Carey, Mariah

(born March 27, 1970, Huntington, N.Y., U.S.) American pop singer, noted for her remarkable vocal range. She was one of the most successful female performers of the 1990s.

Carey, whose mother was a vocal coach and former opera singer, began performing as a child. After graduating (1987) from high school in Greenlawn, N.Y., she moved to New York City to pursue a singing career. She made a demo tape that led Tommy Mottola, an executive at Columbia Records, to sign her in 1988; the couple married in 1993. Her debut album, Mariah Carey (1990), showcased her incredible vocal range and blended several musical genres, including gospel, pop, and rhythm and blues (R&B). It was a huge success, and in 1991 Carey won Grammy Awards for best new artist and best female pop vocalist. That same year she made history when the title track from her follow-up album, Emotions, became her fifth consecutive chart-topping single. Later hit albums include Music Box (1993) and Daydream (1995), both of which sold some 10 million copies in the United States. All the recordings were accompanied by music videos that helped make Carey a fixture on MTV (Music TeleVision).

Despite such success, Carey grew tired of the sweet and wholesome image that her label had developed for her. After announcing her separation from Mottola in 1997 (they divorced in 1998), she made Butterfly (1997), which reflected her new independence. The album was heavily influenced by hip-hop and rap, and the related music videos revealed a more sexual Carey. The single “Heartbreaker” topped the charts in 1999, making Carey the only artist to have a number one song in each year of the 1990s. The achievement underscored her position as the decade's top-selling female vocalist.

In 2001 Carey signed an $80 million contract with Virgin Records that made her the highest-paid recording artist. Her career quickly took a downturn, however, as she suffered a breakdown and was hospitalized following erratic behaviour. She starred in Glitter (2001), but both the semiautobiographical film and its accompanying album fared poorly. In 2002 Virgin terminated its contract with Carey. Later that year she signed with Island/Def Jam, but her first album for the label, Charmbracelet (2002), was a disappointment. However, her follow-up, The Emancipation of Mimi (2005), was a critical and commercial success, becoming the top-selling album of the year, with more than six million copies sold in the United States. It also earned three Grammy Awards, including best contemporary R&B album. “Touch My Body,” from the 2008 release E=MC², became Carey's 18th number one song, moving her past Elvis Presley on the list of career chart-topping hits and leaving her just two short of the Beatles' record.

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