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          In New York City on March 27, 1970 a baby girl was born to Alfred Roy and Patricia Carey.  They named her after the song, "They Call The Wind Maria (say it like Mariah)".  Little did her parents know, she would oneday be a singer known worldwide.  She started singing before talking!
          Living in poverty in thee suburbs of Long Island, the Carey family faced much discrimination because they were multi-racial.  Mariah's father was half Venezuualen, half black, and her mother was Irish.  Due to all the prejudice, her parents divorced when she was only three.  Her older sister Allison moved in with their father, and her brother soon left for college.
          Patricia was a professional opera singer, so she gave Mariah voice lessons from the time she was four.  Even though Mariah had a perfect pitch, she learned how to use her voice.
          Years later, Mariah received a blank demo tape for her sixteenth birthday from her older brother Morgan.  She then recorded songs she had written, and kept it with her in case she was "discovered".  At the age of 18 Mariah moved to Manhattan with some friends.  They shared rent for an apartment.  Mariah and her friends were in such poverty, a box of macaroni and cheese had to last a week between them.  Carey was determined to make it on her own, so she would not accept financial help from anyone, not even her mother.  She worked odd jobs, odd hours, and often for low pay, whether she liked it or not.  However, at her first day working at a hair salon, Mariah noticed strange names on the other employees' mirrors such as "Lightning".  When the manager gave her the name "Echo", she quit on the spot.
In 1988, she was a back-up singer for Brenda K. Starr.  The two became very close.  One night Brenda persuaded Carey to attend a party.  Mariah finally got the courage to give someone her demo tape, but before this "someone" took it, another person grabbed it from her, Thomas Matolla.  He was the President of Columbia Records.  Mariah then left the party with Brenda.  On his ride home, Matolla listened to the tape.  With the help of Starr he contacted Mariah and asked her to use their label.  In December of 1988, the contract was signed by Carey.  For all of '89, Mariah worked on her debut album,
Mariah Carey.  The first single was "Vision of Love".
          Although Mariah was a strong person, she had one weakness, stage fright.  When she was promoting her second album (Emotions) in 1992, she preformed her first concert on MTV's "Unplugged".  This concert was also released as an album. 
Emotions came out in 1991, and it's title track, "Emotions" reached number one for three weeks.  As time passed, the relationship between Carey and Mattola became more than business.  On June 5, 1993, the couple married at St. Thomas Episcopal Church.  After the ceremony, the reception was held at the Metropolitan Club, and they honeymooned in Hawaii.
          Soon after, Mariah continued working on her third album,
Music Box.  Finally on September 17, 1993, the album made its debut on the charts.  Some songs on the album are "Hero", "Never Forget You", and a remake of "Without You".  Her next album, Merry Christmas, was out in stores on November 1.  In 1996, Mariah's hit single "Always Be My Baby" was released.  That same year, it was also released on her fifth album, Daydream.
          In March of 1997, Carey and Matolla split up.  That September,
Butterfly was released.  It brought out a lot of her feelings towards the separation.  In early '98, Mariah went to Australia for a quick divorce.  Mariah did not release another album until January of 1999, which was called #1s.  It featured all of her 13 number one hits, plus the song she recorded with Whitney Houston for The Prince Of Egypt, a tribute to Brenda K. Starr, and a song featuring JD.  In November of 1999 she came out with her most recent album Rainbow, featuring Jay-Z, Da Brat, Missy Elliot, 98 Degrees, Joe, and more.











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