Mariah Carey

1970—

Singer, actor

Mariah Carey has displayed each of the characteristics that commonly describe a diva. She possesses both a five-octave vocal range and award-winning music business skills. She cowrote all but one of her number-one songs (which was a cover of a Jackson 5 song) and coproduced all of her chart-topping hits. She was named the world's top selling female artist of the millennium. By the summer of 2001, the talented, classically trained, and hardworking singer had come full circle and reached a breaking point, but quickly rebounded. With the release of her 2008 album E=MC2, which debuted at the top of the charts, Carey tied Janet Jackson and Madonna for the number-two spot for all-time number-one albums by a female artist, trailing only Barbra Streisand in that category. Her eighteen number-one singles are second only to the Beatles among all performers.

Carey was born on March 27, 1970, in Long Island, New York, to Patricia Carey, who was a soloist with the New York City Opera, and Alfred Roy Carey, an aeronautical engineer. Since the tender age of four, she knew she wanted to sing. By the time she was eighteen years old, Carey had a tape ready for the moment that opportunity came knocking. A brief meeting with Sony executive Tommy Mottola at a party was the catalyst to her successful career. Mottola told Ebony magazine that he knew right away that she had star potential. "When I first heard and saw Mariah, there was absolutely no doubt she was in every way destined for stardom," he said.

Made Chart-Topping Entrance

Carey burst onto the scene with the rich and soulful single "Vision of Love" in 1990. The first single from her first album, Mariah Carey, hit number one on the charts. This incredible freshman effort led Carey to become the third artist to be nominated in the same year for best album, best song, and best new artist. Mariah Carey earned twenty-two weeks at Billboard's number one, sold more than seven million copies, and was responsible for four number-one singles: "Vision of Love," "Love Takes Time," "Someday," and "I Don't Wanna Cry."

On her second album, Emotions, in 1991, Carey produced a record-breaking fifth consecutive number-one single with the album's title track. Two other songs from her sophomore release reached the top five in the charts. The next album for Carey was a live effort, MTV Unplugged, and it also produced a number one-song—a cover of the Jackson 5 single "I'll Be There."

In June of 1993 Carey wed Mottola at the historic St. Thomas Church in New York. The grand wedding sparked even more comparisons of Carey's success to a fairytale. Mottola, then age forty-three, served as the prince who swept the young songstress off her feet. She also released Music Box in 1993, which sparked more chart-topping success. This album produced the hit singles "Dreamlover" and "Hero."

While Carey suffered poor critical reviews of her first tour, the bad reviews did not deter her. She released Merry Christmas in 1994. Although this was one of the three albums that did not produce a number one hit, the single "All I Want for Christmas Is You" was a bright spot.

Mixed Musical Styles

In 1995 Carey released Daydream, and its lead single, "Fantasy," debuted at number one. The single was a duet with embattled rap star O.D.B. of the Wu Tang Clan. In spite of the strangeness of the combination, the two produced what was the beginning of Carey's hip-hop pop sound. Years later Variety magazine would attribute Carey's musical brilliance to "her ability to stay ever-so-slightly ahead of the teen beat curve." This single represented one of the trends in fusing the ever-growing popularity of hip-hop and rap with the pop music sound—a practice that has since become standard in the music industry. She also scored another hit from Daydream with "One Sweet Day," a collaboration that paired the singer with Boys II Men. The song saw a good measure of success and remained at the top of the charts for four months.

Despite the continuing success musically, Carey's personal life was becoming troubled. She separated from Mottola in 1997 and was finally divorced in 1998. She spent the time immersing herself in what she called the music of her youth. Though best known for her pop sound, her next effort, Butterfly, was the most hip-hop laden of her releases to date. Carey was still topping the charts, but critics questioned her leanings towards hip-hop and R&B. Carey told Newsweek International that critics "don't understand that I'm someone who grew up with this music. It's exciting to be able to work with [hip-hop artists] Jay-Z or Nas or Missy Elliott."

To mark the many years of number-one singles and success with music, Carey's next album, #1's, was a compilation of her first thirteen number-one hits. It also highlighted a few duets, including "Whenever You Call" with Brian McKnight and "When You Believe" with Whitney Houston. "When You Believe" was featured on the soundtrack of Disney's animated film The Prince of Egypt and met with worldwide success. With so many record-breaking successes under her belt and an album of greatest hits, it seemed that Carey had accomplished all that any one person could in music. 1999, however, proved to be a very good year for the star as well. She released her eighth album, Rainbow, and became the first artist to have hit songs at the top of the charts for each year in the 1990s with the single "Heartbreaker."

At a Glance …

Born on March 27, 1970, in Hamilton, Long Island, New York; daughter of Patricia Carey (a former soloist with the New York City Opera) and Alfred Roy Carey (a former aeronautical engineer); married Tommy Mottola (a record executive), 1993 (divorced, 1998); married Nick Cannon (an actor and singer), 2008.

Career: Singer and recording artist, 1990—; actor, 2000—; record producer; has worked as a television and music video producer and director.

Awards: Grammy Awards, best new artist and best female vocalist, 1990; World Music Award, bestselling female artist of millennium, 2000; four Vibe Awards, including best artist, best R&B voice, best R&B song for "We Belong Together," and best album for The Emancipation of Mimi, 2005; American Music Award, favorite female R&B artist, 2005; favorite comeback artist in the XM Nation Music Awards voting, 2005; Grammy Awards, best female R&B vocal performance, best R&B song (with Jermaine Dupri and Manuel Seal) for "We Belong Together," and best contemporary R&B album for The Emancipation of Mimi, 2006; NAACP Image Award, best album for The Emancipation of Mimi, 2006; received "recording star" on Hollywood Walk of Fame, 2007.

Addresses: Record label—Island Records, 825 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10019.

Life Took a Turn

The new millennium was looking bright for Carey after being honored as the best-selling female artist of the millennium at the twelfth annual World Music Awards. Carey broadened her work to include acting in 2000.

She made her film debut with a small part in The Bachelor. At the same time Carey launched another singing tour and began work on the semiautobiographical film Glitter. Soon after, she started filming the movieWise Girls, with Mira Sorvino. Carey was on her way to becoming the world's highest-paid recording artist with a five-year, $100-million deal with Virgin records.

But Carey's nonstop hit-making schedule would catch up with the diva by mid-2001. In addition to the music news, Carey had been making the headlines with bizarre behavior in the early months of the year. She performed an impromptu striptease that revealed a tank top and short shorts on MTV's Total Request Live, and stories of minor arguments on the set of Wise Girls were making their way into headlines. In late July Carey was hospitalized for extreme exhaustion. She had always described herself as hard working with need for little sleep, but according to her publicist, Cindi Berger, the fast pace caught up with her. A Time article quoted Berger as saying that Carey had "an emotional and physical breakdown." The star ultimately took time off from her busy schedule to recuperate at a hospital in Connecticut, and later in the year at another hospital in Los Angeles.

Carey's Glitter landed with a thud in theaters, and "Loverboy," the first single from her Glitter soundtrack, topped out at number two. Although the road looked a little rough for the star, Carey remained many steps ahead of her competition. She regained her health and soon began working again. In 2002 she released Charmbracelet, which reached number two on the charts, followed by an album of remixed favorites.

By 2005 Carey had regained her momentum. With the release of The Emancipation of Mimi, Carey enjoyed over-the-top sales in the album's first week and had her first number-one album on the Billboard charts since 1997. Besides winning an American Music Award for favorite female R&B artist, the artist garnered four Vibe Awards, including best artist, best R&B voice, best R&B song (for "We Belong Together"), and best album. She also won three Grammy Awards, for best female R&B vocal performance, best R&B song, and best R&B album. For her effort on Mimi, Carey was also declared the favorite comeback artist in the XM Nation Music Awards voting in December of 2005. Mimi eventually became the best-selling album of the year; fans had purchased about five million copies by the end of 2005. As Billboard magazine wrote: "Go ahead and call it a comeback."

The comeback did not end there. Carey's 2006 tour in support of Mimi was her most successful yet. The following year, she received a "recording star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In the spring of 2007 Carey began work on her eleventh studio album, E=MC2. In April of 2008, a couple of weeks before the release of the full album, the single "Touch My Body" hit number one on the Billboard singles chart. This brought Carey's tally of chart-topping singles to eighteen, surpassing Elvis Presley's career total and leaving her just two hits behind the Beatles for the all-time record. The album itself was a monster hit as well. Nearly half a million copies of E=MC2 were sold in its first week in stores, marking the best first-week album sales of Carey's stellar career thus far. It was her sixth number-one album. 2008 was a banner year for Carey in other respects as well. Right around the time of her album's release, she tied the knot with actor/rapper Nick Cannon at her estate on Windermere Island in the Bahamas. Carey's own acting career was in high gear in 2008 as well. She appeared in the independent film Tennessee, and made a cameo appearance as herself in Adam Sandler's hit movie You Don't Mess with the Zohan. With her so-called comeback complete, nearly two decades into her illustrious career, Carey's star was still clearly on the rise.

Selected works

Albums

Mariah Carey, Columbia, 1990.

Emotions, Columbia, 1991.

MTV's Unplugged, Columbia, 1992.

Music Box, Columbia, 1993.

Merry Christmas, Sony, 1994.

Daydream, Columbia, 1995.

Butterfly, Columbia, 1997.

#1's, Columbia, 1998.

Rainbow, Columbia, 1999.

Glitter, Virgin, 2001.

Charmbracelet, Columbia, 2002.

The Remixes, Island, 2003.

The Emancipation of Mimi, Island, 2005.

E=MC2, Island, 2008.

Films

The Bachelor, 2000.

Glitter, 2001.

Wise Girls, 2002.

State Property 2, 2005.

Tennessee, 2008.

You Don't Mess with the Zohan (as herself), 2008.

Sources

Periodicals

Allure, July 20, 2005.

Billboard, April 23, 2005, p. 6; April 5, 2008, p. 27.

Business Wire, October 7, 1999.

Ebony, August 2006, p. 164.

Entertainment Weekly, August 10, 2001, p. 8.

Interview, September 2007, p. 154.

Jet, February 7, 2000, p. 60; May 29, 2000, p. 24; September 24, 2001; April 25, 2005, p. 58; April 21, 2008, p. 58; May 26, 2008, p. 38.

Money, June 1, 2001.

New York Times, August 5, 2005.

Newsweek International, November 22, 1999, p. 92.

Teen People, October 1, 2001.

Time, August 13, 2001, p. 56.

Variety, March 27, 2000.

Online

Eliscu, Jenny, "Mariah after Midnight," Rolling Stone, February 9, 2006, http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/mariah_after_midnight (accessed July 17, 2008).

Laudadio, Marisa, "Mariah Carey's Album Debuts at No. 1," People, April 23, 2008, http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20194801,00.html (accessed July 17, 2008).

"Mariah Carey: Biography," allmusic, http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hvfpxqq5ld0e (accessed July 17, 2008).

Mariah Carey Web site, http://www.mariahcarey.com (accessed July 17, 2008).

—Ashyia Henderson, Leslie Rochelle, Sara Pendergast, and Bob Jacobson