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Mariah Carey! |
Mariah BioMariah 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's birthday is March 27. Mark your calendar!
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