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May 9 2012

The best-selling female performer of the 1990s, MARIAH CAREY rose to superstardom on the strength of her stunning five-octave voice; an elastic talent who moved easily from glossy ballads to hip-hop-inspired dance-pop, she earned frequent comparison to rivals Whitney Houston and Celine Dion , but did them both one better by composing all of her own material. Born in Long Island, NY, Carey moved to New York City at the age of 17 — just one day after graduating high school — to pursue a music career; there she befriended keyboardist Ben Margulies , with whom she began writing songs. Her big break came as a backing vocalist on a studio session with dance-pop singer Brenda K. Starr, who handed Carey ‘s demo tape to Columbia Records head Tommy Mottola at a party. After signing to Columbia, Carey 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 did not disappoint, as the title track reached number one — a record fifth consecutive chart-topper — while both “Can’t Let Go” and “Make It Happen” landed in the Top Five. Carey ‘s next release was 1992’s MTV Unplugged EP, which generated a number-one cover of the Jackson 5 ‘s “I’ll Be There”; featured on the track was backup singer Trey Lorenz. In June 1993, Carey wed Mottola in a headline-grabbing ceremony; months later she released her third full-length effort, Music Box, her best-selling record to date. Two more singles, “Dreamlover” and “Hero,” reached the top spot on the charts. She resurfaced in 1994 with a holiday release titled Merry Christmas, scoring a seasonal smash with “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” 1995’s Daydream 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 follow-up, “One Sweet Day”— a collaboration with Boyz II Men — repeated the trick, and remained lodged at the top of the charts for a record 16 weeks. After separating from Mottola , Carey returned in 1997 with Butterfly, another staggering success and her most hip-hop-flavored recording to date. #1’s — a collection featuring her 13 previous chart-topping singles as well as “The Prince of Egypt (When You Believe),” a duet with Whitney Houston effectively pairing the two most successful female recording artists in pop history. With “Heartbreaker,” the first single from her 1999 album Rainbow, Carey became the first artist to top the charts in each year of the 1990s; the record also pushed her ahead of the Beatles as the artist with the most cumulative weeks spent atop the Hot 100 singles chart. However, the 2000s weren’t as kind to Carey. After signing an 80 million dollar deal with Virgin — the biggest record contract ever — in 2001 she experienced a very public personal and professional meltdown. The movie Glitter and its attendant soundtrack (which was also her Virgin Records debut) did poorly critically as well as commercially, with Glitter making just under 4 million dollars in its total U.S. gross and the soundtrack struggling to make gold sales. Following these failures, Virgin and Carey parted ways early in 2002, with the label paying her 28 million dollars. That spring, she found a new home with Island/Def Jam, where she set up her own label, MonarC Music. Although she took nearly three years for a follow-up, Carey found a hit with 2005’s The Emancipation of Mimi, her most successful record in years. Throughout Carey’s career, she has collected many honors and awards, including the World Music Awards’ Best Selling Female Artist of the Millennium, the Grammy’s Best New Artist in 1991, Billboard’s Special Achievement Award for the Artist of the Decade during the 1990s. In a career spanning over 20 years, Carey has sold over 200 million albums, singles, and videos worldwide, making her one of the biggest-selling artists in music history. In 2009, she appeared as a social worker in Precious, the movie adaptation of the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire. The film garnered mostly positive reviews from critics, as has Carey’s performance. Variety described her acting as “pitch-perfect”. Precious won awards at both the Sundance Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival, receiving top honors there. Carey is a philanthropist who has donated time and money to organizations such as the Fresh Air Fund. She is the co-founder of Camp Mariah located in Fishkill, New York, that enables inner-city youth to embrace the arts and introduces them to career opportunities. She received a Congressional Horizon Award for her youth-related charity work. She is well-known nationally for her work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation in granting the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses, and in November 2006 she was awarded the Foundation’s Wish Idol for her “extraordinary generosity and her many wish granting achievements”. A percentage of the sales of MTV Unplugged was donated to various other charities. In 2008, Carey was named Hunger Ambassador of the World Hunger Relief Movement. In February 2010, the song, “100%”, which was originally written and recorded for the film, Precious, was used as one of the theme songs for the 2010 Winter Olympics, with all money proceeds going to Team USA. In 2008 Carey wed Nick Cannon in the Bahamas. Carey gave birth to their twins, son and daughter Moroccan and Monroe, April 2011. http://mariahcarey.com/

The best-selling female performer of the 1990s, MARIAH CAREY rose to superstardom on the strength of her stunning five-octave voice; an elastic talent who moved easily from glossy ballads to hip-hop-inspired dance-pop, she earned frequent comparison to rivals Whitney Houston and Celine Dion , but did them both one better by composing all of her own material. Born in Long Island, NY, Carey moved to New York City at the age of 17 — just one day after graduating high school — to pursue a music career; there she befriended keyboardist Ben Margulies , with whom she began writing songs. Her big break came as a backing vocalist on a studio session with dance-pop singer Brenda K. Starr, who handed Carey ‘s demo tape to Columbia Records head Tommy Mottola at a party. After signing to Columbia, Carey 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 did not disappoint, as the title track reached number one — a record fifth consecutive chart-topper — while both “Can’t Let Go” and “Make It Happen” landed in the Top Five. Carey ‘s next release was 1992’s MTV Unplugged EP, which generated a number-one cover of the Jackson 5 ‘s “I’ll Be There”; featured on the track was backup singer Trey Lorenz. In June 1993, Carey wed Mottola in a headline-grabbing ceremony; months later she released her third full-length effort, Music Box, her best-selling record to date. Two more singles, “Dreamlover” and “Hero,” reached the top spot on the charts. She resurfaced in 1994 with a holiday release titled Merry Christmas, scoring a seasonal smash with “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” 1995’s Daydream 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 follow-up, “One Sweet Day”— a collaboration with Boyz II Men — repeated the trick, and remained lodged at the top of the charts for a record 16 weeks. After separating from Mottola , Carey returned in 1997 with Butterfly, another staggering success and her most hip-hop-flavored recording to date. #1’s — a collection featuring her 13 previous chart-topping singles as well as “The Prince of Egypt (When You Believe),” a duet with Whitney Houston effectively pairing the two most successful female recording artists in pop history. With “Heartbreaker,” the first single from her 1999 album Rainbow, Carey became the first artist to top the charts in each year of the 1990s; the record also pushed her ahead of the Beatles as the artist with the most cumulative weeks spent atop the Hot 100 singles chart. However, the 2000s weren’t as kind to Carey. After signing an 80 million dollar deal with Virgin — the biggest record contract ever — in 2001 she experienced a very public personal and professional meltdown. The movie Glitter and its attendant soundtrack (which was also her Virgin Records debut) did poorly critically as well as commercially, with Glitter making just under 4 million dollars in its total U.S. gross and the soundtrack struggling to make gold sales. Following these failures, Virgin and Carey parted ways early in 2002, with the label paying her 28 million dollars. That spring, she found a new home with Island/Def Jam, where she set up her own label, MonarC Music. Although she took nearly three years for a follow-up, Carey found a hit with 2005’s The Emancipation of Mimi, her most successful record in years. Throughout Carey’s career, she has collected many honors and awards, including the World Music Awards’ Best Selling Female Artist of the Millennium, the Grammy’s Best New Artist in 1991, Billboard’s Special Achievement Award for the Artist of the Decade during the 1990s. In a career spanning over 20 years, Carey has sold over 200 million albums, singles, and videos worldwide, making her one of the biggest-selling artists in music history. In 2009, she appeared as a social worker in Precious, the movie adaptation of the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire. The film garnered mostly positive reviews from critics, as has Carey’s performance. Variety described her acting as “pitch-perfect”. Precious won awards at both the Sundance Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival, receiving top honors there. Carey is a philanthropist who has donated time and money to organizations such as the Fresh Air Fund. She is the co-founder of Camp Mariah located in Fishkill, New York, that enables inner-city youth to embrace the arts and introduces them to career opportunities. She received a Congressional Horizon Award for her youth-related charity work. She is well-known nationally for her work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation in granting the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses, and in November 2006 she was awarded the Foundation’s Wish Idol for her “extraordinary generosity and her many wish granting achievements”. A percentage of the sales of MTV Unplugged was donated to various other charities. In 2008, Carey was named Hunger Ambassador of the World Hunger Relief Movement. In February 2010, the song, “100%”, which was originally written and recorded for the film, Precious, was used as one of the theme songs for the 2010 Winter Olympics, with all money proceeds going to Team USA. In 2008 Carey wed Nick Cannon in the Bahamas. Carey gave birth to their twins, son and daughter Moroccan and Monroe, April 2011. http://mariahcarey.com/