominations, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
She's also pulled her life together after much hardship.
On The Early Show Friday, Blige told co-anchor Julie Chen the eight nominations feel "so good. It's just a culmination of everything that's happened in my career. And I believe that I'm so prepared for it because, if it had happened earlier, I probably wouldn't even know how to enjoy it.
"I've been nominated for awards before (23 Grammy nominations). … But I guess ... what's different about this … is … it really was a breakthrough. It was a personal breakthrough that people can see. When people can really see you, they award you."
Blige already has three Grammys on her shelf.
But while her earlier albums are filled with anguish, "The Breakthrough" is brimming with the joy of new love. One track, "Be Without You," is nominated for Record of the Year.
Blige shared with Chen that, "'Be Without You' means so much to me because, for so long, Mary J. Blige has been the 'My man did me wrong, I'm hurt, I'm dying, I'm gonna kill him.'"
Now, though, "I want to be happy," Blige says. "And right now, this song, it means a lot, because I actually love myself enough to have drawn someone who loves me more than me."
That man is Blige's husband, talent manager and producer Kendu Isaacs.
"I met my husband when I was done with men," Blige recalled. "I was done. I was done with men, I was done with life. I was done with people. And I was just spinning out of control. I wanted to keep my mind just, alcoholed and drugged up, so I don't have to think about anything. So whether I lived or died, it didn't matter to me. And he came right on time."
Blige sings with the voice of experience, truly appreciating her newfound happiness partly because of her earlier pain.
"I think had reached a point where I had partied enough and I was suicidal enough," Blige reflected. "And I said, 'Enough.' … And I prayed and I asked God what was wrong, and he said, 'You don't like you. And there's so many people around, if you look around, there's people who love you way more than you do, that are not in your camp. Look on television. You got every little girl running around looking like you. So you better like you a little more before there is no more you.'
"When you're actually not afraid to be who you are, even if you are afraid, people can't hurt you, because that's the truth about you."
Blige told Chen she'd like to do more acting as time goes on.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Slideshow: Grammy Nominees
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