Biography of Mariah Carey

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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, one of the greatest ranges of any popular singer. Vocal swoops and trills are an easily recognized feature of her sound, and her lavish use of melisma has influenced a whole generation of singers.

Carey is one of the best-selling female recording artists ever, and surveys generally place her in the top three spots in overall sales. 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 can be heard in many top female singers who came after her, including Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé Knowles, Alicia Keys, as well as Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia Barrino, and other female American Idol competitors.

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 (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 sporadic 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 was impressed by what he heard, and signed her to a recording contract.

Early commercial success, 1990–1992
Mariah Carey's career began with the release of her self-titled 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 Wannna 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 has also co-produced many of the songs on all her albums, in collaboration with her songwriting and other partners.

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'N'B charts and "Make It Happen".

In 1992, Carey gave her first real concert performance on MTV Unplugged. 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 her childhood friend Trey Lorenz, which was subsequently released as a single and gave her a sixth #1 hit. The concert itself was so popular, that the songs were compiled onto an album entitled MTV Unplugged which was largely successful in its own right.

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 and spawned the hits "Anytime You Need a Friend", "Without You", which became her only solo UK #1 single and the hugely popular US #1 songs "Dreamlover" and "Hero". These last two songs are among Carey's most memorable works, with the inspirational "Hero" in particular achieving an added resonance in the public mind in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Carey peformed the song at the televised America: A Tribute to Heroes benefit.

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".

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". "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 No. 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 US 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 '80s 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 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 No. 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. [1] (http://www.usatoday.com/life/dcovfri.htm) 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. [2] (http://www.worldmusicawards.com/diamondaward.html) 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. [3] (http://www.abstracts.net/mariah-carey/2003-10.html)

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 #19. 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.

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). This has led many to say that Mimi may be Carey's comeback album after the underwhelming critical and commercial receptions of Glitter and Charmbracelet. The second single, "We Belong Together", is currently at #12 on the Hot 100.

Voice
Mariah Carey is known for her amazing voice. She has a very powerful control of her whistle register. Carey's dramatic coloratura soprano is rated as one of the greatest among pop singers [4] (http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_vocalists-fe-pop.html). 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 Note(s): G7, G7#, F7, E7
Lowest Note (s): A2, A2#, B2

Career: records and achievements
The singles marked here are based on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

• Biggest-selling female artist in recording history.
• Biggest-selling artist of the 1990s.
• Female Artist of the Millennium (World Music Awards)
• Artist of the Decade (Billboard Music Awards)
• Only artist to have a No. 1 single every year of the 1990s.
• Longest-running single at No. 1 in history ("One Sweet Day", 16 weeks).
• Most cumulative weeks having a No. 1 single (61) for any living artist—second only to Elvis Presley (80).
• Most No. 1 singles for any female artist (15).
• The artist with the most singles to debut at Number 1 in chart history
• First artist to have his or her first five singles go to No. 1. ("Vision of Love","Love Takes Time","Someday","I Don't Wanna Cry" and "Emotions"). Later achieved another 5 consecutive No. 1 Singles ("Fantasy","One Sweet Day","Always Be My Baby", "Honey", and "My All")
• Only artist to have two consecutive No. 1 debuts on the singles chart.
• Only artist with three No. 1 debuts on the singles chart. (First female to have a single debut at the top)
• The only artist to have 2 consecutive singles sell over 2 million in the US
• RIAA achievments: Albums, 73 certifications (as of April 2005); singles, 28 certications (as of April 2005); total: 101 certifications.
• RIAA Certifications: Album (14 gold, 13 platinum, 9 multi-platinum, 2 Diamond Awards); singles (18 gold, 8 platinum, 2 mutli-platinum).
• Most platinum singles by a female artist (8).
• 5 No. 1 albums (3 debuts at No. 1) tied with Madonna and Janet Jackson, behind Barbra Streisand, with 8 No. 1 albums.
• Only female artist to have 9 consecutive albums RIAA- certified for at least 3 million copies sold.
• One of 3 artists (and the only female) to receve the American Music award for Special Achievement.
• The third biggest-selling female artist in the United States (behind Barbra Streisand and Madonna)

Sales: U.S. albums, 60. million; singles, 15 million (as of April 2005)

Source - www.wikipedia.org