Mary J. Blige: 'Amy Winehouse inspired my new album'

Singer Mary J. Blige found inspiration in Amy Winehouse's struggles with addiction while recording her new album The London Sessions.

The No More Drama hitmaker has battled addiction in the past and felt connected to Winehouse while she was in London and wanted to feel the tragic singer's presence on the record.

She tells TV host Wendy Williams, "Amy was a huge inspiration for this album because when I heard the Back to Black album, I was a little like, 'Gosh, I can do that,' but when she spoke about rehab and she spoke so honestly about her trials and how she was dealing with it, it spoke to me.

"I saw her live out her life, it was like hell how she was living, and when I was coming out of my hell during the No More Drama album, that's when she was coming in and I wanted to get to her and tell her how much I loved her and how much of a fan I was of her work and I never got to her and then she died and it completely messed me up.

"So when I went to London, I was supposed to embrace the culture and how could I embrace the culture without having something from Amy Winehouse as a part of the album and journey?"

Winehouse died of accidental alcohol poisoning in 2011, aged 27.