Primary Wave Music, the leading independent publisher of iconic and legendary music in the world, announces its partnership with another award-winning icon – the “Queen of Hip Hop Soul”, Mary J. Blige. This exciting new partnership will see the dynamic publisher work alongside the nine-time Grammy winner on her catalog compositions and recordings. Blige and her team will also now have access to Primary Wave’s marketing and publishing infrastructure, with the potential for working closely on new music marketing, branding, digital, and synch opportunities.
To date, Mary J. Blige has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. Her incomparable repertoire of music includes 15 studio albums, 2 live albums, and 83 singles. A decorated performer, her list of accomplishments since bursting onto the scene in 1992 with her groundbreaking debut, What’s The 411?, is astonishing and includes 9 Grammy Awards, as well as 37 nominations, 12 Billboard Music Awards, 4 American Music Awards, 12 NAACP Image Awards, and 2 nominations for a Golden Globe Award, as well as 2 nominations for an Academy Award. Blige has eight multi-platinum albums under her belt which includes her 2005 album The Breakthrough, which sold more than 700,000 copies week of release. An Emmy nominee, Blige was also honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018 and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2024.
Included in the deal are some of Blige’s greatest hits across her critically acclaimed career including “Family Affair, “My Life,” “Mary Jane (All Night Long),” “You Bring Me Joy,” “Be Happy,” “Be Without You,” “I Can Love You,” and others. Mary’s My Life album was the follow up to her groundbreaking debut, What’s The 411? and its remixed version, and features hits including “You Remind Me,” which was the album’s first single, followed by “Real Love.” While “You Remind Me” gave Mary her first Top 40 hit, “Real Love” launched her into the Top 10 on the Hot 100. Her sophomore effort featured “Mary Jane (All Night Long),” “You Bring Me Joy,” “Be Happy,” and the album’s title track “My Life.” The album soared to the top 10 on the Billboard 200 upon release and debuted at number 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop chart, staying there for 8 weeks. My Life was nominated for a Grammy in 1996 for “Best R&B Album”, has been included on a number of “best of” lists since its release, and in 2025 was selected by the Library of Congress to be inducted into the National Recording Registry.
1997 saw the release of “I Can Love You” from Blige’s Share My World album. The song was the album’s second single and its highest charting one, reaching number 2 on the Hot R&B Singles chart. With a feature from Lil’ Kim, “I Can Love You” became a commercial AND critical success with BET claiming the track is “one of the finest examples of Blige’s symbiotic relationship with hip hop.” In 2005, Mary released The Breakthrough featuring hit single “Be Without You.” The single would go on to be certified double-platinum and, in 2006, would be ranked one of the most played songs across U.S. radio. It was one of her most successful singles, hitting number 3 on the Hot 100 and was nominated for 4 Grammy Awards, winning two for “Best R&B Song” and “Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.”
Several years prior to the success of “Be Without You,” Mary experienced the biggest hit of her career when “Family Affair” was released. The song soared to the top of the Hot 100 – her first number one – and stayed there for an incredible six weeks. Love for “Family Affair” was real with critics declaring it one of the “all-time great pop-R&B party bangers”. The song would be nominated for a Grammy Award for “Best Female R&B Vocal Performance” in 2001, and almost twenty years later proved that iconic songs will always stand the test of time when Blige performed to a stadium of fans up on their feet during the Super Bowl halftime show in 2022.
The start of 2026 saw Blige announce her Las Vegas residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM. Mary J. Blige: My Life, My Story The Las Vegas Residency kicked off in May and was extended through February 2027. Just before her residency, Blige gave fans a bit of new music with the release of “Want Love.”
Of the partnership, Natalia Nastaskin, Primary Wave’s Chief Content Officer, said “From the moment I heard ‘You Remind Me’ on NY’s KISS-FM, I became a Day 1 Mary J Blige fan. For over 30 years, she has gifted the world with hit after undeniable hit and in the process has created the soundtrack of our lives. To partner with the Queen herself on her extraordinary catalog and her everlasting legacy is an honor for me and for our entire Primary Wave team.”
