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A live document, The Tour, followed in 1998. The dictates of Combs were discarded in 1997, and Blige took on executive producer duties for herself with the next effort Share My World the album became her first number one on the mainstream charts and received numerous industry awards. A contribution to the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack in 1995 served to broaden her popularity. This second album continued her forward momentum, featuring the popular singles You Gotta Believe, All Night Long and You Bring Me Joy, and resulted in a Grammy nominations for Best R&B Album. An album of remixes appeared the next year, filling the gap before her second release My Life in 1994, which was also under the direction of Combs. With Sean Puff Daddy Combs at the helm, her debut record What's The 411 eventually surfaced in 1992, its its blend of soul and hip-hop garnering enthusistic response from both critics and the record-buying public. A period of several years followed before work began on an album of her own, but in the interim Blige was kept busy as a guest performer for many of her Uptown labelmates.
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When she was 17, a recording made in a Karaoke booth of her singing Anita Baker's Caught Up In The Rapture began to be circulated by her mother's boyfriend, eventually resulting in an audition and - immediately afterwards - a contract with Uptown Records. Through occasional visits with her musician father, she began to develop her singing technique and learn the basics of harmony. Blige spent her childhood between Savannah and Yonkers, soaking up the musical influences of her mother's 70s soul collection and her Pentecostal church.