Mary J. Blige Tackles Hollywood And Led Zeppelin

Mary J. Blige is ready for a whole new type of drama. After releasing arguably her sunniest album yet, Blige is devoting more energy to her acting career. The R&B superstar showed off her thespian skills in Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself (and contributed to the soundtrack), and now she tells Walmart Soundcheck that she’s committed to more dramatic work in the future. Will it be on stage or screen? Check out part of the exclusive interview below:

Mary performed a powerful set of her biggest hits—including “I Am” and “Family Affair”—for Walmart Soundcheck, and she never fails to impress as she leads her fans to overcome fear and confusion. But she admits that she needed some help when it came to performing on the big screen:

More power to Blige for swallowing her pride and agreeing to work with an acting coach. Hell, if other wannabe-actress pop stars had half the humility Mary has and hired a coach, audiences would have to suffer through significantly fewer wooden performances in Hollywood movies.

The Grammy winner is definitely keen on continuing her film career, explaining that “acting is not something I want to do, but need to do.” And Mary is certainly getting the hang of Hollywood now that she’s already making the rounds on TV gossip shows—Mary sat down with Entertainment Tonight to discuss her cover of  Led Zeppelin’s “Stariway To Heaven” (featuring the talents of Travis Barker, Orianthi and Randy Jackson), which will be a bonus track on the international re-release of her album, Stronger With Each Tear.

Typically, any cover of “Stairway to Heaven” is laughed off since it can never come close to the original, but we’re psyched to see how Mary and her impressive backup band can put their own spin on it. While she’s on a roll, how about a cover of “Pants on the Ground”? She was there for the TV debut of that American classic!