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Mariah Carey ( ; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Dubbed the " Songbird Supreme" by ''Guinness World Records'', Carey is known for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style, signature use of the whistle register, and diva persona. An influential figure in music, she was ranked as the fifth- greatest singer of all time by ''Rolling Stone'' in 2023.

Carey rose to fame in 1990 with her eponymous debut album and became the only artist to have their first five singles reach number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, from "Vision of Love" to "Emotions". She achieved international success with the best-selling albums ''Music Box'' (1993) and ''Daydream'' (1995), before adopting a new image with hip hop-inflected sounds, following a remix to "Fantasy" with Ol' Dirty Bastard, and more extensively on ''Butterfly'' (1997). With eleven consecutive years of US number-one singles, ''Billboard'' named Carey the Artist of the Decade. Following the failure of her film ''Glitter'' (2001) and a relative career decline, she made a comeback with one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century, ''The Emancipation of Mimi'' (2005).

Carey's life and career have received widespread media coverage. She has been dubbed the "Queen of Christmas" due to the enduring popularity of her holiday music, particularly ''Merry Christmas'' (1994), one of the best-selling holiday albums, and its single "All I Want for Christmas Is You", which is one of the best selling singles in history. Outside of music, she co-founded Camp Mariah with the Fresh Air Fund in 1994; starred in films such as ''Precious'' (2009), ''The Butler'' (2013), and ''The Lego Batman Movie'' (2017); and served as a judge on ''American Idol'' (2013). Her 2020 memoir, ''The Meaning of Mariah Carey'', reached number one on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list.

Carey is one of the best-selling music artists, with over 220 million records sold worldwide. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Her accolades include 5 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Global Impact Award, 10 American Music Awards, 19 World Music Awards and 14 ''Billboard'' Music Awards. She holds the record for the most ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number-one singles by a solo artist (19), a female songwriter (18), and a female producer (15), spending a record 97 weeks atop the chart. "One Sweet Day" and "We Belong Together" were ranked by ''Billboard'' as the most successful songs of the 1990s and 2000s, respectively. Carey is the highest-certified female artist in the US, with 75 million certified album-equivalent units, and the best-selling Western artist in Japan.

Early life

Carey was born on March 27, 1969, in Huntington, New York. Her name is derived from the song "They Call the Wind Maria", originally from the 1951 Broadway musical '' Paint Your Wagon.'' She is the youngest of three children born to Patricia (née Hickey), a former opera singer and vocal coach of Irish descent, and Alfred Roy Carey, an aeronautical engineer of both African-American and Afro-Venezuelan lineage. The last name "Carey" was adopted by her Venezuelan grandfather, Roberto Núñez, after he emigrated to New York. Patricia's family disowned her for marrying a black man. Racial tensions prevented the Carey family from integrating into their community. While they lived in Huntington, their neighbors poisoned the family dog and set fire to their car. After her parents' divorce, Carey had little contact with her father and spent much of her time at home alone and began singing at age three, often imitating her mother's take on Verdi's opera ''Rigoletto'' in Italian. Her older sister Alison moved in with their father while Mariah and her elder brother Morgan lived with their mother.

During her years in elementary school, Carey excelled in the arts, such as music and literature. She began writing poetry and lyrics while attending Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, New York, where she graduated in 1987. Carey began vocal training under her mother's guidance. Though she was a classically trained opera singer, Patricia Carey never pressured her daughter to pursue a career in classical opera, with Mariah Carey stating that "I respect opera like crazy, but it didn't influence me." In high school, Mariah Carey was often absent because of her work as a demo singer. Working in the Long Island music scene gave her opportunities to work with musicians such as Gavin Christopher and Ben Margulies, with whom she co-wrote material for her demo tape. After moving to New York City, she worked part-time jobs to pay the rent and completed 500 hours of beauty school. Carey moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan with four female students as roommates. She landed a gig singing backup for freestyle singer Brenda K. Starr.

Career

1988–1992: Eponymous debut album, ''Emotions'' and ''MTV Unplugged''

In December 1988, Carey accompanied Starr to a music executive's party and handed her demo tape to the head of Columbia Records, Tommy Mottola. After listening to the tape during the ride home, he immediately requested the driver turn around. She had already left the event, and Mottola spent two weeks looking for her. Another record label expressed interest and a bidding war ensued. He signed Carey to Columbia and enlisted producers Ric Wake, Narada Michael Walden, and Rhett Lawrence for her first album.

Columbia marketed Carey as the main female artist on their roster. It spent upwards of $1 million promoting Carey's debut studio album, ''Mariah Carey''. On June 5, 1990, Carey made her first public appearance at the 1990 NBA Finals, singing "America the Beautiful". The highlight was the whistle note toward the song's conclusion, sparking CBS Sports anchor Pat O'Brien to declare, "The palace now has a queen." The album topped the US ''Billboard'' 200 for eleven consecutive weeks, after Carey's exposure at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards, where she won the award for Best New Artist, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her single "Vision of Love". The album's singles "Vision of Love", "Love Takes Time", "Someday", and "I Don't Wanna Cry" all topped the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. ''Mariah Carey'' was the best-selling album in the United States in 1991, and achieved worldwide sales of 15 million copies.

Carey co-wrote, co-produced, and recorded her second studio effort, ''Emotions'', during 1991. She described it as a homage to Motown soul music and employed the help of Walter Afanasieff, who only had a small role on her debut, as well as Robert Clivillés