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Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey on the cover of her album Butterfly

Mariah Carey (born March 27, 1970 in Huntington, New York) is an American popular music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress, who rose to prominence in the 1990s. Carey's music has been influenced by rhythm and blues, pop, gospel, hip hop, and rock and roll. She is credited as having a five-octave vocal range, possibly the greatest range of any popular singer. She makes lavish use of melisma; her vocal swoops and trills are an easily recognized feature of her sound.

Surveys have placed Carey in one of the top four spots for worldwide best selling female artist ever [1], with the other likely contenders being Madonna, Céline Dion, and Whitney Houston. Most sources indicate that she was the top-selling recording artist of any kind during the 1990s. Her singles have spent more weeks at No. 1 than any other living artist in Billboard history. Carey's vocal style influenced a generation of singers who came after her, including Christina Aguilera and Beyoncé Knowles as well as many American Idol competitors.

Table of contents

Early life and family, 1970–1990

Carey is the third and youngest child of Patricia Hickey, an opera singer and voice coach of Irish-American ethnicity, and Alfred Roy Carey, an aeronautical engineer of Venezuelan-African descent. She was named after the song "(And They Call the Wind) Mariah", from the musical Paint Your Wagon. She has no middle name. She has a sister named Alison and a brother named Morgan, both of whom are about ten years older than she.

As a multiracial family, the Carey household was met with racial slurs, hostility and even violence (She claimed in the early days, crosses were burned on their lawn, their dogs were poisoned, their car was blown up, and a shot was fired through the kitchen window during mealtime). Thus, the family moved often around the New York area to find more friendly neighborhoods. The strain on the family led to the divorce of Alfred and Patricia when Mariah was three; Mariah and Morgan stayed with their mother while Alison stayed with their father. Mariah had little contact with her father, except for sporadica visits on weekends but even those dwindled as the years went by; Patricia raised Mariah, often struggling with two or three jobs and continuing to move among different towns on Long Island, but tried to provide a spirited, loving household.

Carey began singing when she was three; her mother realized early on that she had tremendous potential. Carey first performed in public when she was six and first began writing songs when she was in grade school. She attended and graduated from Harborfields High School in Greenlawn but was frequently absent due to efforts to break into the music business. She eventually landed a role as a backup singer for Brenda K. Starr. Then in 1988, Carey met Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola while at a party and gave him a demo tape. He played the tape while leaving the party and was very impressed by what he heard, but she had already left. Nevertheless he tracked her down and signed her to a recording contract. This Cinderella-like story became part of the standard publicity surrounding Carey's entrance into the industry.

Early commercial success, 1990–1992

Mariah Carey's career began with the release of her eponymous debut album in 1990, when she was just twenty years old. She became a commercial success almost overnight, and the album produced four huge #1 hit singles: "Vision of Love", "Love Takes Time", "Someday" & "I Don't Wanna Cry".

Beginning with this first album and throughout her career, Carey has been a co-writer on almost every song she has recorded, working with songwriting partners such as Ben Margulies, Walter Afanasieff, and many others. "Vision of Love" established the template for her best songs: a hint of swing; a melody and arrangement designed for her voice, such that her ornamented vocals seem part of the fabric of a song rather than an add-on; lyrics organized around themes of dreams, struggle, and self-help.

Carey's second album, Emotions, was released in the fall of 1991 and its first single, the title track, was also an American No. 1 hit. This song gave Carey the distinction of being the only music act ever to have had their first five singles all hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. Emotions had two other Top #5 singles, "Can't Let Go", which also peaked at #2 on the Billboard R&B charts (the song disappointed her record company, as they were hoping she could break Whitney Houston's run of 7 consecutive #1 singles) and "Make It Happen", which peaked at a relatively low #5.

Beginning with Emotions, Carey has co-produced almost all of the songs on her albums, in collaboration with her songwriting and other partners. (She wanted to do this on her first album as well, but her record company only allowed her to produce one song.)

In 1992, Carey gave her first real concert performance on the MTV Unplugged program. Her whistle register workout on "Emotions" showed that her vocal abilities were not confined to the studio. She premiered a heartfelt cover of the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There", featuring Trey Lorenz, which was subsequently released as a single and gave her a sixth #1 hit, returning her to form. The program was popular enough that the songs were compiled onto the commercially successful album MTV Unplugged.

Worldwide success, 1993–1996

Carey and Tommy Mottola had become romantically involved, and in 1993 they staged a lavish wedding in Manhattan.

Carey's next studio album, Music Box, was released in 1993, which was largely comprised of ballads. Despite this, the first single released from the album, "Dreamlover" was slightly up-tempo and became her 7th #1 hit on the Hot 100, staying there for 8 weeks (longest stay at the time in her career) and became her first single to achieve Platinum Cetficiation. Inspirational ballad, "Hero" was next, which was another #1 hit and along with "Dreamlover", is widely considered one of her signature pieces and best musical masterpieces. Adding to the resonance in the public mind of "Hero" is when Carey peformed the song at the televised America: A Tribute to Heroes benefit in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Following this was "Without You", Carey's most successful song internationally, reaching #1 in many countries, including the UK, where it became her only solo #1 hit; despite this it only peaked at #3 in the US. The final single released from the album was the gospel-tinged ballad, "Anytime You Need A Friend" which was Carey's first single to miss the Top 5 in the US, peaking at #12 and led many to believe her career in decline, especially as it was as a result of low sales rather than low airplay.

Carey's Music Box hits, together with her duet with Luther Vandross of Diana Ross' "Endless Love", made her one of the most-played musicians on the radio in 1993 and 1994. During the Christmas season of 1994, Carey released the album Merry Christmas, and had a perennial hit with her original holiday song, "All I Want For Christmas Is You"; which despite not being very successful in the US (festive season dies out quickly music wise there), was a Top 10 hit in many countries in Europe, reaching #2 in the UK. The album was predominantely cover version's of Christmas classics, however there were some other new songs other than "All I Want For Christmas Is You", some of which went on to become minor hits across the world.

In 1995, Carey released Daydream. This album and Music Box would eventually go on to be Carey's two best-selling albums. Daydream's lead single, "Fantasy", got heavy play on urban radio, thanks to a remix that featured a rhyme by the Wu-Tang Clan's Old Dirty Bastard. This also marked the start of a new trend for Carey's singles: she realized that she had a higher potential for massive crossover hits if she employed the use of various genre-specific remixes for each single. "Fantasy" also became the second single in American chart history to debut at No. 1 on the Hot 100, after Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone", which it bettered by 7 weeks, spending 8 at the summit. It was followed by "One Sweet Day", a duet with Boyz II Men, which spent a still-record 16 consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the United States, beating the original record of 14 held by Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" and Boyz II Men's "I'll Make Love to You". It also became her second #1 debut, making her not only the sole artist to receive more than one #1 debut, but also 2 consecutive #1 debuts. "Always Be My Baby" next made it to No. 1, receiving widespread airplay from pop, adult contemporary, and adult Top 40 radio, while its urban remix—featuring rhymes by Da Brat and a more soulful-sounding chorus sung by R&B group Xscape—got heavy airplay on urban, rap and R&B radio stations. "Forever", "Underneath The Stars" & "Open Arms", the other singles from the album, did not make #1 but were still hits in the United States and worldwide.

While Carey's music was hugely popular, it always had its detractors as well. Some thought that her compositions were too homogeneously commercial; others thought that her lyrics were too full of repetitive, simplistic imagery (a line of criticism that would increase with her next several albums); still others thought her voice was beginning to wear down (also an observation that would intensify in the coming decade).

Independence and new image established, 1997–2000

Carey and Mottola separated in 1997; their divorce became final the following year.

Carey's 1997 album, Butterfly, was her second consecutive album debut at #1, and saw her continuing to move in an R&B/hip hop direction. Its butterfly motif related to Carey's feelings about escaping what she saw as the controlled, cocoonlike environment of her marriage. The first single, "Honey", became her third #1 debut in the United States and featured a remix with rappers Puff Daddy, The Lox and Mase. Its video displayed a much more sexual and sultry Carey than any previous video. Other singles and videos off the album included "Butterfly", "The Roof", "Breakdown" (a duet with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony featuring Carey singing in a style similar to the way the Bone Thugs rap) and the #1 hit "My All".

In 1998, Carey released the album #1s, a collection of all her American #1 singles up to that point. It also included the new singles "When You Believe", a duet with Whitney Houston that was featured in the DreamWorks animated film The Prince of Egypt; "Sweetheart", a hip-hoppy duet with Jermaine Dupri; "I Still Believe," a cover of the 1980s song by Brenda K. Starr; and "Whenever You Call", a duet with popular R&B singer Brian McKnight.

Also in that year Carey appeared on the first televised VH1 Divas program, a joint benefit concert appearance with Aretha Franklin, Céline Dion, Gloria Estefan and Shania Twain. Mariah Carey's attractive appearance, commanding vocal and stage presence, career twists and turns, and alleged prima donna behavior have already led many to consider a diva; what some perceived as Carey's self-centered attitude during this show helped cement this reputation.

During the late summer of 1999, Carey began promoting her upcoming album Rainbow by releasing a single and video for "Heartbreaker" (featuring Jay-Z). It became Carey's fourteenth #1 on the Hot 100, thanks to a commercially available single, which sold over 300,000 copies in its first week alone. The single went on to achieve platinum status and was one of the last singles to do so in the United States, with the Napster craze starting at the end of the millennium.

"Heartbreaker"'s success was boosted by a popular music video that got heavy airplay on MTV's TRL. At a cost of over $2.5 million, the video was Carey's most expensive to date and one of the five most expensive music videos in history, mixing an animated version of the video with a live-action video featuring Jerry O'Connell. A video was also filmed for a DJ Clue remix to "Heartbreaker", which was much more hip hop-oriented than the original, featuring a sample of Snoop Dogg's "Ain't No Fun" and guest raps by Missy Elliott and Da Brat. Both versions of "Heartbreaker" spent a total of 65 days on TRL and become her first and only TRL-"retired" video.

The second single from Rainbow, "Thank God I Found You", became Carey's fifteenth #1 single on the Hot 100. The song was a duet with Joe and featured 98 Degrees singing background vocals on the chorus. The song didn't fare as well on the radio as Carey's earlier songs did, but solid sales assured that the song became a chart hit. The accompanying video was for a remix that contained a sample from Keith Sweat's "Make It Last Forever" and featured Joe and Nas.

After having 26 consecutive songs in the Top 20 since her debut 10 years earlier, Carey released two more of Rainbow's songs as singles: "Crybaby" and "Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)". Neither song really took off with an audience. "Crybaby", a hip-hop song that featured Snoop Dogg, was promoted to urban and hip-hop radio, while "Mariah's Theme", a ballad in the vein of "Hero", was promoted to Top 40 and adult contemporary radio. Even with a commercial single release, "Crybaby" only managed to peak at #28, Carey's lowest-performing single up to that point. Carey blamed this on lack of support from Sony Music Entertainment (corporate parent of Columbia Records) and has suggested that Sony did not allow other potential singles on the album to flourish, particularly "How Much", her duet with Usher.

Though Carey's singles are usually in the pop genre, she has also combined her talents with rap artists such as Lord Tariq, Peter Gunz and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Most of her recent singles have also been remixed as dance music, where she worked with DJs such as David Morales and Junior Vasquez.

As the millennium drew to a close, despite some warning signs Carey still appeared to be on a high, having just celebrated her 15th No. 1 single. She was the recipient of several awards in recognition for her decade-spanning career, including Billboard's Artist of the Decade award and the World Music Award for the Best-Selling Female Artist of the Millennium.

Personal and career struggles, 2001–2003

Carey had ended a very successful decade in music. However, like the proverbial bouncing ball, things took a sudden downward turn for Carey. Her one victory was in finally ending her contract with longtime label Sony after which she signed a huge contract with EMI's Virgin Records. Both parties appeared to be enthusiastic about the deal and Carey received a hefty signing bonus. Just a few months later, in August, 2001 it was widely reported that Carey had suffered physical and mental exhaustion. She had left voicemail messages to her fans complaining of being overworked. Her many years of concurrent singing, writing, producing, and now acting seemed to have finally taken their toll. Carey made a notorious appearance on TRL, where she was scantily clad and acting strangely. After that, she checked into a mental health facility and announced that she was taking a break from performing.

Her acting debut, in the semi-autobiographical film Glitter, was scheduled for later that month; the film was finally released on September 21, but panned by most movie critics. The film was also a box office failure. When EMI's Virgin Records released her tenth album, Glitter. Carey was unable to do much promotion due to her ill health and the album, having been released on a dark day in American history, September 11, 2001, did not fare well. The lead single "Loverboy" reached #2 on the Hot 100 thanks to Virgin's massive campaign to sell the single for only 99 cents across the United States (A similar route was taken with the number one song of that week, "Bootylicious" by Destiny's Child, also available at retail outlets for less than a dollar). However, sales were disappointing and airplay almost nonexistent. The album peaked at #7 (Carey's weakest showing ever), despite being hailed as some of the singer's best work.

EMI decided to part ways with Carey after the lackluster performance of Glitter and they bought out her contract for $28 million. This gave her another round of bad publicity. Despite this, there were several record companies vying for her signature in the months that followed. She eventually signed with Island Def Jam in 2002.

Meanwhile, Carey's three-year relationship with singer Luis Miguel was coming to an end. Before that, she had briefly dated baseball star Derek Jeter. Carey has stated in interviews that despite her more overtly sexual image, she is very reticent to enter an intimate relationship. In part, this may be in reaction to her sister, Alison, who is undoubtedly the black sheep of the Carey family. Alison was a drug addict for years, had been diagnosed with HIV and promised to write a tell-all book about how she worked as a prostitute to support Mariah in the early years of her career. Mariah Carey's family denied this, and in fact it was Mariah who took care of Alison's children when Alison lost custody of them. To further add to Mariah's emotional burdens, her father Alfred Roy Carey died of cancer in 2002.

Carey had a prominent acting role in the independent film Wisegirls (2002); this time, she received much better reviews from critics. Mariah then released a new album and her first concept album, Charmbracelet, in December 2002 as part of a new deal with Island Records; it debuted at #3. She expressed an interest in writing music that is more profoundly meaningful to her and her fans. The album included the singles "Through the Rain", "Boy (I Need You)" featuring rapper Cam'ron and a cover of Def Leppard's 1980s hit "Bringin' On The Heartbreak".

Carey's devoted fan base—who sometimes go by the name "lambs"—continued to buy her singles in the thousands, but none of the singles took off with pop radio, whose playlists had become less open to maturing pop "diva" stylists such as Carey, Whitney Houston, and Céline Dion. [2] After a decade of one Carey hit after another, many observers came to the conclusion that Carey had lost her "radio magic."

Subsequently, Carey's duet with Busta Rhymes, "I Know What You Want" (2003), fared considerably better, reaching #3 in Billboard's pop singles chart. It is also featured on her 13th album, The Remixes, a double CD. That year, Carey was awarded the World Music Awards "Diamond Award" in honor of over 150 million album sales worldwide. [3] During 2003, Carey staged the "Charmbracelet World Tour". Reviews were generally favorable, although the press often focused on Carey's large traveling entourage, many pieces of luggage, hotel and dressing room demands, and other diva-like behaviors. [4]

Resurgence, 2004–present

Carey spent the majority of 2004 making her second concept album, The Emancipation of Mimi. In the fall, she was featured on Jadakiss's hit single "U Make Me Wanna", which managed to hit the Top 10 on Billboard's R&B chart. In November, the new song "Say Something", which featured rappers Snoop Dogg and Pharrell, leaked onto the Internet but was met with a lukewarm response. Another Neptunes production, "To the Floor" (formerly titled "Tonight"), which featured rapper Nelly, also leaked onto the Internet. On New Year's Eve, Carey premiered a Jermaine Dupri production at the Pure Club in Las Vegas. The song "It's Like That" received a positive response and within weeks, it zoomed into the Top 20, peaking at #16. Media sources hailed the song as a triumphant return for Carey. Billboard wrote, "After years of underwhelming singles, Mariah Carey finally returns with a hot track..." and put it on their list of the week's essentials. The decade-old "All I Want for Christmas Is You" also gave Carey a significant radio presence toward the end of the year among the many radio stations playing all-holiday music formats.

As of April 2005, Mariah Carey had earned an estimated fortune of $431 million from her record sales, world tours, and recording advances.

The Emancipation of Mimi was released on April 12, 2005; it is the story of self-discovery and remaking one's image. It was released to generally positive reviews, with some critics calling it Carey's best album in years. Mimi debuted at #1, with 403,775 copies sold in its first week (the highest such tally of Carey's career). The second single from the album, "We Belong Together", has been very successful and so far has reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is her first single since "One Sweet Day" in 1995 to top the Hot 100 Airplay chart.

Voice

Mariah Carey is known for her amazing, multi-octave voice. She has a very powerful control of her whistle register and it is this rare talent that has enabled her vocal range to double that of the average singer. There has been some debate as to what is her exact singing range; while some claim it is no more than 5, others sources indicates that it lies between 5 and 7 octaves. Carey's dramatic coloratura soprano is rated as one of the greatest among pop singers [5]. In 2003 she placed at No. 1 on MTV's "22 Greatest Voices in Music" countdown, ahead of such rivals as Whitney Houston and Céline Dion.

Vocal Profile

  • Octave Range: (approx.) 5 (A2–G7)
  • Longest Note: 20 seconds in the song "Lead the way".
  • Highest Recorded Note(s): G7, G7#, F7, E7
  • Lowest Recorded Note(s): A2, A2#, B2

The above are her lowest and highest recorded notes: she has hit lower and higher notes in live performances.

Career records and achievements

The singles marks here are based on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. U.S. record sales figures are certified by RIAA and may be considered reliable. However, no process exists to certify worldwide record sales (except the World Music Awards which certified Mariah as the best selling female artist of the millennium)

  • With U.S. sales of over 60 million albums and 24 million singles (as of April 2005) and Worldwide sales surpassing 200 million singles and albums, Mariah Carey is the Biggest selling Female Artist in Music History
  • In 1999, Mariah was awarded the Billboard award for Artist of the Decade, crowning her as the biggest-selling artist of the 1990s.
  • Mariah received the Legend World Music Award in 1998 for her very impressive record sales.
  • The World Music awards awarded Mariah the Female Artist of the Millennium Award, declaring her as the World's biggest selling Female artist of the Millennium.
  • Mariah Carey has the most World Music awards for a female in history (12), which shows that she is the biggest selling female performer of all time
  • Mariah is rated as the 3rd best pop artist of the past 25 years [6]
  • Mariah is the artist with the record for most consecutive years with a #1 single; she is the only artist to have a single reach #1 for every year of the 1990s.
  • In 2003, Carey won the Diamond World Music Award for her album sales of over 150 million.
  • Mariah is the only artist to have every debut single from each album top the charts in the 90s. (Her run was broken in 2001 when Loverboy peaked at #2.
  • When the single "One Sweet Day" spent 16 weeks on the Billboard charts in the #1 postion, it became the longest running consecutive #1 single in history, taking the title held by Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You", which managed 14 weeks.
  • Mariah is the female artist with the most culmulative weeks having a No. 1 single in history (61). She is second overall to Elvis Presley (80).
  • Mariah Carey has seen 15 singles reach #1 on the US chart; the most for any Female artist in history and third overall (behind The Beatles and Elvis Presley)
  • When "Fantasy","One Sweet Day" and "Honey" debuted at #1 on the singles chart, Mariah became the artist with the most singles to debut at Number 1 in chart history. No other artist has achieved more than one #1 debut.
  • Of the 12 songs ever to debut @ #1 on the Billboard Charts, 3 of them were sung by Mariah Carey.
  • Mariah is also the only artist to have two consecutive #1 debuts on the singles chart ("Fantasy" and "One Sweet Day").
  • Mariah is the first and only female artist to have a single debut at #1.
  • With "Fantasy" and "One Sweet Day" selling over 2 million, Mariah is the only artist to have 2 consecutive singles sell over 2 million in the US.
  • Mariah has the most (10) platinum singles in the US by a female artist.
  • Mariah is one of 3 artists (and the only female) to receive the American Music award for Special Achievement (the other two awardees are Michael Jackson and Prince).
  • Mariah is the only female artist to have 9 consecutive albums RIAA- certified for at least 3 million copies sold.
  • The music video for Heartbreaker costed over $3 million making it the most expensive female video in history (it is third overall to "Thriller" and "Scream", both by Michael Jackson)
  • With only 15 years in the music industry Mariah has the following RIAA achievments: Albums, 74 certifications (as of April 2005); singles, 33 certications (as of April 2005); total: 108 certifications.
  • RIAA Certifications: Album (14 gold, 14 platinum, 9 multi-platinum, 2 Diamond Awards); singles (22 gold, 10 platinum, 2 mutli-platinum).
  • Mariah Carey is the third biggest-selling female artist in the United States (behind Barbra Streisand and Madonna).
  • Mariah Carey is the biggest selling international Artist in Japan

Trivia

  • Mariah is philanthropist who has donated millions of dollars to organizations such as The make a wish foundation, the National Adoption Center, the Fresh Air Fund among many others.
  • Mariah's self titled debut album debuted on the Top 200 Album charts in June 1990 at #80. It reached #1 on March of 1991 where it stayed for 11 weeks.
  • Mariah has recorded three of her songs in Spanish: "Hero" ("Heroe"), "Open Arms" ("El Amor Que Sone") and "My All" ("Mi Todo").
  • Mariah's first public singing appearance was in 1976, when she was only 6 years old.
  • At the start of her career, Mariah suffered from stage fright.
  • Mariah is tall: 5 foot 9 inches by most reports.
  • Mariah's performance trademark is making fluttering motions with her left hand while she sings. Voice teachers have commented that this actually helps one's singing technique.
  • In the 1996 Grammy Awards Mariah was nominated for 6 awards. She did not win any awards that year and that marked the last time that she made an appearance at the show in the hopes of collecting any awards. She has been nominated over 20 times but has only managed to win two in 1991.
  • Mariah directed her first video, "Fantasy" in 1995.
  • Mariah used to think that her right side looked better, because she has a mole on her left. She has out grown that now.
  • Mariah has stated that she dislikes her #1 single "I Don't Wanna Cry" and tries to sing it as rarely as possible.
  • Mariah will be launching clothing and accessories lines and plans to pen a series of childrens' books soon.

Awards

For a list of awards see: List of Mariah Carey Awards

Discography

For a detailed discography see: Mariah Carey Discography

More Discography

Filmography

See also

External links

Click the following links to get a profile of Mariah's voice and to hear clips of her singing her famous high notes:








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