Mariah Bio
Mariah was born on the 22nd of March, 1970, in
Long Island, New York, USA. Her current husband was born in 1982.
With a voice that spans seven octaves, and with
five US chart-toppers already under her belt by age 30, it is little surprise that
Carey was being billed as the next Whitney Houston. In the
intervening years, she moved to a music niche that took her off the
mainstream. But she did quite well and still has sold-out performances.
Carey was the third child of an Irish-American
mother; a former opera singer turned voice tutor, and a half Venezuelan
father. As a schoolgirl Carey began singing on R&B sessions in New
York when she met keyboardist and songwriter Ben Margulies (b. c.1963)
who became her songwriting partner and close friend.
With Carey writing the melodies and most of the
lyrics, and Margulies arranging the songs, they developed a simple blend
of soul, gospel, and pop which showed off Carey's amazing voice to the
full.
Carey struggled as the self-professed World's
Worst Waitress until fortune smiled on her. While at a show business
party, a friend of the singer thrust a demo cassette into the hands of
Sony Music's US president Tommy Mottola. While driving home from the
party Mottola played the cassette in the car and was so impressed that
he immediately set out on a Prince Charming-like quest to find his
Cinderella. Carey was duly signed and her debut single, 'Visions Of
Love' was a smash hit. It became the first of five number 1s in the US.
Managed by Randy Hoffman (whose roster also
includes Hall And Oates) the success story proved
to be swift and efficient in construction. Her debut album stayed on top of
the US album charts for 22 weeks, as she duly picked up 1991 Grammys for
Best Female Vocalist and Best New Artist, an extraordinary start to a
career.
In her first five years, her albums sold over 30
million copies. Daydream exceeded all expectations and notched up
sales of over 6 million in the USA within three months of release. Some
critics did question if Daydream was a controlled exercise of
vacuous formula writing, with little emotion or heart. As Johnny Black
stated in Q magazine "Carey is way beyond caring."
The Mottola marriage was a personal disaster for Carey. His abuse of
her resulted in a nasty divorce. In 2008, at the age of 39, Mariah married
Nick Cannon. He is also a singer and twelve years her junior. On their
third wedding anniversary Carey, at the age of 42, delivered twins (a
boy and a girl).
Much of the information above came from CD Now,
courtesy of the
Encyclopedia of Popular Music Copyright Muze UK Ltd.
1989 - 1998 Write to Mariah:
Mariah Carey
Fan Club
c/o Fan Emporium
PO 679
Branford, CT 06405
Mariah's birthday is March 27.
Mark your calendar!
See below for Mariah posters.
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