The celebrity zone
Carey was surrounded by music as a youth. Her mother, Patricia, was a vocal coach and opera singer. Her family was of mixed heritage and had experienced numerous unfortunate incidents of bigotry and prejudice over the years. In part, these pressures caused her parents to divorce when she was only 3 years old. Carey's mother discovered her daughter's noteworthy level of vocal ability, and she helped her daughter nurture this incredible talent.
By the time Carey reached junior high, she began to write her own songs, and upon reaching high school, she traveled and later moved to Manhattan to further study her craft. To help pay her bills, Carey took on a multitude of jobs, including waitress and coat checker. A job as a part-time backup singer for Brenda K. Starr proved to be a life-changing opportunity for Carey because that was when she hooked up with record executive Tommy Mottola, with whom she forged both a personal and professional relationship. Not only did Mottola help the young beauty launch her singing career, but the two also tied the knot in a wedding ceremony of such magnitude, pomp, and circumstance that it often has been compared to a royal wedding.
With a style and vocal range that rivaled Whitney Houston, comparisons to that superstar were inevitable, especially given that the timing of Carey's debut album coincided with the height of Houston's reign on the charts. Yet, Carey carved out her own very impressive niche of success, selling 6 million copies of her self-titled debut, and watching two singles rise to the top of the music charts. And it was truly only the beginning!
Since her 1990 self-titled debut, Carey has sold more than 115 million records worldwide and has earned an astounding 81 gold, platinum, and multi-platinum records, as well as the title of the biggest-selling female artist of the 1990s. With four No. 1 albums in the '90s, two albums topping the 10 million sales mark, and an entire album catalog that has achieved multi-platinum sales, Carey has quickly established a new standard for female artists and has established countless record-breaking firsts.
The sexy chanteuse could invest in a warehouse to store her multitude of awards and honors. Her self-titled debut in 1990 earned her Grammys for Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Female, along with three Soul Train Awards for Best New Artist, Best Album and Best Single, Female. In 1991, she received the Billboard Awards for Top Adult Contemporary Artist, Top Pop Artist, Top Album Artist, Top Pop Singles Artist, and Top Pop Singles Artist/Female.
Her dominance at the American Music Awards has been reflected in Carey's receipt of the Favorite Female R&B Artist honor in 1992, Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist and Favorite Adult Contemporary Album in 1993, Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist in 1995, as well as Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist honors in 1996. That same year, Carey also received a Billboard Award for Hot 100 Singles Artist of the Year and a Special Hot 100 Singles Award for "One Sweet Day," a duet with the popular R&B group "Boys II Men."
The musical mega-star had a huge year in 1998! It became clear that international success had not escaped Carey's grasp, as evidenced by a long list of World Music Awards that she has received since 1995, including the 1998 Legend Award for the World's Best Selling Recording Artist of the 1990s. Perhaps one of Carey's most personally satisfying honors was receiving of the Aretha Franklin Entertainer Award, named after her longtime idol, at the 1998 Lady Of Soul Awards, where she also was named Entertainer of the Year.
Carey also experienced the thrill of performing live alongside Franklin, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan and Shania Twain at the inaugural VH1 Divas Live event in 1998, and, later that year, she ironically found herself in the studio with the woman to whom she had often been compared, Whitney Houston. The two joined forces to record their Oscar-winning duet "When You Believe" from the motion picture "The Prince of Egypt." To cap off 1998's blockbuster year, Carey released a new CD, No. 1's, an anthology of chart-topping U.S. singles, as well as some previously unreleased material, including a cover of "I Still Believe," a song made famous by the aforementioned Starr, for whom she served as backup singer.
Unfortunately, 1998 did not come without its moments of personal heartache. Carey's marriage to Mottola came to an end. Mainstream media quickly introduced the theory that the release of Carey's CD, Butterfly, and its themes of freedom, were symbolic of the marriage, and speculation arose that their marriage was not the Cinderella story that all had perceived it to be over the years. Carey later appeared on "20/20" with Barbara Walters to discuss the marriage and her life and to set some issues straight, but she elected to keep certain aspects of the divorce private. Speculation about the union and about Carey's current romantic interests, which at one time included New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, continues to this day.
In addition to the release of her newest CD, Rainbow, Carey currently is pursuing an acting career. Her feature film debut arrives in November with "The Bachelor" co-starring Chris O'Donnell and Renee Zellweger. The superstar continually extends her generosity to those around the world, most notably evident in her $1 million donation to a New York camp that assists disadvantaged inner-city kids, which was later renamed Camp Mariah.
Despite some of the trials and tribulations that have been a part of her personal life, this "Net Knockout" finds herself firmly implanted as one of the most influential and important artists of her generation, and she is poised to enter the new millennium continuing her perennial dominance of the music scene. (Celebrity Channel)
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