Mariah Carey Biography
From LoveToKnow Music
The Mariah Carey biography is the story of a singer who went from the very top to rock bottom, only to reinvent herself all over again. Carey is known for her vocal range, but her career has also been dogged by rumors of diva behavior and breakdowns.
Mariah Carey Biography – The Early Years
Born March 27, 1970, in Huntington, Long Island, New York, Mariah Carey was linked to music from birth. Her name came from the song They Call The Wind Mariah. Carey’s young family life was difficult. Her parents divorced when she was three, and the family had problems with racist neighbors. At one point, the neighbors poisoned the family dog and set their car on fire. Carey’s father came into and out of her life sporadically.
As an opera singer and vocal coach, Carey’s mother convinced her to concentrate on music in her spare time. Her mother had to take on several jobs to support the family, and Carey filled up her alone time with music.
Soon, Carey developed a reputation for her vocal abilities and became a regular session vocalist in Long Island studios. She missed a great deal of high school while working in the studios, but she did manage to graduate and even attended beauty school after high school.
While working in the studios, she met Ben Margulies, who helped her write and record a demo. She found work as a back-up singer for Brenda K. Starr. In 1998, she finally got her big break at a party for Sony Records.
Mariah Carey Biography – Sony Record Deal and Success
At the Sony party, Carey met Sony president Tommy Mottola and gave him her demo tape. He put the tape into the stereo of the car when he left the party and turned around to go back and find Carey. She had already left the party, and Mottola set out to track her down. A few days later, he located her and signed her on the spot. Soon after signing her deal, while working on her self titled debut album, Carey and Mottola began dating and eventually married.
Carey’s debut album went to number one on the charts and she followed almost immediately with a second album, Emotions. The second album was less well received by critics, who complained it sounded too similar to the first release.
The critical reception to this album started a trend with Carey releases. They were generally critically panned for lacking soul and substance, but they still sound remarkably well. By the end of the 1990s, Carey was the biggest selling artist of the decade.
One of the reasons for that might have been the 1995 album Daydream. On this album, Carey left behind the ballad singer image and worked with hip hop artists, including Ol’ Dirty Bastard. The album had more edge than her other work, and critics and audiences alike embraced the album. The album won her six Grammy nominations.
The late 1990s ushered in more changes for Carey. Her relationship with Mottola fell apart in 1997. In the wake of their break-up, Carey said that Mottola was very controlling. She took charge of her career and released the album Butterfly. She shook off her tame image and become more sexually provocative. The album featured the number one song Honey.
Her last album of the 1990s was Rainbow. The album received generally good press but didn’t sell well. Carey blamed her break-up with Mottola for Sony deliberately not promoting the album effectively.
Mariah Carey Biography – Career Decline
In 2000, Carey left Sony and signed a deal with Virgin Records. During this time, Carey began publicly airing her problems with her current boyfriend and complaining about the way Sony had treated her. She gave the impression that she was becoming increasingly unbalanced. After a bizarre performance on MTV’s Total Request Live show, that included a strip tease, Carey checked into a hospital to recover from exhaustion.
Her first release for Virgin was Glitter, the critically panned soundtrack for the critically panned film starring Carey. The backlash was extreme. Sony released a Greatest Hits compilation after Glitter that flopped as well. After those two sales failures, Virgin paid Carey to terminate her contract early. The public embarrassment from her contract release further contributed to Carey’s decline.
By 2005, however, Carey turned things around. Her Emancipation of Mimi album chronicled her struggles and helped put her back on top of her game.
Diva Behavior
Throughout her career, Carey has been dogged by rumors of diva like behavior. She once reportedly missed a TV performance at MTV Europe because she refused to walk up the stairs, and she has a person who follows her around to give her sips of water. Carey has embraced most of the rumors and occasionally pokes fun at her image.
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