When Mary J. Blige hits the Bank of America Pavilion Tuesday, she will be there as a performer and a mentor.

Starshell (inset), who is signed to Blige’s vanity imprint Matriarch, is opening the show, and will have a lot of fans in the crowd because the singer-songwriter — a.k.a. LaNeah Menzies — hails from Lowell. In an interview with the Globe, Blige explained why she signed Starshell. “I just think she’s a fantastic talent and outside of that I think chemistry works better when you meet great people, not just artists,” said Blige, who’s co-headlining at the Pavilion with D’Angelo. “You can be an amazing singer and all that but if your attitude sucks and you don’t really have a work ethic, then what good are you? [Starshell] has all those things. She has a great attitude about her life and where she’s going. And she has an amazing talent as far as writing and singing. She has her own story to tell.”