Mariah Carey is one of the most popular pop singers of America. She is also an established R&B singer-songwriter and record producer, apart from being an actress. Though she started singing and writing songs at a very tender age, she released her debut album, Mariah Carey, in the year 1990, under the guidance of Tommy Mottola, Columbia Records executive. The popularity of Mariah and her songs started increasing day and day and she became the first recording artist to have her first five singles top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Though, after her divorce, she suffered a setback in her career, she has come back with a bang.
Childhood
Carey was born on 27th March 1970, in Huntington, Long Island (New York). She was the third and the youngest child of Alfred Roy Carey, an aeronautical engineer of Afro-Venezuelan descent, and Patricia Hickey, a former opera singer and vocal coach of Irish descent. Her parents got divorced in 1973, when she was only three years old, and she spent most of her time with her mother. Around the same time, Mariah started singing under the guidance of her mother. She went to Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, New York.
Struggle
During her graduation, Mariah worked as a demo singer for local recording studios and got the opportunity to work with musicians like Gavin Christopher and Ben Margulies. Around late 1980s, Mariah Carey moved to New York and started working, first part time and then, as a backup singer for Puerto Rican freestyle singer Brenda K. Starr. In 1988, Carey got the opportunity to meet Tommy Mottola, Columbia Records executive, at a party. Impressed with her demo tape, he signed a recording contract with her.
Success
Mariah Carey released her debut album, Mariah Carey, in the year 1990 and it became so popular that it reached number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. Carey also won Grammy for ‘Best New Artist’ and ‘Best Female Pop Vocal Performance’ for her debut single, "Vision of Love"
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She released her second album Emotions in the following year, but it did not generate much heat. However, with this album, Carey started co-producing most of her material. It was in the year 1992 that her first widely seen appearance was featured on the television show, MTV Unplugged.
In 1993, Mariah Carey married Tommy Mottola and also released her third full-length album, Music Box. In the following years, she released a holiday album, Merry Christmas and another album, Daydream. With the latter, she became the female performer to have a single debut at #1. Carey and Mottola officially announced their separation in 1997 and the following year, they got divorced. During this time, she released Butterfly and #1s (compilation of her 13 singles), both of which were huge hits.
In 1999, Mariah released Rainbow, which did not create much ripples. This period was very traumatic for her and she was said to be suffering from severe depression. Even her movie Glitter, released in 2001, was almost a failure. She signed a contract with Virgin around this time, but they broke it in 2002 and paid her US$28 million. The same year, she launched her ninth album, Charmbracelet and set up her own label - MonarC Music. It was with the release of ‘The Emancipation of Mimi’, Mariah’s tenth album, that things started turning in her favor.
Released in 2005, the album was touted as the ‘Comeback of Mariah Carey’. It became 2005's best-selling album in the US. It also got her a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album and the single "We Belong Together" won Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song. Mariah Carey started her concert tour in mid-2006. In March 2007, she appeared on edition of Playboy magazine, on a non-nude photo session. Presently, Carey is working on her eleventh studio album, E=MC², due to be released in April, 2008.
Mariah Carey Timeline
* 1970 - Born on 27th March, in Long Island, New York
* Late 1980s - Moved to New York City to pursue singing
* 1988 - Met Tommy Mottola at a party
* 1990 - Released her debut album, Mariah Carey
* 1990 - The album reached #1 on the charts
* 1991 - Released her second album, Emotions
* 1992 - Released an MTV Unplugged EP
* 1993 - Married Tommy Mottola
* 1993 - Released her third full-length album, Music Box
* 1994 - Released a holiday album, Merry Christmas
* 1995 - Released the album, Daydream and became the female performer to have a single debut at #1
* 1997 - Released the album, Butterfly
* 1998 - Released #1s, a compilation of her 13 singles, including a duet with Whitney Houston called ‘The Prince of Egypt’
* 1998 - Divorced Tommy Mottola
* 1999 - Released the album, Rainbow
* 2001 - Underwent depression & posted suicidal messages on her website
* 2001 - Released her movie ‘Glitter’, which bombed at the box office
* 2002 - Virgin broke its contract with Carey and paid her 28 million dollars, Signed with Island/Def Jam and set up her own label - MonarC Music
* 2002 - Released her ninth album, Charmbracelet
* 2005 - Released her tenth album, The Emancipation of Mimi that went multiplatinum
* 2005 - Suffered from the arrest of her sister for prostitution
* 2005 - Appeared at the MTV Video Music Awards in Miami
* 2006 - Began concert tour ‘The Adventures of Mimi Tour’
* 2007 - Appeared on edition of Playboy magazine, on a non-nude photo session
* 2008 - Will release her eleventh studio album, E=MC²
According to Island Def Jam, Carey has sold more than 200 million albums, singles and videos worldwide, which makes her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Carey was cited as the world’s best-selling recording artist of the 1990s at the 1998 World Music Awards and was also named the best-selling female artist of the millennium by the same award-giving body in 2000. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she is the third-best-selling female artist and seventeenth overall recording artist with shipments of 63 million albums in the United States. In 2008, Carey earned her eighteenth number one single on the Hot 100, the most for any solo artist. Aside from her commercial accomplishments, she has earned five Grammy Awards and is known for her five-octave vocal range, power, melismatic style and use of the whistle register.
On April 30, 2011, the couple's third wedding anniversary, Carey gave birth to fraternal twins via C-section. The twins were named Monroe, after Marilyn Monroe, and Moroccan Scott, after Cannon proposed to Carey in her Moroccan-style room; Scott is Cannon's middle name and his grandmother's maiden name. On February 11, 2011, Carey announced on HSN, that she recorded a duet with Tony Bennett for his upcoming "Duets" album, titled "When Do The Bells Ring For Me". Following the birth of their children, Cannon revealed during an interview with Billboard that Carey had already begun working on a new record.
Perfect People feature on Mariah Carey that includes pics, pictures, biography, video, related news, vital stats, commentary, and cool facts.
