TO THE MARIAH CAREY BIOGRAPY
Mariah When She Was A Baby
Mariah When She Was A Child
Mariah Now
MARIAH CAREY BIOGRAPY

Mariah Carey was born on 27th March 1970, in New York. Raised in New York by her mother, a former opera singer with the New York City Opera and a vocal coach, Mariah Carey began singing at age four. Mariah says: "My first musical role model was my mother (Patricia Carey), a classically trained mezoo-soprano who once sang with the New York City Opera. I was singing with my mom and her musician friends from the time I was about four years old: I´d get home from school, and she would have, like, five friends over who were Jazz Musicians, and I´d end up singing "My Funny Valentine" at 2 in the morning".  After her high school graduation, she got her big break, singing backup for Brenda K. Starr, a break that led to her eventual deal with Columbia Records.

When Mariah Carey released her eponymous debut album in 1990, she launched an unbroken string of successes unparalleled in the music history. Mariah Carey has sold more than 12 million albums worldwide and yielded a record-setting four consecutive #1 singles on Billboard´s Top Pop Singles chart: "Vision Of Love", "Love Takes Time", "Someday", and "I Don´t Wanna Cry". All four appear on # 1´s.

The title track of her 1992 album, Emotions, generated her fifth consecutive #1 single, placing Mariah Carey in the Top Ten All-Time achievers of Most Consecutive #1 Hits. Emotions also earned Mariah two Grammy nominations ("Best Pop Vocal Female" and, with Walter Afanasieff, "Best Producer") and an American Music Award ("Favorite Female Artist, Soul/R&B"). On March 17, 1992, Mariah Carey appeared on MTV Unplugged. The popularity of that appearance led to the release of Mariah´s sixth #1 single ("I´ll Be There") as well as an EP which has sold more than five million copies worldwide, and a home video which has sold more than a quarter-of-a-million copies worldwide.

The title track of her 1992 album, Emotions, generated her fifth consecutive #1 single, placing Mariah Carey in the Top Ten All-Time achievers of Most Consecutive #1 Hits. Emotions also earned Mariah two Grammy nominations ("Best Pop Vocal Female" and, with Walter Afanasieff, "Best Producer") and an American Music Award ("Favorite Female Artist, Soul/R&B"). On March 17, 1992, Mariah Carey appeared on MTV Unplugged. The popularity of that appearance led to the release of Mariah´s sixth #1 single ("I´ll Be There") as well as an EP which has sold more than five million copies worldwide, and a home video which has sold more than a quarter-of-a-million copies worldwide.

In 1993, Mariah Carey scaled the next plateau of artistic growth with release of the record-breaking Music Box, an album which has sold more than 24 million copies worldwide and generated her seventh and eighth #1 singles "Dreamlover" and "Hero" as well as the Top 10 hit "Without You". As a follow-up, Mariah released her holiday album, Merry Christmas, causing a Yuletide sales flurry when more than eight million copies sold worldwide shortly after its release in November 1994.

In 1993, Mariah Carey scaled the next plateau of artistic growth with release of the record-breaking Music Box, an album which has sold more than 24 million copies worldwide and generated her seventh and eighth #1 singles "Dreamlover" and "Hero" as well as the Top 10 hit "Without You". As a follow-up, Mariah released her holiday album, Merry Christmas, causing a Yuletide sales flurry when more than eight million copies sold worldwide shortly after its release in November 1994.

Mariah Carey´s 1997 album, Butterfly, took her music, and her fans, in a bold new direction. Mixing contemporary R&B and pop with heady lyrical and production sophistication, Butterfly marked Mariah´s maturation as an artist. The album generated the #1 hits "Honey" (featuring Mase & The Lox) and "My All" (her twelfth and thirteenth #1´s). Butterfly has been certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA.

In November 1998, Mariah released her #1's album, a collection of 13 of her chart-topping megahits as well as four brand-new bonus recordings: "When You Believe (from The Prince Of Egypt)," a duet with Whitney Houston; "Whenever You Call," a duet with Brian McKnight; "I Still Believe"; and "Sweetheart." #1's has achieved RIAA triple platinum status.

Over the course of her career, Mariah Carey has been the recipient of numerous music industry awards and honors. She won Grammys in 1990 for Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Female ("Vision Of Love"). The same year, Mariah picked up three Soul Train Awards: Best New Artist, Best Album (Mariah Carey) and Best Single Female ("Vision Of Love").

A perennial favorite at the American Music Awards, Mariah won Favorite Female Artist/R&B in 1992; Favorite Female Artist, Pop/Rock and Favorite Album, Adult Contemporary in 1993; Favorite Female Artist, Pop/Rock in 1995; and Favorite Female Artist, Pop/Rock and Favorite Female Artist, Soul/R&B in 1996.

The 1996 Blockbuster Awards honored Mariah for Favorite Single ("Fantasy") and Favorite Adult Contemporary Single ("One Sweet Day"). She picked up her first Billboard Awards in 1991 for Top Adult Contemporary Artist, Top Pop Artist, Top Album Artist; Top Pop Album Artist, Top Pop Singles Artist, and Top Pop Singles Artist/Female. In 1996, she won a Billboard Award for Hot 100 Singles Artist of the Year and, with Boys II Men, a Special Hot 100 Singles Award for "One Sweet Day".

At the 1998 World Music Awards ceremony, Mariah Carey was honored with an award for Best Selling R&B Artist and the Legend Award for World´s Best Selling Recording Artist of the 1990´s. Mariah Carey won he first World Music Awards in 1995 when she was named World´s Best Selling Pop Artist, World´s Best American Recording Artist, and World´s Overall Best Performing Artist at the World Music Awards. The following year (1996), the World Music Awards presented her with trophies for World´s Best-Selling R&B Female Artist of the Year, World´s Best-Selling Overall Recording Female Artist of the Year, World´s Best-Selling Pop Artist of the Year, and Wordl´s Best-Selling American Female Artist of the Year.

Mariah Carey was presented with the Aretha Franklin Entertainer Award and named Entertainer of the Year at the 1998 Lady Of Soul Awards.

Mariah receives an special Top 100 award -- most hits (13 # 1´s singles) of any female in history at 98 Billboard Awards Gala. Mariah Carey is the only artist to have had a #1 single for every year of the 1990's. The last decade to have an artist hit #1 every single year was the 1920's when Paul Whiteman & his Orchestra hit the top slot each year. (By the end of the 1920's, Whiteman had become a Columbia Records artist.) With the exception of Merry Christmas (from which there was no single release) and #1's (a collection of her first 13 chart-toppers), Mariah has hit #1 with the debut single from every one of her albums.

As of September 1999, Mariah Carey had sold more than 120 million albums and singles worldwide and earned an astounding 84 RIAA gold, platinum, and multi-platinum certifications for her singles, albums, and videos. As one of the most popular recording artists of the 1990s, Mariah has provided an ongoing soundtrack to the decade.