Mary J. Blige praises Sam Smith: 'He's a gift to his generation - to all generations'

Songstress Mary J. Blige has opened up about working with 'Stay With Me' sensation Sam Smith on her new album 'The London Sessions' and admitted that he is such a stand-out talent among his contemporaries.

During a new interview with BBC Radio 1, Blige explained that Smith is the voice of this generation and working with him was a true honour as he's doing something male vocalists 'haven't done in a while':

"I am so proud of Sam, I'm so happy to know him. He's amazing, he's a gift to his generation - he's a gift to all the generations. He's doing what, you know, Frank Sinatras and Sam Cookes and Otis Reddings and all the people... the great singers and soul singers from the past. He's doing songs, he's singing ballads. Men haven't done that in a while and he's doing it and he's doing it well. And he's amazing and his voice is just a gift."

Blige went onto add that recording 'The London Sessions' meant temporarily relocating to England's capital and she really enjoyed eating fish and chips: "I gained so much weight, I had to go home and run."

"I was just over here as Mary J. Blige the artist and working with some amazing people that made it fun for me. Sam made it fun for me because he's just beautiful and fun, just great to work with. Naughty Boy made it fun. Everyone made it fun! But at the same time we got so much amazing work done because our chemistries were great together. I did three weeks and the album was done."

Watch Sam Smith performing live with Blige here: