Tickets priced at £32.50, £30.00 & £27.50 plus booking and transaction fees go on-sale at 9am on Friday 14 March 2008 from www.theticketfactory.com or 0871 945 6000.

Considered one of the most emotive and incredible live acts in the world, Mary J Blige will embark on her first nationwide tour in 5 years, performing to an NEC Arena audience on Friday 6 June!

Mary will showcase songs live from the platinum selling album Growing Pains including the smash hit Just Fine to fans in the UK for the first time.

Having sold over 40 million records worldwide, the undisputed Queen of hip-hop soul, will also perform classic tracks from her 15 year career, including Real Love, I’m Going Down and No More Drama. Since her debut in 1992 - the modern classic What's the 411 all the way to this year’s stunning Growing Pains - Mary J Blige has become one of the most revered soul singers of her generation. On her latest LP, she worked in partnership with the best in the game including The Dream, Neyo and The Neptunes, and features guest appearances from Ludacris and Usher.

Mary’s last album, The Breakthrough debuted at #1, selling an astonishing 700,000 copies in its first week – setting a record at that time as the best opening week for a solo R&B female artist in SoundScan history. In addition, Be Without You made its way into history books when it became the longest running #1 song on the R&B chart in over 40 years.