Mary J. Blige is among the first round of performers set to take the stage at the 65th Grammy Awards. The R&B icon’s return to Music’s Biggest Night is based on the acclaim of her 2022 album Good Morning Gorgeous.
The star-studded album, the follow-up to 2017’s Strength of a Woman, earned Blige the following six nominations:
- Album of the Year (Good Morning Gorgeous [Deluxe])
- Record of the Year (“Good Morning Gorgeous”)
- Best R&B Performance (“Here With Me“)
- Best Traditional R&B Performance (“Good Morning Gorgeous”)
- Best R&B Song (“Good Morning Gorgeous”)
- Best R&B Album (Good Morning Gorgeous [Deluxe]).
Blige wrote the album’s self-loving title track with Lucky Daye, Tiara Thomas, H.E.R. and D’Mile. The latter two co-produced the chart-topping anthem.
“She was just mad cool. It was crazy being in the studio with Mary J. Blige. She was really involved in the songwriting process and what she wanted to write about,” Thomas told Rated R&B about working with Blige.
“We didn’t even know she was gonna name the album [Good Morning Gorgeous]. That was just the name of the song. When the album came out, that’s when I saw that the album was called Good Morning Gorgeous. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s fire.'”
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It has yet to be revealed what Blige will perform at the 2023 Grammys. We know it marks her ninth time gracing the ceremony as a performer.
In anticipation of Blige’s 2023 Grammy performance, here’s a look back at all the times she hit the stage.
39th Grammy Awards, 1997
Blige, nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal, made her Grammys stage debut in 1997, where she performed “Not Gon Cry” as part of the Waiting to Exhale segment. She later joined Whitney Houston, Brandy, CeCe Winans, Chaka Khan and Aretha Franklin to perform “Count on Me.”
41st Grammy Awards, 1999
Blige made her return to the Grammy Awards stage when Kirk Franklin brought his inspirational anthem “Lean On Me” and its key vocalists to take the audience to church.
44th Grammy Awards, 2002
In her first debut solo performance, Blige received a standing ovation when she commanded every inch of the stage to belt an emotional version of “No More Drama.” The performance made the Recording Academy and her peers notice Blige as one of the future greats.
48th Grammy Awards, 2006
Shortly after shattering Billboard records with 2005’s The Breakthrough, rock band U2 enlisted Blige to perform “One,” which they had previously recorded in the ‘90s and again for her latest LP at the time.
49th Grammy Awards, 2007
Blige led the nominations at this ceremony, with eight. She took the stage for an opera-style take of “Be Without You,” which won two awards that evening. She also gave Lorraine Ellison’s 1966 tune “Stay with Me” new life with a stirring outro.
Blige returned to the stage for a second time to perform a soulful version of her song “Runaway Love” with rapper Ludacris. Legendary band Earth, Wind & Fire also joined them on stage.
52nd Grammy Awards, 2010
A year after collaborating on seasonal music, Blige reunited with Andrea Bocelli to perform an emotional version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” to raise funds for Haiti earthquake relief.
57th Grammy Awards, 2015
On the heels of releasing 2014’s The London Sessions, featuring Sam Smith’s contribution, Blige joined them on stage for an epic rendition of “Stay With Me.”
Hosted by Trevor Noah, the 65th Grammy Awards will air live Sunday, Feb. 5, at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on CBS and stream live and be on demand on Paramount+.
