Mariah Carey Biography

Before Mariah Carey got her big break, she worked as a temp and juggled with a number of odd jobs such as a beautician, hair sweeper in a salon, waitress and as a coat check girl. After several years of struggling, she had earned ample money and finally, she moved to a well-off sector in New York with her family.

In 1988, Tommy Mottola, Head of Columbia Records, signed her and produced her debut, self-titled album, ‘Mariah Carey’, which contained four No.1 hits. These songs charted the top US music countdowns for weeks and even earned her a number of prestigious nominations and awards.

‘Emotions’, released in 1991, was a more mature album in terms of the quality of songs and music.

Her MTV Unplugged version in 1992, awed critics and went on to earn a triple-platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Some of her popular singles through the 90s such as ‘Endless Love’ and ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ established her as a popular pop star and she soon began releasing a lot more albums.

‘Daydream’, released in October 1995, explored new avenues with R&B and hip-hop flavours and her signature pop tunes. The album’s song ‘One Sweet Day’ sung in collaboration with R&B group Boys II Men, remained on the American Music charts for almost 16 weeks.

She introduced ‘breathy vocals’, a new sultry style of singing, with her next album ‘Butterfly’, in 1997, which received positive reviews from both, critics and listeners.

In 1998, she recorded a duet with the famous, Whitney Houston, titled, ‘When You Believe’, for the animated film, ‘Prince of Egypt’.

In 1999, she released the triple-platinum album, ‘Rainbow’, under Columbia Records, which was compared to her previous release, ‘Butterfly’, in terms of the pattern of the songs. The song, ‘Heartbreaker’, became a smash hit and topped music charts.

In 2001, she starred in ‘Glitter’ as ‘Billie Frank’, a girl who becomes a pop-star over night, after a chance meeting with a DJ. Both the film and her performance received negative reviews from the critics and the movie was a box-office failure.

In 2002, her ninth album, ‘Charmbracelet’ was released, which received mixed reviews from critics and listeners. Of all the singles in the album, ‘Through the Rain’, was the most successful one.

‘The Emancipation of Mimi’, released in 2005 is largely considered her ‘comeback’ album. Two singles from the album, ‘We Belong Together’ and ‘It’s Like That’ became instant chartbusters.

Her 2008 album, ‘E=MC2’, brought her back to the top of the pop-music charts in the United States.

After a bad review for her first feature film ‘Glitter’, sceptics lauded her return to films with ‘Precious’, in 2009, in which she played a social worker.

In 2010, she released, ‘Merry Christmas II You’, which became a top holiday album in the United States and became the second ‘Christmas’ album to top the ‘R&B/Hip-Hop’ charts as well.

In 2011, she collaborated with teenage sensation, Justin Bieber for his holiday album, ‘Under the Mistletoe’ and re-recorded her famous song, ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’.

She wrote and recorded the song, ‘Mesmerized’ for the film, ‘The Paperboy’, in 2012. The same year, she appeared as a judge on the reality singing show, ‘The American Idol’.

In 2014, her fourteenth album, ‘Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse’. The album was earlier proposed to be titled as ‘The Art of Letting Go’.

Mariah Carey made her directorial debut in 2015 with the Hallmark Channel Christmas movie ‘A Christmas Melody’. Mariah also acted in the movie.

In 2016, she was seen in the docu-series ‘Mariah's World’ that was broadcast on the E! network.

In 2017, she released the singles "I Don't" and "The Star". She also developed an animated Christmas film, titled "Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You", which was released direct-to-video.

In 2018, Mariah Carey released her fifteenth album titled ‘Caution’. In 2019, she re-released her holiday album ‘Merry Christmas’ for its 25th anniversary.

On December 4, 2020, 'Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas Special', a Christmas special starring Mariah Carey, was premiered on Apple TV+.

Mariah Carey began Tommy Mottola while working on her third album ‘Music Box’. They got married on 5 June 1993 and were together for four years till their separation in May 1997.

She married comedian-actor, Nick Cannon, on April 30, 2008 in The Bahamas and on April 30, 2011, she gave birth to fraternal twins, Monroe and Moroccan. The couple announced their separation in 2014.

In 2015, she started dating Australian billionaire James Packer and was briefly engagaed to her. They parted ways in 2016.

In 2016, she began dating choreographer Bryan Tanaka.

Mariah Carey holds the record for the most number one singles by a solo artist on the Billboard Hot chart, showcasing her incredible vocal talent and enduring popularity.