Description

With her multi-octave voice and more than 80 million records sold worldwide, it's no surprise that pop diva Mariah Carey is viewed as the successor to Whitney Houston. She emerged as the premier R&B/pop songstress of the 1990s, and by the end of the decade had shifted gears a bit by collaborating with the likes of Ol' Dirty Bastard and incorporating elements of hip-hop into her sound. Though her 2001 big-screen debut, GLITTER, was a total flop and something of a blow to Carey's seemingly Teflon career, her 2005 comeback record, THE EMANCIPATION OF MIMI, solidified her status as a true pop-music diva.

Biography

b. 27 March 1970, Huntington, New York City, New York, USA. This pop diva enjoyed an unprecedented string of US chart-toppers that helped establish her as the most successful female solo artist of the 90s. Carey is the third child of an Irish-American mother, a former opera singer turned voice tutor, and a half-Venezuelan father. As a schoolgirl she began singing on R&B sessions in New York when she met keyboard player and songwriter Ben Margulies who became her songwriting partner and close friend. With Carey writing the melodies and most of the lyrics, and Margulies arranging the songs, they developed a simple blend of soul, gospel and pop that showed off Carey's amazing vocal range to the full. Carey struggled as a waitress until fortune smiled on her. While at a show business party, a friend of the singer thrust a demo cassette into the hands of Sony Music's US president Tommy Mottola. While driving home from the party Mottola played the cassette in the car and was so impressed that he immediately set out on a Prince Charming-like quest to find his Cinderella.
Carey was duly signed and her debut single, "Visions Of Love", was a smash hit. It became the first of five US number 1s. Managed by Randy Hoffman (whose roster also includes Hall And Oates) the success story proved swift and efficient in construction. In addition to providing four chart-topping singles ("Vision Of Love", "Love Takes Time", "Someday" and "I Don't Wanna Cry"), her debut album stayed on top of the US album charts for 22 weeks, as she duly picked up 1991 Grammys for Best Female Vocalist and Best New Artist, an extraordinary start to a career. The title track of Emotions gave Carey a record fifth consecutive US number 1. Subsequent number 1 singles included a cover of the Jackson Five's "I'll Be There" (from MTV Unplugged), "Dreamlover" and "Hero" (both from Music Box). Her only UK number 1 to date, however, came with a cover version of Badfinger's "Without You" in February 1994. In 1993, she married Mottola (they subsequently divorced in 1997). Her seasonal Merry Christmas featured another hit single, "All I Want For Christmas Is You". Her 1995 release, Daydream, exceeded all expectations and notched up sales of over six million in the USA within three months of release.
Some critics did question whether Daydream was a controlled exercise in vacuous formula writing, with little emotion or heart. Nevertheless, it produced two further huge-selling number 1 singles, "Fantasy" and "One Sweet Day", the latter a collaboration with Boyz II Men that topped the US charts for a staggering 16 weeks. Butterfly featured Carey's most adventurous collection of songs to date, and inevitably repeated the success of her previous albums. "My All" became Carey's thirteenth American number 1, placing her behind only Elvis Presley and the Beatles in the all-time US singles chart. "When You Believe", a duet with fellow diva Whitney Houston taken from the animated DreamWorks movie The Prince Of Egypt, was a huge worldwide hit during 1998. Carey returned in October 1999 with yet another US chart-topper, "Heartbreaker", featuring rapper Jay-Z. "Thank God I Found You", featuring Joe and 98ø, repeated the success the following February. Her records have already sold over 110 million copies worldwide, establishing her as the biggest-selling female solo artist of the 1990s.
In 2001, Carey signed a four album, $80 million recording contract with Virgin Records. Shortly before the release of her debut for the label, the soundtrack to a movie loosely based on her life, Carey was admitted to hospital suffering from mental and physical exhaustion. The album was one of the year's most high-profile failures and prompted speculation about the future of her Virgin contract. The rumours became fact in January 2002 when Carey parted company with the label. Later in the year she signed a multi-album recording contract with Island Def Jam, and formed her own imprint, Monarc Music. The first release on the label was Carey's new studio album, Charmbracelet.
DISCOGRAPHY: Mariah Carey (Columbia 1990)***, Emotions (Columbia 1991)***, MTV Unplugged (Columbia 1992)***, Music Box (Columbia 1993)***, Merry Christmas (Columbia 1994)**, Daydream (Columbia 1995)***, Butterfly (Columbia 1997)***, with Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, Aretha Franklin, Shania Twain Divas Live (Epic 1998)**, Rainbow (Columbia 1999)***, Glitter (Virgin 2001)**, Charmbracelet (Monarc 2002)***.
COMPILATIONS: #1s (Columbia 1998)****, Greatest Hits (Columbia 2001)****, The Remixes (Columbia 2003)***.
VIDEOGRAPHY: Mariah Carey (Columbia Music Video 1994), Fantasy: Live At Madison Square Garden (Columbia Music Video 1996), My All (Columbia Music Video 1998), with Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, Aretha Franklin, Shania Twain Divas Live (Sony Music Video 1998), Around The World (Sony Music Video 1999), MTV Unplugged + 3 (Sony Music Video 1999), #1s (Sony Music Video 1999).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mariah Carey, Marc Shapiro. Mariah Carey Revisited: Her Story, Chris Nickson.
FILMOGRAPHY: The Bachelor (1999), Glitter (2001), Wisegirls (2002).

Encyclopedia of Popular Music
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