She was named after the song They Call The Wind Mariah from the movie Paint Your Wagon.
Her career began in with the release of her debut album in 1990, when she was just twenty years old. She became a critical and commercial success almost overnight, and the album produced four huge number one hit singles: "Vision Of Love," "Someday," "Love Takes Time," and "I Don't Want To Cry". Carey's second album, Emotions, was released in the fall of 1991 and its first single, the title track, also was an American number one hit. This gave Carey the record of being the only musician or band to ever have had their first five singles all hit the top of the Billboard charts in America. Emotions had several other top five singles, such as "If It's Over," "Can't Let Go," and "Make It Happen".
In 1992, Carey perfomed all her hits on MTV Unplugged, as well as a new song, a cover of the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There". It, too, rose quickly to the top of America's pop charts.
Carey's next studio album, Music Box, was released in 1993 and spawned the hits "Anytime You Need A Friend," "Never Forget You," and the hugley popular number one songs "Hero" and "Dreamlover". These songs, and Carey's duet with Luther Vandross of Diana Ross' "Endless Love," made Carey one of the most-played musicians on the radio in 1993 and 1994. During the Christmas season of 1994, Carey released the album Merry Christmas, and had a perennial hit with her original holiday song, "All I Want For Christmas Is You".
In 1995, Carey released Daydream. This album and her previous studio album, Music Box, would eventually go on to sell over 20 million copies each worldwide, making them Carey's two most popular albums. Daydream's first single, "Fantasy," was one of her biggest hits ever. It got heavy play on urban radio, thanks to a remix which featured a rhyme by the Wu-Tang Clan's ODB. This also marked the start of a new trend for Carey's singles. She realized that she had a higher potential at having massive crossover hits if she employed the use of various genre-specific remixes for each single. Daydream's second and third singles, "One Sweet Day," a duet with Boyz II Men, and "Always Be My Baby," respectfully, were arguably even bigger hits than "Fantasy". "Always Be My Baby" received huge airplay from pop, adult contemporary, and adult top 40 radio, and its urban remix which featured rhymes by Da Brat and a more soulful sounding chorus, sung by R&B group Xscape got huge airplay on urban, rap, and R&B radio stations. "Forever," the last single off of the album tanked compared to the first three, but was still a top 40 airplay hit in America.
Carey's 1997 album, Butterfly, saw her continuing to move in an R&B/hip hop direction. The first single, "Honey" was a number one hit and featured a remix with rappers Puff Daddy, The Lox, and Mase. Its video, filmed shortly after her divorce from Tommy Matolla displayed a much more sexual Carey than any previous video. Other singles and videos off the album included "Butterfly;" "The Roof;" "Breakdown," a duet with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony featuring Carey singing in a style similar to the way the Bone Thugs rap; and the number one hit "My All".
In 1998, Carey released the album 1's, a collection of all her American number one singles up to that point. It also included the new singles "When You Believe," a duet with Whitney Houston which featured in the Disney movie, The Prince Of Egypt; "Sweetheart," a hip-hoppy duet with Jermaine Dupri; "I Still Believe," a cover of the 80's song by Brenda K. Starr; and "Whenever You Call," a soulful duet with popular R&B singer Brain McKnight.
Among her most famous songs are Vision of Love and Emotions. She has had 15 number one singles in the United States (hence, the "Ones" album). That is the most of any female artist currently. She currently has the record for the most weeks at number one in the American charts with her single One Sweet Day, featuring Boyz II Men, totalling a full 16 weeks at the top spot.
Though her release singles are usually in the pop genre, she has also combined her talents with rap artists such as Lord Tariq, Peter Gunz, and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Most of her recent singles have also been remixed as dance music, where she worked with DJs such as David Morales and Junior Vasquez.
She spent a number of years married to Tommy Mottola, VP of Sony Records.
In what will no doubt go down as one of the more memorable moments in her career, in the year 2001 Carey suffered an emotional and mental breakdown. Her acting debut in the film "Glitter" (panned by many popular movie critics) coupled with her many years of excessively hard work appeared to take a toll on her mentally. Her then-current album, Rainbow wasn't selling as well as her previous albums, and she complained her new record label wasn't promoting it. Finally, Mariah made an appearance on MTV's TRL, where she was scantily clad and acting strangely. After that, she checked into a mental health facility and announced that she was taking a break from performing.
Mariah has since released a new album, called Charmbracelet, in October of 2002. It is perhaps her least commercially successful album to date, and included the singles "Through The Rain" and "Boy (I Need You)" featuring rapper Cam'ron. Neither of the two singles really took off.
However, Carey's latest single, a duet with Busta Rhymes entitled "I Know What You Want" has fared considerably better, having reached the top ten of Billboard's pop singles chart and the top ten in rap radio airplay. It is also featured on he latest release "The Remixes", a double CD containing her best remixes.
NEW YORK — Nearly 3,000 people from as close as
Midtown Manhattan and as far as Toronto flocked to the
Beacon Theater on the Upper West Side on Saturday
afternoon with one thing in mind — getting a glimpse of
the veteran pop star Mariah Carey. She was at the
theater to tape a handful of songs for VH1’s annual
“Save the Music” special, to be broadcast Sunday, and
those in attendance could not have been more fervent.
“Mariah, I love you,” screamed one breathless young
woman in braces and boot-cut jeans. When asked why he
opted to spend a sunny New York day indoors, another fan
said, in all earnestness, “I think I’ve listened to
‘Vision of Love’ like 30,000 times.” He was referring to
the 1990 hit that put Carey on the map. “Every day, I
listen to that song in my car and press rewind over and
over.”
So, it was only natural that when Carey, smiling like a
veteran pageant queen, took the stage to perform a duet
with the R&B singer John Legend, the crowd went wild.
And anyone could have seen that Carey, sporting a
tangerine Roberto Cavalli gown, baring a bit of midriff
and a whole lot of leg, was going to bring down the
house with “It’s Like That,” the first single from her
new album, “The Emancipation of Mimi,” which hits stores
Tuesday. But just in case, the DJ, Fatman Scoop, who
played hype-man for the day, took no chances. “I don’t
care if you’re a grandmother,” he blared. “I don’t care
if you have a bad knee or a bad back. Get up. We’re
about to turn this place into Club Mariah.”
Carey, 35, is back with her 10th studio album, a
fun-loving R&B/hip-pop album chock-full of tracks made
for slumber parties and late nights at the club. “It’s
Like That” has Carey, whose family nickname is Mimi,
reveling in her newfound freedom. “No stress/no fights,”
she sings, “I’m leaving it all behind.” The album,
released in Japan a month ago, is at No. 1 there and is
expected to open in the top five in the United States.
Jermaine Dupri, president of Urban Music at Virgin
Records and a longtime Carey collaborator, said she is
far more comfortable creating music than she has been in
recent years. After her split with her husband and
Svengali, Tommy Mottola, Carey was left to figure out
the industry on her own. “She was dealing with all the
business stuff and lost focus,” explained Dupri, who
produced several tracks on “Emancipation.” “Now she’s in
a zone and just really caring only about the music.”
It’s no secret that Carey has suffered a career slump in
recent years after riding high throughout the 1990s.
In July 2001, she was admitted to a hospital after an
emotional breakdown, which included a semi-striptease on
MTV’s “TRL,” a dish-flinging episode at a downtown
Manhattan hotel that left her hands bloody and bizarre
entries about exhaustion that she posted on her Web
site.
Later that year, her foray into acting, the
semi-autographical film “Glitter,” bombed, as did the
accompanying album of the same name. Virgin/EMI, her
label at the time, paid her $28 million to skedaddle. Of
the movie, Carey said in an interview at the Four
Seasons after her Beacon performance, “It was doomed
from the beginning.” Of the album, she said, “I don’t
care if it was the best one of my life, anything
released the week of 9/11/2001 was not going to work.”
In 2003, Lyor Cohen, then the chief executive of Carey’s
new label, Def Jam, vowed that he would engineer her
comeback. He returned Carey to her big-ballad roots with
“Through the Rain,” a schmaltz-heavy track about triumph
over adversity, from her album “Charmbracelet.” In
magazines and on television, Carey rehashed the details
of her breakdown and fervently denied speculation that
she was mentally unstable. At the time it appeared that
she hoped to translate her personal tragedy into sales.
“But,” Carey said, “it’s what the label wanted me to do.
I really just wanted to move on.”
Though “Charmbracelet” has sold more than 1 million
copies since its release, according to Nielsen SoundScan,
it fell woefully short of re-establishing Carey as a
must-watch artist.
It remains to be seen if Antonio Reid, chief executive
of Island Def Jam, can resurrect Carey’s career. Reid,
who has worked with divas from Whitney Houston and Toni
Braxton to TLC and Usher, has said that Carey is his top
priority. “It would be a terrible waste if this album
was not a success, because it’s so good and she has
worked so hard,” he said, “and I want to think that the
world still has taste.”
The tag line that is being used to promote
“Emancipation” is, “The Return of the Voice.” A veiled
swipe at the studio-manufactured singers that dominate
the charts? Not exactly, Reid said. “But it’s no secret
that we live in a time where there are a limited amount
of great voices on the radio,” he added.
Carey, for her part, said her voice has never left, but
rather than wipe out audiences with her five-octave
howitzer, she felt inclined to explore the hills and
valleys of her music box — even if it meant alienating
some fans with her airy vocal riffs. “I’ve just never
wanted to only belt,” she said. “And when I sing breathy
it feels more intimate.”
She called teaming with Reid the “best experience” with
a record executive she’s ever had. (She, meanwhile,
refers to the time with her ex-husband as “the
reign-of-terror era.”) “He can remark about the rhythmic
approach I took to a song or the background vocal
arrangements, things that only true musicians can pick
out,” she said.
If Carey’s latest effort ultimately proves unsuccessful,
it will not be for lack of trying. She spent last month
canvassing Europe and Japan promoting “Emancipation.”
And in addition to her appearance on the VH1 “Save the
Music” special, Carey was scheduled to perform a
miniconcert in the heart of Times Square on Tuesday
morning for “Good Morning America.” Then she’s off to
“TRL” in the afternoon, and Tuesday night she will be
downtown for an in-store signing at the new Best Buy in
NoHo.
It is clear that despite her penchant for skimpy
clothing and juvenile preoccupation with butterflies and
lambs, Carey longs to be taken seriously as a real
musician and not just a half-naked pinup who happens to
have a killer set of pipes. “If you’re not behind a
piano or behind a guitar people look at you like you’re
a diva that just walks in, sings and leaves.”