February 2010


R&B queen Mary J. Blige is making new friends inside Studio A at Hollywood's iconic Capitol Records building.

Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker is hitting the drums, Michael Jackson's former touring guitarist Orianthi and legendary rocker Steve Vai, who Blige calls "my friend with all the hair," are shredding their guitars and her old pal, 'American Idol' judge Randy Jackson, is playing bass.

To bring all the motley music genres in the room full circle, Blige is belting out the lyrics to Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven.'

"I think this song is not hard at all because it's based on pure emotion," Blige said after a couple of takes. "You gotta get lost in the rock 'n' roll moment of it all, and once you get lost in the rock 'n' roll moment of it all you can do is scream to the top of your lungs or go as low as you need to go. It's not a head thing -- it's a spirit thing."

"In a room full of people, we were all asked what we thought the song was about and no one knew," Barker admits of one of the world's most renowned rock songs. "How Mary interprets the song -- she feels a stairway to heaven is how women might buy a bunch of things to make them feel like they are in heaven or in peace with all these materialistic things -- and then going back and looking at the words, I think she nailed it."

Blige is no stranger to "nailing" a classic rock cover song. Days earlier she appeared onstage at the 52 Annual Grammy Awards with maestro Andrea Bocelli on a duet of Simon and Garfunkel's mellower 'Bridge Over Troubled Water,' and her acclaimed 2005 comeback album 'The Breakthrough' boasted a cover of 'One.' "It really made people want me to do more of it," she says of her mash-up with Bono and co. "I think it's something special."

As for a duet with Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant, whose recent Grammy-winning project 'Raising Sand' with bluegrass chanteuse Alison Krauss proves he has a talent for collaborating with female vocalists, Blige says, "I wouldn't mind, if he doesn't mind." Blige then adds, "Whole Lotta Love' is crazy! Whoo!'

Blige's makeover of 'Stairway to Heaven' will appear as one of the bonus tracks on the overseas release of her latest album, 'Stronger With Each Tear.'


http://www.spinner.com/20...to-heaven/