Mary J. Blige will bring her love and life to the stage at the 18th annual Essence Music Festival in July. The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul is among the lineup of all-star talent that will perform at the annual event, which takes place July 6-8 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

The first round of performers added to the roster include R&B divas Keyshia Cole, SWV, Fantasia and the newly-engaged Aretha Franklin. More artists will be added to the line-up in the upcoming months.

This year, the EMF's theme will be "The Power of Our Voice" and no one has a bigger voice than Blige. The Grammy-winning songbird has been very vocal throughout her career about the importance of self-love and overcoming hardships to become a better person.

Blige performed at last year's EMF and enjoy interacting with her fans at the star-studded event. "I like to perform at the Essence Music Festival because it's the epitome of my fan base. My fans are here," she told Essence in 2011. "This is the foundation of every Mary J. Blige fan since my 'What's the 411?' album. If they're still around, they will come and see me. And then not only that, everybody and their mother that's a celebrity is here. It's just fun and it's a big, big deal to be respected like that."

To buy tickets and coordinate your travel accommodations to the Essence Music Festival, go here.

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