Mary J. Blige Covers Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven'

Mary J. Blige holed up in a studio in the Hollywood landmark Capitol Records building this past Tuesday (Feb. 2) and put her soulful twist on Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven.' She wasn't alone either. On hand, a super group of sorts, that included 'American Idol' judge Randy Jackson on bass, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, rock guitarists Steve Vai and newcomer Orianthi, that latter being the Australian-bred blonde and guitar sleuth selected for Michael Jackson's 'This Is It' tour. "I never worked with them," Blige admits to the BoomBox, in between flawless takes of singing 'Stairway' in the isolation booth. "I think I worked with Randy before."

The attention Blige received for her cover of U2's 'One,' which appeared on her 2005 album, 'The Breakthrough,' lead her to revisit the rock song again. Blige's take on the Zeppelin song -- a song that rock critics for years have pegged as one of the greatest rock songs of all time -- will appear as a bonus track on the international release of Blige's 'Stronger With Each Tear.'

"The one thing that I get out of the lyrics 'she is buying a stairway to heaven' is what so many of us have done and do, meaning we buy a bunch of material things to get peace," she says. "I was a kid when I first heard it. It made me feel weird, but it made me feel peaceful, and then when the rock 'n' roll part came in, it made me feel charged, but at the same time that peace didn't leave me. I was able to see into music, and fell into music, to the depths where other people can't feel it or see it, so that made me want to do it."