Mary J. Blige: My album will help people

Mary J. Blige is releasing a follow-up to her My Life album to lead her fans "to the light".

The singer is currently promoting My Life II, The Journey Continues (Act 1).

Her triple-platinum My Life album was released in 1994, while Mary was battling addiction, depression and an abusive relationship.

The R&B star was overwhelmed by the response to My Life, but now feels a responsibility to inspire people with uplifting new material.

"When everyone responded to such a dark, kind of suicidal, cry for help, when it was time to turn my life around I didn't hesitate. I thought if I can move people in darkness, I can move people in light," she said in an interview with UK TV show Daybreak. "And that is a responsibility, I don't want a bunch of people following me to my death.

"So it was time to turn around and I am a very caring and thoughtful person and I always think about the lives of people. There is something in me that thinks about my fans and thinks about people, period."

Mary went on to discuss Amy Winehouse.

The British singer passed away aged 27 in July this year, with an inquest recording her death as a misadventure. Amy also had a highly publicised battle with drugs and alcohol.

Mary feels "lucky" that she managed to clean up her life and seek help.

"The thing is this, we don't know what someone is dealing with, we only see the surface. We don't know what's in her mind, we don't know how deep her demons were or what her situation was," Mary explained. "Everyone doesn't get this lucky, to say I choose life. Sometimes it is too late. When I felt myself drifting away, I said, 'Wait, wait, wait!' I actually felt that. I thank God I got an opportunity to see myself drifting away and I called on help.

"Everyone doesn't like to go to another human being because they are ashamed and guilty. But I feel like I have been embarrassed and ashamed all my life so why not ask for help?"

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