Mary J. Blige, aka the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, will hit the road in the new year with a March 16 stop planned at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday through Ticketmaster. Citi cardholders have access to a presale that starts at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Neither the promoter nor the venue announced prices. Ne-Yo and Mario are also on the bill. A New York native, Blige was a 17-year-old high school dropout when she recorded an impromptu cover of Anita Baker’s “Caught Up in the Rapture” at a recording booth in a mall. Her mother’s boyfriend at the time got the cassette into the hands of an A&R rep at Uptown Records, which signed her as a backup vocalist the following year. The label eventually allowed Blige to work on her own material and released her debut album “What’s the 411?” in 1992. It went triple platinum and spawned the hits “Real Love,” “You Remind Me” and “Reminisce.” Blige’s 1994 follow-up “My Life” found similar success, with Blige’s deeply personal lyrics becoming a theme that has run through her entire career. In addition to regularly releasing music and touring in the decades since, Blige has carved out a second career in acting. She made her screen debut in the 2001 film “Prison Song” and has since appeared in more than a dozen movies. Her widely acclaimed turn in 2017’s “Mudbound” earned Blige Oscar nominations for best supporting actress and best original song. “Gratitude,” Blige’s 15th album, is due out Nov. 15. On Oct. 19, she will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the rest of the class of 2024. While Blige does tour frequently, she hasn’t played the Twin Cities since 2010 when she joined the short-lived Lilith Fair revival. Related Articles Music and Concerts | Concert review: Cigarettes After Sex hold crowd under a spell at the X Music and Concerts | ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic books outdoor show at Treasure Island Casino in June Music and Concerts | Last chance: At new 825 Arts, ‘Divas & Drag’ pairs professional opera singers with drag and burlesque artists to explore ‘big emotions of how the music makes you feel’ Music and Concerts | Minnesota Sinfonia sets October dates for final concerts in St. Paul and Minneapolis Music and Concerts | A Perfect Circle, Primus and Puscifer to play joint tour that stops at Xcel Energy Center in June