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Mariah
Carey - Biography
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The only artist
to have had a #1 single for every year of the 1990's !
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| Mariah
Carey was born in Long Island, New York on March 27, 1970. Mariah Carey
seemed born to be a pop star, wielding a soulfully astonishing seven-octave
voice while offering a super model look that barely hints at her ethnic
origins. "My mother is Irish, my father is black and Venezuelan, and me--
I'm tan, I guess." she says. Mariah took after her mother who was an opera
singer in the pursuit of developing her vocal talents. With her mother
(a former opera singer with the New York City Opera) as a vocal coach,
Mariah Carey began singing at age four. By the time she was in junior high
school, she had begun to write songs. She was devoting an inordinate amount
of time to singing, so much so that her nickname in high school was "Mirage." |
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| After
her high school graduation, she moved to New York City at the age of 17
to pursue a music career. During this time, she was working as a backup
singer for various R&B sessions around Manhattan and she also went
through a number of waitress jobs getting fired from a number of them,
many times for her "attitude". At that time, she also met keyboardist Ben
Margulies, with whom she wrote many of her early songs. They spent an endless
amount of time together writing and performing. She had a demo tape, but
nowhere to go with it. Carey got her first big break, singing backup for
Brenda K. Starr, a break that led to her signing with Columbia Records.
Brenda K.Starr convinced Mariah to come with her to a record industry party.
Mariah brought one of her tapes along. Starr presented a demo tape of hers
to Columbia Records chief Tommy Mottola. According to legend, Mottola listened
to the tape in his limo while driving home that same evening, and was so
immediately struck by Carey's talent that he doubled back to the party
to track her down. |
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| After
signing to Columbia (now Sony), with Mottola guiding her career, Carey
(she was not yet nineteen) entered the studio to begin work on her 1990
self-titled debut LP.
The heavily
promoted album was a chart-topping smash, launching no less than four number
one singles - "Vision of Love," "Love Takes Time," "Someday"
and "I Don't Wanna Cry." Her overnight success earned Grammy awards
as Best New Artist and Best Female Vocalist, and expectations were high
for Carey's follow-up, 1991's Emotions. The album included a number
of dance numbers that pushed her ability to emote. The title track reached
number one, and "Can't Let Go" and "Make It Happen" landed
in the Top Five.
Her next
move was touring. Avoiding the grueling schedules and long periods away
from home her concert tours were always very short, very well rehearsed,
and always sold out. Her next release was 1992's MTV Unplugged EP. With
the success of the show, the video, the album, and especially her version
of the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There," Mariah's career was confirmed.
In June
of 1993, Mariah got married to Tommy Mottola, some two decades her senior,
the man who discovered her and guided her. Months later she released her
third full-length effort, Music Box, her best selling record
to date (sold more than 24 million copies worldwide).
Two more
singles, "Dreamlover" and "Hero," reached the top spot on
the charts.
Her November
1994 release - Merry Christmas balanced old Christian hymns and
new songs: two original songs were the singles from the album "Miss
You Most At Christmas Time" and "All I Want For Christmas Is You." |
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| In 1995,
she released
Daydream which reflected a new artistic maturity. The
first single, "Fantasy," debuted at number one, making Carey the
first female artist and just the second performer ever to accomplish the
feat. The Boyz II Men collaboration "One Sweet Day" soon followed
with a recordbreaking 16 weeks at number one. In 1997 after separating
from Mottola, Mariah returned with another great album. Her fans were blessed
with album titled Butterfly, another staggering success and her
most hip-hop flavored recording to date. |
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| In November
1998, Mariah released her #1's album, a collection of 13 of her chart-topping
megahits as well as four brand-new bonus recordings: "When You Believe"
(from The Prince Of Egypt), a duet with Whitney Houston; "Whenever You
Call," a duet with Brian McKnight; "I Still Believe"; and "Sweetheart."
#1's has achieved RIAA triple platinum status.
In 1999
Mariah release album Rainbow her eighth studio long-player. Rainbow
featured Mariah's 14th #1 Hot 100 single, "Heartbreaker," which
also became her 6th chart-topping R&B single, a very likable piece
of bubble-gum R&B with grit borrowed from guest Jay-Z. Another groove-intensive
track, the Snoop Dogg duet "Crybaby," is so sly that one hopes the
two collaborate again. Rainbow features 13 new tracks written by Mariah
Carey. The range of songs embraces a multitude of musical textures - including
pop, soul, R&B, hip-hop and gospel - which continue to demonstrate
Mariah's ability to shine in a wide variety of genres.
In
fact, Mariah Carey is the only artist to have had a #1 single for every
year of the 1990's. |
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 Mariah
Carey |
| Mariah
- Music |
| Mariah
Carey Books |
| Mariah
DVD Selections |
| Pictures
Gallery Vol.1 |
| Pictures
Gallery Vol.2 |
| Pictures
Gallery Vol.3 |
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| Great
Buy: |
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The
Emancipation of Mimi
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Mariah Carey returns strong,
proud and super confident with her brand new release The Emancipation of
Mimi!
Early buzz on The Emancipation
of Mimi predicted that this would be the disc to mark "the return of the
voice"--the voice being that glass-shattering instrument that propelled
Carey to bestselling female artist of all time status--and mostly it is.
But because of the small army of talent involved in its assembly, the album
is way more than just a comeback vehicle. |
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Rainbow-
Mariah Carey
Rainbow, Mariah Carey's seventh
studio long-player, is something like a concept album. Its theme is the
various stages of the "emotional roller coaster," as she puts it, of her
divorce and subsequent rebound. Carey continues to walk the line between
streetwise hip-hop soul and adult-contemporary acceptability, with the
former not surprisingly offering most of the disc's high points. |
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Merry
Christmas
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She's been hailed for her multi
octave vocal range--a tool that sometimes detracts from her pop recordings,
but actually works quite beautifully in the context of this charming holiday
collection.
Fans will surely approve of
Carey's renditions of slinky secular songs like "Christmas (Baby, Please
Come Home)" and a nicely subdued "All I Want for Christmas Is You." But
where she really surprises is in her unadorned delivery of a passel of
traditional carols, highlighted by "Silent Night" (which she sings quietly,
avoiding the temptation to wail those high notes) and "Jesus, Oh What a
Wonderful Child." A must for diehards, and a pleasant surprise for the
unconverted. |
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Greatest
Hits
Mariah
Carey
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| Mariah's five-octave, pop/R&B
stylings set the diva standard. Greatest Hits culls its offerings from
Carey's five albums on Sony (she is now signed to Virgin), and you get
all the facets of her platinum-plus sound. |
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