Mariah Carey receives six prestigious BMI Awards
As she reaches the half-way point on her North American tour, playing to packed houses and roaring, fanatical crowds in every city - including sold-out homecoming New York-area shows last week at Madison Square Garden and the Continental Airlines Arena - performer and songwriter Mariah Carey, the top-selling female artist in history, has now been honored with six of the most prestigious awards of her entire career. Mariah is the recipient of BMI's Songwriter of The Year Award; Song of the Year "We Belong Together"; #1 Billboard Song "We Belong Together"; and the 3 most performed songs: "We Belong Together" "Shake It Off" and "Don't Forget About Us".
The six BMI Awards cap one of the most phenomenally successful year-and-a-halfs of Mariah's entire career, centering upon the success of her Island Records album The Emancipation Of Mimi, which generated three Grammy awards and more than a dozen additional major industry awards. Soundscan's biggest-selling album of 2005, Mimi has sold over 10 million units worldwide to date, bringing Mariah's career sales to over 160 million units worldwide.
Mariah's most successful tour ever, "The Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, The Hits, The Tour", is selling out arenas from coast to coast. The Los Angeles Times said that the Live Nation-produced Adventures tour "showcases a well-toned and well-honed talent". Live Nation President and Chief Executive Officer, Michael Rapino, called the tour "an absolute home run that solidifies Mariah as one of the most successful live acts around".
Mariah's new cache of BMI Awards join a shelf of honors that began last November at the 33rd annual American Music Awards, where she was voted Favorite Soul/Rhythm & Blues Female Artist. At the 3rd annual VIBE Awards the same month, Mariah led everyone with four wins generated by Mimi: Artist Of The Year, Album Of The Year, R&B Voice Of The Year, and Best R&B Song for "We Belong Together".
At the 2005 Billboard Music Awards in December, Mariah was named Top R&B Singles Artist - Female, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Artist - Female, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Artist - Female, and Top Overall Albums Artist - Female, with "We Belong Together" named the #1 Hot 100 Single Of the Year. Later that month, at the annual Radio Music Awards broadcast from Las Vegas, Mariah was honored with the Legend Award and was named Artist of the Year/Urban and Rhythmic Radio, in addition to "We Belong Together" winning both Song of the Year/Main Stream Hit Radio and Song of the Year/Urban and Rhythmic Radio.
It was the prelude to the 48th annual Grammy Awards in February 2006. Mariah received 8 nominations (tied for the highest number of nominations for the year) and was ultimately honored for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song for "We Belong Together", and Best Contemporary R&B Album for The Emancipation Of Mimi. At the broadcast, Mariah delivered a rousing, career-defining medley of "We Belong Together" and "Fly Like A Bird", the latter backed by Hezekiah Walker & Brooklyn's 30-voice Love Fellowship Tabernacle Choir.
Mimi includes Mariah's 16th and 17th #1 career singles, "We Belong Together" and "Don't Forget About Us", respectively - which tied one of the most enduring chart records in Billboard Hot 100 history, Elvis Presley's 17 #1's. Mariah is now positioned as the only active recording artist in the 48 years of the Hot 100 (which began in 1958) with the potential to match or surpass the Beatles' all-time high of 20 #1 hits. With 76 total weeks of #1 hits (since her career began in 1990), Mariah also ranks second only to Presley's all-time high 79 weeks. (MariahCarey.com)
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