Mariah Carey Biography

Mariah Carey
Height : 5' 9"
Hair : Brown
Eyes : Brown

Mariah Carey's Family
Mariah Carey was born on March 27, 1970 to Patricia Hickey and Alfred Roy Carey. Her mother was an opera singer and voice coach of Irish-American ethnicity. Her father was an aeronautical engineer of Venezuelan-African descent. Carey has a sister named Alison and a brother named Morgan. Her parents get divorced when she was three. Mariah and Morgan stayed with their mother while Alison stayed with their father. Patricia raised Mariah, often struggling with two or three jobs and continuing to move among different towns on Long Island, but tried to provide a spirited, loving household. Mariah had little contact with her father, except for sporadic visits on weekends but even those dwindled as the years went by.

Carey began singing from four, Carey first performed in public when she was six and first began writing songs when she was in grade school. She attended and graduated from Harborfields High School in Greenlawn.

Career Start : Backup Singer for "Brenda K. Starr"
She started her career as a backup singer for "Brenda K. Starr". This led her to singing with Columbia Records. In 1988, Carey met Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola while at a party and gave him a demo tape. He played the tape while leaving the party and was very impressed by what he heard. He returned to the party to find Carey, but she had already left. Nevertheless he tracked her down and signed her to a recording contract.

Debut Album : Mariah Carey (1990)
While Carey's debut album was "Mariah Carey" released in 1990 when she was just 20. It was a big hit. She became a commercial success almost overnight, and the album produced four huge #1 hit singles: "Vision Of Love", "Love Takes Time", "Someday", and "I Don't Wanna Cry". While Carey also co-written the songs of album. Beginning with this first album, Carey has been a co-writer on almost every song she has recorded throughout her career.

1990's
In 1991, Carey's second album "Emotions" was released and its first single, the title track, was also an American #1 hit. Emotions generated two other Top 5 singles, "Can't Let Go" which peaked at #2, breaking her run of five #1 singles, and "Make It Happen". Beginning with Emotions, Carey has co-produced almost all of the songs on her albums.

In 1992, Carey gave her first real concert performance on the "MTV Unplugged" program. The program was popular enough that the songs were compiled onto the commercially successful album MTV Unplugged. Her live performance of the song Emotions on the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards was one for the record books when she hit the ear-piercing note of G#7, reportedly the highest note a vocalist has been able to produce.

In 1993, its a time to become household for Carey. Carey and Tommy Mottola had become romantically involved, and in June 1993 they staged a lavish wedding in Manhattan. While back to singing career Carey's next studio album "Music Box" was released in same year. Platinum chart-toppers "Dreamlover" and "Hero" became two of Carey's signature songs.

The song, "Without You", which became her biggest international hit and her only solo #1 in the UK. The gospel-tinged ballad "Anytime You Need A Friend" was the final single and became Carey's first single to miss the top 5 in the US, peaking at #12.

In 1994, during the Christmas season Carey's next album "Merry Christmas" was released. Its single "All I Want For Christmas Is You", which was a Top 10 hit in many international markets.

In 1995 "Daydream" was released. The album becomes one of her two best selling albums. Daydream's lead single, "Fantasy", got heavy play on urban radio. "Fantasy" became the second single (and first by a female) in American chart history to debut at #1 on the Hot 100.

Its following "One Sweet Day", a duet with Boyz II Men, which spent a still-record 16 consecutive weeks at #1 in the United States, beating the original record of 14 and becoming her second consecutive #1 debut and double platinum single.

"Always Be My Baby" next made it to #1, receiving widespread airplay from a variety of different radio stations. Its urban remix got heavy airplay on urban, rap and R&B radio stations.

Between October 1, 1995 and October 1, 1996 Mariah Carey was perched at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for one half of the year (26 weeks out of 52) with the singles from Daydream. Daydream also gave her the biggest sales week ever of her career, with 750,000 copies of the album sold in one week of December of 1995 (two months after it debuted), a record sales week for a female artist up to that point.

In 1997, Carey's "Butterfly" was released. It was her second consecutive #1 debut and saw her continuing to move in an R&B/hip-hop direction. The first single, "Honey", became her third #1 debut in the United States and featured a popular remix. The autobiographical "title track" was widely praised and "My All" became her thirteenth #1 single. also breaks the Diana Ross and the Supremes record of twelve #1 songs. Also Carey and Mottola separated in 1997; their divorce became final in 1998.

In 1998, Carey released the album "#1s", a collection of all her American #1 singles up to that point. It included four new songs, the most successful internationally being "When You Believe". Also in that year, Carey appeared on the first televised VH1 Divas program.

"Rainbow" was released in 1999, comprised of pop and more hip-hop oriented songs. Lead single "Heartbreaker" became yet another hit for her and platinum sales made it Carey's fourteenth #1 single on the Hot 100. The second single from Rainbow, "Thank God I Found You", became Carey's fifteenth #1 single on the Hot 100.

She was the recipient of several awards in recognition for her decade-spanning career, including Billboard's Artist of the Decade Award and the World Music Award for the Best-Selling Female Artist of the Millennium.

2000's
2001s is the ending her contract with Sony after which she signed a huge contract with EMI's Virgin Records. But in August 2001 it was widely reported that Carey had suffered physical and mental exhaustion. She had left voicemail messages to her fans complaining of being overworked. After that, she checked into a mental health facility and announced that she was taking a break from performing.

In acting her debut was the semi-autobiographical film "Glitter". But become a box office failure. When EMI's Virgin Records released her tenth album, Glitter. But it was released on September 11, 2001 (Dark Day for America), peaked at #7 (Carey's weakest showing ever). Lead single "Loverboy" reached #2 on the Hot 100 thanks to Virgin's massive campaign to sell the single for only 99 cents across the United States.

Sony released a semi-authorized second compilation album, the 2-CD "Greatest Hits", initially it doesn't make any impact but later it becomes strong. Later in January of 2002, EMI decided to part ways with Carey and they bought out her contract for $28 million. After that she signed with Island Records' Def Jam in 2002.

Carey had a prominent acting role in the independent film "Wisegirls" (2002); this time, she received much better reviews from critics.

Mariah then released a new album and her first concept album "Charmbracelet" in December 2002 as part of a new deal with Island Records, it debuted at #3.

Subsequently, Carey's duet with Busta Rhymes, "I Know What You Want" (2003), fared considerably better, reaching #3 in Billboard's pop singles chart, it is featured on her 13th album "The Remixes" a double CD. That year, Carey was awarded "Diamond Award" by the World Music Awards show in honor of over 150 million album sales worldwide.

Mariah Carey's Personal Life
Meanwhile, Carey's three-year relationship with singer Luis Miguel was coming to an end. Before that, she had briefly dated baseball star Derek Jeter. To further add to Mariah's emotional burdens, her father Alfred Roy Carey died of cancer in 2002.That year, Carey was awarded "Diamond Award" by the World Music Awards show in honor of over 150 million album sales worldwide. As of April 2005, Mariah Carey had earned an estimated fortune of $427 million from her record sales, world tours, and recording advances.

2004
Year 2004 come up with Carey's second concept album, "The Emancipation of Mimi". After that, she was featured on Jadakiss's hit single "U Make Me Wanna", which managed to hit the Top 10 on Billboard's R&B chart.

On New Year's Eve, Carey premiered a Jermaine Dupri production at the grand opening of the Pure Club in Las Vegas. The song "It's Like That" received a positive response and within weeks, it zoomed into the Top 20, peaking at #16. Media sources hailed the song as a triumphant return for Carey.

2005
The Emancipation of Mimi was heralded as "The Return of the Voice". It was released on April 12, 2005 and is the story of self-discovery and remaking one's image. It received positive reviews. Mimi debuted at #1, with 403,775 copies sold in its first week and has gone on to achieve double-platinum status. The second single from the album, "We Belong Together", it has been very successful and has become Mariah's 16th #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, her first since 2000's. According to USA Today's airplay chart, "We Belong Together" was the first song in the three-year history of the chart to have an audience of 200 million people in a single week.