TRELAWNY, JAMAICA — American singers Mary J Blige and John Legend had some advice for up-and-coming artistes and highlighted the importance of giving back.

The two were speaking with Flow TV at the Jazz and Blues Festival held at the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium on Saturday.

“The advice I would give to up-and-coming artistes is to stay true to yourself. Do what you believe and don’t worry what people will think about you, because they’re going to think whatever they think anyway; [so] just believe in your talent and you’ll go far,” Blige said.

The queen of hip-hop soul also spoke about the importance of giving back as an artiste.

“It’s very important to give back, especially when you have so much. I don’t think we’ve been given so much to just be selfish with it, we have to give back, we have to help, we have to educate,” she said.

John Legend, shared the same sentiments about philanthropy. Legend started the ‘Show Me Campaign’ which is a non-profit organisation geared towards fighting poverty and has a strong focus on education reform.

He said that the Campaign is about trying to make people’s lives better.

“We don’t have all the power in the world and all the money, to the extent, but we have some resources that we not just want to keep to ourselves but [use it] to help other people,” said the neo-soul singer and pianist.

“The Show Me Campaign is all about helping people help themselves with things like education, health care and things of that nature” continued Legend.

Ahead of their historic performance on Thursday night at the Jazz and Blues Festival, iconic reggae Band Third World, took some time out of their busy schedule to mentor a few students from the Herbert Morrison Technical High School Band.

The session was arranged by telecommunications company, Columbus Communications Jamaica Limited, operators of Flow and Columbus Business Solutions brands, as a result of the school band’s musical success in a competition hosted by the organisation last year.

Bass player Richard Daley described the experience as ‘very positive’.

“I feel really good about this; we do these kinds of workshops all around the world. When you see young people doing music and you see them grow, it is very inspiring. I will definitely be looking out for this group in the next five years,” said Daley, after watching a clip of the Band’s performance on YouTube.

The exclusive interviews with Mary J. Blige, John Legend and other headlining acts can be seen on Flow TV in the 2013 Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival feature which is set to debut later this year.