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Mary J. Blige to receive Icon Award at 2022 Billboard Music Awards

LAS VEGAS — The Billboard Music Awards announced Thursday that singer Mary J. Blige will receive the Icon Award at its 2022 awards ceremony scheduled for May.

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In a press release, Billboard Music Awards said Blige will also perform at the awards show as part of the event.

The Icon Award has only 10 prior winners, as it was first introduced in 2021. Past recipients include Neil Diamond, Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, and Celine Dion.

Blige has won 10 Billboard Music Awards in her career, Today reported. Those awards include R&B Album of the Year (1995), Female R&B/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year (2006) and R&B/Hip-Hop Song Airplay of the Year (2006).

“My career has been such an incredible and unexpected journey that has included many turns into avenues I never could have imagined like acting, producing, launching businesses and now even my own music festival,” Blige said in a statement. “Through it all, I always one way or another gravitated back to my first love, music. To be recognized in this way at this moment, with the Icon Award at the Billboard Music Awards, is an incredible honor and one that I am truly humbled by.”

In February 2022, Blige performed during the Super Bowl LVI halftime show and released her 14th album, “Good Morning Gorgeous,” UPI reported.

The 2022 Billboard Music Awards are scheduled for Sunday, May 15, and will be broadcast on NBC and streamed on Peacock.