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MARIAH CAREY BIOGRAPHY |
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Born in Long Island, NY, as the daughter of a former opera
singer and vocal coach -- and named after the song "They Call
the Wind Mariah" from the popular Lerner and Loewe musical Paint
Your Wagon - Mariah began singing at the age of four, and was
writing her own songs by the time she was attending Oldfield
Middle School. She moved to New York City, the day after
graduating from high school. Honing her songwriting skills and
lending her vocals to several local acts, she first garnered
industry attention when singing backup for Brenda K. Starr, who
gave Mariah's demo tape to Sony Music Entertainment chief Tommy
Mottola at a party. As legend has it, Mottola played the demo on
his ride home and ordered his driver to immediately return to
the party so that he could meet the young singer. Soon
afterwards, Mottola signed Mariah to a Columbia Records contract.
Mariah has since become the best-selling female performer of all
time, with an incredible 15 #1 singles and two Grammy Awards.
Along the way she became the only artist to top the charts in
each year of the 1990s, and, with "Heartbreaker," she pushed
ahead of the Beatles as the artist with the most cumulative
weeks spent atop Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. Mariah has
proven that she is equally at home with sweeping ballads and
pop, often incorporating elements of dance and hip-hop into the
mix. Perhaps even more impressive, she composes all of her own
material. In May 2002, Mariah signed an exclusive recording
contract with the Universal Music Group's Island. Carey has
formed her own label, MonarC Music. Mariah's new album features
the songstress writing and co-producing with such a-list names
as Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and Jermaine Dupri among others.
The album, which is lyrically very personal, showcases Mariah's
stunning voice, prolific songwriting and incredible versatility.
This is fully evident on the first single, the sweeping epic
ballad, "Through The Rain" which is a perfect example of what
Mariah does best.
Mariah's self-titled Columbia debut, released in 1990, spawned
an extraordinary four #1 singles: "Vision of Love," "Love Takes
Time," "Someday" and "I Don't Wanna Cry," and led to Grammy
Awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Vocalist. The
following year's album, Emotions, was another smash, with the
title track scoring her fifth consecutive #1 single and two
other titles - "Can't Let Go" and "Make It Happen" - reaching
the Top Five. Her next release, 1992's MTV Unplugged EP, scored
another #1 with her cover of the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There."
Music Box (1993) became her biggest seller to date, with "Dreamlover"
and "Hero" again topping the charts, and was followed by 1994's
Merry Christmas, which contained another hit with "All I Want
for Christmas is You." Daydream (1995) contained the club-friendly
"Fantasy," which debuted at #1 - making Mariah the second artist
in history, and the first female performer, to accomplish that
feat. The follow-up single, "One Sweet Day" (recorded with Boyz
II Men), followed suit and stayed at the top of the charts for a
record 16 weeks. Butterfly (1997) revealed an even greater hip-hop
flavor than its predecessor, scoring hits with "Honey" and "My
All." The following year witnessed the release of greatest hits
collection #1's, which included a new song, "When You Believe" (from
the film The Prince of Egypt), a duet with Whitney Houston which
paired the two most successful female recording artists in pop
history. Rainbow, with its chart-topping tune "Heartbreaker,"
followed in 1999. In 2001, Mariah signed with Virgin Records,
which released Glitter, the soundtrack album to the film of the
same name, with Mariah in her first lead acting role. She has
also been featured in the films The Bachelor (1999) and
Wisegirls (2002). |
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