Making a lasting impact: Mariah's UK success story
Though Mariah's UK success has not been overwhelming as her record breaking US chart career, she has been responsible for setting a number of notable chart records in the UK. Since her debut in 1990 Mariah has established herself as one of the most successful international artists in UK chart history. She has demonstrated her popularity not just with her high selling albums and singles but also with the success of her UK concerts, television and in-store appearances.
If Mariah's early chart career was slower to take off in the UK than the US, the success she did have here is notable because it was achieved with minimal promotion. Mariah's debut single, "Vision of Love", and self-titled debut were both top ten hits in the UK, with her album entering the UK charts at no.6 (eventually being certified Platinum), despite Mariah only being able to spare two days to promote herself in the UK. During this time Mariah was able to film a stunning a cappella performance of "Vision of Love" for Terry Wogan's top rated evening TV chat show. Already Mariah was making an good impression on the UK media.
In one of Mariah's first UK press interviews, in the "Record Mirror", the journalist concluded that Mariah was the "new Whitney Houston", stating that there that there was "no doubt Mariah Carey is going to be a megastar". Mariah's debut album produced three further top 60 UK hits. The fact that "Love Takes Time", "Someday" and "There's Got To Be A Way" were all released on limited edition picture discs exclusively for the UK market would mean that in future years they would become highly-sought after collectors items worldwide.
The "Emotions" album allowed Mariah to build on her UK success, giving her her first top 5 UK album as well as producing 3 consecutive top 20 hits. Sales were boosted in the UK by promotional performances including "Emotions" and "Can't Let Go" on the Des O'connor Tonight chat show and a live via-satellite performance of "Can't Let Go" for Top of The Pops. By late 1991 Mariah had made enough chart and press impact in the UK to be named one of Q Magazine's 10 acts who "cracked it" in 1991.
As if to prove their point, Mariah made her real UK chart breakthrough in 1992. "I'll Be There" with Trey Lorenz, and its parent album MTV Unplugged EP gave Mariah her first top 3 hits in both the singles and albums chart. "I'll Be There" was only kept from the no.1 spot by the biggest hit of the year - Shakespear's Sister's "Stay", which spent 8 weeks at no.1. Nethertheless, "I'll Be There" was not only Mariah's first top 10 hit in 2 years but the first of a consecutive run of 12 top 10 hits which would last for 5 years. Only 8 acts in the history of the UK chart have had a longer consecutive run of top 10 hits.
Music Box, in 1993, was Mariah's very first UK no.1 album. It not only entered the charts at the very top but remained a top 20 hit for the next year going 5 times platinum (1.5 million copies). The third single released from the album was "Without You", which gave Mariah her first no.1 single, she became the first female soloist ever to enter the UK singles chart at no.1. The track topped the chart for 4 weeks and sold over half a million copies. At one point in 1994 Mariah was no.1 on the album, singles and videos charts at the same time.
Later in the year "All I want For Christmas Is You" became one of the best selling Christmas songs of the 1990s, spending almost a month at no.2 behind East 17's "Stay Another Day". It sold enough copies to ensure Mariah released 2 of the top 15 best selling singles in 1994. No other act spent more weeks in the top 75 (45) than Mariah in 1994. Mariah was also nominated for a Brit Award for Best International Female Artist as well as being voted Best Female Singer at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party, an award she also won again in 1995.
Daydream would give Mariah her second consecutive number one album. Despite being released half way through the UK's sales week it still sold enough to enter straight at no.1. It would eventually go double platinum (selling over half a million copies). All 4 singles released from the album made the UK top 10, three of them reaching the top 5. Sales of "Fantasy" ensured Mariah again produced one of the top 40 best selling singles of the year.
In December 1995 Mariah did her first in store appearance in the UK, at Tower Records in Picadilly Circus. She literally stopped the traffic, setting a new record for the highest number of people attending an appearance at the store when 6,000 UK fans attended the record signing session. Six months later Mariah's first ever UK concert was held at Wembley Arena and the 11,000 plus tickets sold out in 24 hours.
The success of Fantasy had proved that UK fans were more than happy to embrace Mariah's new and more "urban" sound and from now on both urban mixes and Morales dance mixes of tracks like "Always Be My Baby" would receive almost as much UK airplay as her mainstream tracks. In fact amongst Mariah's original material (as opposed to cover versions), it is actually the up tempo and more urban tracks which have been Mariah's highest charting singles.
Mariah consolidated her new, more "credible" sound and image with the release of the "Butterfly" album, which eventually went Gold. The two big single releases, "Honey" and "My All", became two of Mariah's most successful top 5 hits both in terms of sales and airplay. At the same time Allure, on Mariah's "Crave" imprint, achieved 2 UK Top 20 hits. Though it was never released as a single in the UK, "The Roof" was released as a promo to UK record stations, emphasing the strong appeal of the album to RnB stations. When listeners to Trevor Nelson's Rhythm Nation show were asked to vote for their 50 favourite albums between 1993-2003, Butterfly was voted their 9th favourite of all time, demonstrating its lasting appeal to UK RnB fans.
Promoting her next Platinum album, the compilation #1s, with the single release of "When You Believe" with Whitney Houston, Mariah gained another place in UK chart history. The week the single entered the UK charts at no.4 was the first week the UK Top 5 singles had been entirely made up of female acts. Mariah also demonstrated her reputation as a successful singles artist in the UK by giving Whitney her first top 10 single in 5 years. With "Rainbow" and "Heartbreaker" both entering the top 10, Mariah rounded off the 1990s as statistically the 5th most successful singles artist of the 1990s in the UK. She had 16 Top 10 hits, which only Madonna bettered.
Success continued with another sell out Wembley Arena show in February 2000 while later in the year her duet with Westlife, on "Against All Odds", made her one of the rare artists to enjoy no. 1 singles in two separate decades. It also gave her a place in Westlife's record breaking run of 7 consecutive UK no.1s. Furthermore it demonstrated the contrast between UK and US tastes. Where Mariah's 15 US no.1s include only one cover (I'll Be There), Mariah's biggest sellers in the UK have tended to be cover versions such as "Endless Love", "Without You" and "Against All Odds" which tended to make little impact in the US.
With the Glitter soundtrack Mariah achieved her 9th Top 10 UK album in only 11 years, while the two single releases, "Loverboy" and "Never Too Far/Don't Stop" brought Mariah's total of UK Top 40 hits up to 27. During that era she was invited to appear in the first ever Top of Pops Awards, Mariah teamed up with Westlife again for a triumphant version of a Never Too Far/Hero medley.
The following year Mariah marked her "come back" with another Gold album, Charmbracelet, and her 19th Top 10 hit. With her first proper UK tour in 2003, and her first ever concerts outside London, Mariah also finished 2003 with one of the most popular hits of the year, I Know What You Want with Busta Rhymes, which gave Mariah a total of 20 top 10 hits. Aside from record sales, Mariah has also had a lasting influence upon the UK music scene both in terms of the number of young UK artists who have cited her as an influence, from Shola Ama and Jamelia, to Sugababes and Daniel Bedingfield. Now an established favourite on UK urban radio, Mariah has also left her mark on UK club culture as demonstrated both by the popularity of "The Remixes" album, and by a poll at the "Cream Club" in Liverpool which voted the Morales mix of Dreamlover the most popular dance track of the 1990s. (Mariah Connection UK)
|
