Mary J. Blige

Mary Jane Blige
Character	Rolanda
DOB	January 11, 1971
Birthplace	The Bronx, New York City, New York, U.S.
Season(s)	S1 - S2 - S3 - S4 - S5 - S6
IMDB
Wikipedia

Mary Jane Blige is a minor actress on How to Get Away with Murder, who portrays the role of Rolanda.

Biography

Early Life

Blige was born on January 11, 1971, in Bronx, New York, She is the second of four children born to mother Cora, a nurse, and second to father Thomas Blige, a jazz musician, The family subsisted on her mother's earnings as a nurse after her father left the family in the mid-1970s, the former an alcoholic and the latter a Vietnam War veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Blige spent her early years in Richmond Hill, Georgia, where she sang in a Pentecostal church. Blige later moved to Schlobohm Houses in Yonkers, New York, immediately north of New York City, where she lived with her mother and older sister. Blige dropped out of high school in her junior year.

Later Life

On February 5, 2014 a remix of Disclosure's "F for You" featuring guest vocals from Mary was released. It was announced May 30, 2014 that Think Like a Man Too (Music from and Inspired by the Film), released June 17 on Epic Records, would introduce new songs by Mary J. Blige, including the single "Suitcase". Blige recorded a collection of music from and inspired by the film. In the United States, Think Like a Man Too debuted at number 30 on the Billboard 200, with 8,688 copies sold in its first week, becoming the lowest sales debut of any of her studio albums. On Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop chart, the soundtrack album charted at number six, marking Blige's 16th top ten entry on the chart, tying her with Mariah Carey for the second-most top tens by a female artist.

June 2, 2014 saw Blige pairing up with another English musician with the release of a re-worked version of Sam Smith's "Stay with Me". A live visual to the song was released on the same day. Following her concert date at the Essence Festival, on July 9, 2014 it was announced Blige would move to London to experiment with a new sound for her new album. Blige spent a month in London recording her album in RAK Studios with a host of young British acts, including Disclosure, Naughty Boy, Emeli Sandé and Sam Smith. Ten new songs, co-written and recorded by the singer, was released on November 24, 2014 on an album entitled, The London Sessions. That same month, she announced that she left Geffen and Interscope and signed with Capitol Records.

In August 2016, Blige was recruited to perform the new theme song for the ABC Daytime talk show The View for its twentieth season titled "World's Gone Crazy" written by Diane Warren. A music video was also shot for the new theme song. Blige also appeared on The View alongside Maxwell during its premiere week on September 9, 2016 to discuss their joint tour and theme song. On September 30, 2016 Blige premiered a new show The 411 on Apple Music. For its debut episode, Blige interviewed Hillary Clinton. A trailer was released online with Blige singing a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "American Skin" to a bewildered Clinton. The exchange received mixed and negative reaction from social media. Two weeks later, a studio version, this time featuring a verse from American rapper Kendrick Lamar was released online. It too is set to appear on Strength of a Woman.