Mariah Carey – American singer
Mariah Carey is an American singer, songwriter, music producer, actress, and philanthropist. In 1990, she released her debut album Mariah Carey which was certificated four-time platinum and won the first place in the US charts Billboard Hot 100. After her marriage with Tommy Mottola in 1993 and successful albums Emotions (1991), Music Box (1993) and Merry Christmas (1994) Mariah Carey was named the most commercially successful musician in the history of Columbia.
In 2000 Carey left Columbia and signed a contract with Virgin Records. After a bad period, Mariah signed a multimillion contract with Island Records and returned to the top of the world charts with the album The Emancipation of Mimi (2005). The second single We Belong Together became the most successful single of the 2000s, and was later named the Song of the Decade by Billboard magazine. She played in the film Treasure (2009) and received Breakthrough of the Year award at the International Film Festival in Palm Springs.
Carey is one of the best-selling singers in the history of music. In 1998, she was named the best-selling performer of the decade, and in 2000 – the most commercially successful singer of millennium. In 2008, the song Touch My Body topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making Carey the only artist in the history of music, whose songs were number one for 18 times in this chart. She also is the owner of five Grammy awards. In August 2015 the singer was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Mariah Carey was born on March 27, 1969 (or 1970) in Huntington, Long Island, in New York. She is the third and youngest child of Patricia Hickey, a former opera singer, and Alfred Roy Carey, an aerospace engineer. Mariah’s parents divorced when she was three years old. Her mother had several jobs to support her family. Carey began singing at the age of three, and later Patricia began giving singing lessons to her younger daughter.
Mariah’s work in the Long Island gave her the opportunity to work with musicians such as Gavin Christopher and Ben Margulies. After moving to New York City she became Brands K. Starr’s backing singer.
In 1988, Mariah met Tommy Mottola, the head of Columbia Records. He signed a contract with aspiring singer.
Singles Vision of Love, Love Takes Time, Someday, and I Do not Wanna Cry from her debut album topped the US charts and made her a star. In 1991, Carey won her first Grammy award.
In June 1993, she married Mottola. In the same year she released her album Music Box which became her bestselling album to this day.
In 1994, Carey released an album of Christmas songs. A year later, she released her album Daydream, which topped the charts around the world. In 1996, Carey was nominated for a Grammy in six categories.
In September 1997 her new album Butterfly was released.
In 1999, Carey starred in the film The Bachelor with Renee Zellweger and Chris O’Donnell. In the same year she released the next studio album, Rainbow. The first single Heartbreaker won first place in the American charts.
In 2002, Carey signed a new contract with Island Records.
Her tenth studio album The Emancipation of Mimi (2005) was recorded with the participation of such producers as: The Neptunes, Kanye West and Jermaine Dupri.
The album E = MC² debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with total sales of 463 000 copies, which was the highest result for one week in the singer’s career.
In October 2008, the singer was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame.
The twelfth studio album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, was released on September 25, 2009.
In 2015, Carey signed a new contract with Epic Records.
Mariah is actively cooperating with the Environmental Defense Fund, Freedom from hunger, as well as many others. As part of the charity work the singer has traveled many parts of Africa, and gave a concert in Kosovo. She founded children’s camp for children from poor families.
Personal life
In 1993, she married famous producer Tommy Motolla. The scandalous divorce took place in 1998.
She had a relationship with Mexican singer Luis Miguel and white rapper Eminem.
On April 30, 2008 Mariah married musician Nick Cannon, who filed for divorce on December 12, 2014. They have twin children. Their daughter and son were born on April 30, 2011.
In June 2015 Mariah began dating billionaire James Packer. In March 2016 the pair announced the wedding cost $ 100 million. However, in October 2016 they parted.