Mariah Carey

Mini Bio

Carey was born on March 27, 1969, in Huntington, New York.[5][6] Her name is drawn from the song “They Call the Wind Maria,” which originated in the 1951 Broadway show Paint Your Wagon.[7][8] She is the youngest of three children born to Patricia (née Hickey), a former opera singer and vocal teacher of Irish origin, and Alfred Roy Carey, an aeronautical engineer of African-American and Afro-Venezuelan descent. Her Venezuelan grandpa, Francisco Núñez, took the last name “Carey” after emigrating to New York.[9][6] Patricia’s family rejected her for marrying a black man. Racial issues stopped the Carey family from fully integrating into their neighborhood. While they resided in Huntington, their neighbors poisoned their dog and set fire to their car.[9] After her parents divorced, Carey had minimal contact with Alfred, while Patricia worked multiple jobs to maintain the family. Carey spent a lot of time at home alone and started singing at the age of three, often emulating her mother’s Italian version of Verdi’s opera Rigoletto. Her older sister, Alison, moved in with their father, while Mariah and her older brother, Morgan, remained with their mother.[10][11]

Throughout primary school, she excelled in the arts, particularly music and writing. Carey began writing poetry and lyrics while attending Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, New York, from which she graduated in 1987[12].[13] Carey underwent vocal training under the direction of her mother. Despite being a formally trained opera singer, Patricia Carey never urged her daughter to pursue a career in traditional opera. Mariah Carey stated that she had never been a forceful mother. She never suggested, “Give it more of an operatic feel.” I admire opera, but it had no effect on me.”[12][14] Mariah Carey was frequently absent from high school because she worked as a demo vocalist. This prompted her classmates to give her the moniker Mirage.[14] Working in the Long Island music scene allowed her to collaborate with musicians like Gavin Christopher and Ben Margulies, with whom she co-wrote songs for her demo tape. After relocating to New York City, she worked part-time jobs to pay her rent and attended 500 hours of beauty school.[15] Carey moved into a one-bedroom Manhattan apartment with four other female students as roommates.[16] She got a job singing backup for freestyle singer Brenda K. Starr.[17][18]

Career

Carey followed Starr to a music executive party in December 1988, when she delivered her demo tape to Tommy Mottola, the head of Columbia Records.[19][20] After listening to the tape on the journey home, he instantly asked the driver to turn around. She had already left the event, and Mottola spent two weeks searching for her. Another record label exhibited interest, and a bidding battle began. He signed Carey to Columbia and enlisted producers Ric Wake, Narada Michael Walden, and Rhett Lawrence for her debut album.[19]

Columbia advertised Carey as the top female performer on their roster, competing with Whitney Houston of Arista Records and Madonna of Sire Records.[21] It spent more than $1 million advertising Carey’s maiden studio album, Mariah Carey.[22] Carey made her first public appearance at the NBA Finals on June 5, 1990, singing “America the Beautiful”. The highlight was the piercing whistle note toward the end of the song, prompting CBS Sports anchor Pat O’Brien to remark, “The palace now has a queen.”[23] The album topped the US Billboard 200 for eleven consecutive weeks following Carey’s appearance at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards, where she won Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her single “Vision of Love”.[24][25] The singles “Vision of Love”, “Love Takes Time”, “Someday”, and “I Don’t Wanna Cry” all peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100.[26] Mariah Carey’s album was the best-selling in the United States in 1991[27], selling 15 million copies worldwide.[28]