134 Facts About Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey rose to fame in 1990 with her self-titled 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".

Mariah Carey achieved international success with the best-selling albums Music Box and Daydream, before adopting a new image with hip hop-inflected sounds, following a remix to "Fantasy" with Ol' Dirty Bastard, and more extensively on Butterfly.

Mariah Carey has been dubbed the "Queen of Christmas" due to the enduring popularity of her holiday music, particularly Merry Christmas, 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 of all time.

Mariah Carey released a memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, in 2020.

Mariah Carey is one of the best-selling music artists, with over 220 million records sold worldwide.

Mariah Carey was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Mariah Carey's accolades include 5 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Global Impact Award, 10 American Music Awards, 19 World Music Awards and 14 Billboard Music Awards.

Mariah Carey holds the record for the most Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles by a solo artist, a female songwriter, and a female producer, spending a record 97 weeks atop the chart.

Mariah 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.

Mariah Carey was born on March 27,1969, in Huntington, New York.

Mariah Carey's name is derived from the song "They Call the Wind Maria", originally from the 1951 Broadway musical Paint Your Wagon.

Mariah Carey is the youngest of three children born to Patricia, 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 "Mariah Carey" was adopted by her Venezuelan grandfather, Francisco Nunez, after he emigrated to New York.

Mariah Carey began writing poetry and lyrics while attending Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, New York, where she graduated in 1987.

Mariah Carey moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan with four female students as roommates.

Mariah Carey landed a gig singing backup for freestyle singer Brenda K Starr.

In December 1988, Mariah Carey accompanied Starr to a music executive's party and handed her demo tape to the head of Columbia Records, Tommy Mottola.

Mariah Carey had already left the event, and Mottola spent two weeks looking for her.

Mariah Carey signed Carey to Columbia and enlisted producers Ric Wake, Narada Michael Walden, and Rhett Lawrence for her first album.

On June 5,1990, Mariah Carey made her first public appearance at the 1990 NBA Finals, singing "America the Beautiful".

Mariah Carey was the best-selling album in the United States in 1991, and achieved worldwide sales of 15 million copies.

Mariah Carey co-wrote, co-produced, and recorded her second studio effort, Emotions, during 1991.

Mariah Carey 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 Clivilles and David Cole, from the dance group C+C Music Factory.

Mariah Carey did not embark on a world tour to promote the album.

In hopes of ending any speculation of her being a manufactured artist, Mariah Carey booked an appearance on MTV Unplugged.

Mariah Carey's songwriting was derided as cliched and her vocal performances were described as less emotive and lazier in their delivery.

In promotion of the album, Mariah Carey embarked on her debut tour, a six-date concert series, the Music Box Tour.

Daydream became Mariah Carey's biggest-selling album in the United States, and her second album to be certified Diamond by the RIAA, after Music Box.

Forbes named Mariah Carey the top-earning female musician of 1996, collecting an estimated $32 million.

Mariah Carey's contributions were secret until the release of her 2020 memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey.

Butterfly became Mariah Carey's best-reviewed album, with attention placed on the album's exploration of more mature lyrical themes.

Mariah Carey began conceptualizing a film project All That Glitters, later re-titled to simply Glitter, and wrote songs for other projects, such as Men in Black and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Mariah Carey instead chose to work with David Foster and Diane Warren.

Mariah Carey received Billboards Artist of the Decade Award and the World Music Award for Best-Selling Pop Female Artist of the Millennium, and parted from Columbia Records.

Mariah Carey was given full conceptual and creative control over the project.

Mariah Carey said that Columbia had regarded her as a commodity, with her separation from Mottola exacerbating her relations with label executives.

In July 2001, Mariah Carey suffered a physical and emotional breakdown.

Mariah Carey began posting disturbing messages on her website and behaved erratically in live promotional outings.

Days later, Mariah Carey posted irregular voice notes on her website.

Mariah Carey was admitted to a hospital in Connecticut and remained under doctor's care for two weeks, followed by an extended absence from the public.

In December 2002, Mariah Carey released her ninth studio album, Charmbracelet, which she said marked "a new lease on life" for her.

Sales of Charmbracelet were moderate and the quality of Mariah Carey's vocals came under criticism.

In support of the album, Mariah Carey embarked on her first headlining tour in three years, named The Adventures of Mimi after a "Mariah Carey-centric fan's" music diary.

Mariah Carey is second only to The Beatles, who have twenty number-one singles.

In 2008, Mariah Carey played one of the lead roles in Tennessee.

Mariah Carey later stated that she had been pregnant during that time period and suffered a miscarriage, prompting the tour's cancellation.

On January 20,2009, Mariah Carey performed "Hero" at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball after Barack Obama was sworn as the first African-American president of the United States.

In January 2010, Mariah Carey won the Breakthrough Actress Performance Award for her role in Precious at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

On December 31,2009, Mariah Carey embarked on her seventh concert tour, Angels Advocate Tour, which visited the United States and Canada and ended on September 26,2010.

Later that month, Mariah Carey released a duet with John Legend titled "When Christmas Comes", originally part of Merry Christmas II You.

On March 1,2012, Mariah Carey performed at New York City's Gotham Hall; her first time performing since her pregnancy.

Mariah Carey performed a three-song set at a special fundraiser for US President Barack Obama held in New York's Plaza Hotel.

Mariah Carey joined the judging panel of the twelfth season of American Idol.

In February 2013, Mariah Carey recorded and released a song called "Almost Home", for the soundtrack of The Walt Disney Studios film Oz the Great and Powerful.

Mariah Carey taped a performance of "Beautiful" along with a medley of her greatest hits on May 15,2013.

In October 2014, Mariah Carey announced an annual residency show All I Want for Christmas Is You: A Night of Joy and Festivity.

In 2015 Mariah Carey had her directorial debut for the Hallmark Channel Christmas movie A Christmas Melody, in which she performed as one of the main characters.

In December 2015, Mariah Carey announced The Sweet Sweet Fantasy Tour which spanned a total of 27-dates beginning in March 2016, marking Mariah Carey's first major tour of mainland Europe in 13 years.

Mariah Carey guest starred on the musical drama Empire and sang the song "Infamous" featuring Jussie Smollett.

On December 5,2016, Mariah Carey participated in the VH1 Divas Holiday: Unsilent Night benefit concert, alongside Vanessa Williams, Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle, and Teyana Taylor.

Mariah Carey said her inability to hear the music without in-ear auditory feedback caused the mishap.

On February 3,2017, Mariah Carey released the single "I Don't" featuring YG.

In July 2017, Mariah Carey made a cameo in the comedy film Girls Trip and embarked on a tour with Lionel Richie, titled, All the Hits Tour.

Mariah Carey was featured in the official remix for French Montana's single "Unforgettable", alongside Swae Lee.

In October 2017, Mariah Carey released a new soundtrack single, "The Star", for the movie of the same name.

Mariah Carey voiced a hen named Rebecca in the film.

In July 2018, Mariah Carey embarked on a new Las Vegas residency, The Butterfly Returns, which received critical acclaim.

In September 2018, Mariah Carey announced plans to release her fifteenth studio album later in the year.

In February 2019, Mariah Carey commenced the Caution World Tour in support of the album.

Later in 2019, Mariah Carey engaged in a series of business and television ventures.

On September 18,2019, Mariah Carey released "In the Mix", the theme song for the ABC sitcom Mixed-ish.

On November 1,2019, Mariah Carey re-released her holiday album Merry Christmas for its 25th anniversary.

In January 2020, it was announced that Mariah Carey would be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

On October 2,2020, Mariah Carey released a compilation album titled The Rarities, which includes rare and unreleased songs that Mariah Carey recorded at various stages of her career.

On November 5,2021, Carey released "Fall in Love at Christmas", featuring Khalid and Kirk Franklin, for her second Christmas special, Mariah's Christmas: The Magic Continues.

In March 2022, Mariah Carey was featured alongside DJ Khaled on the remix of Latto's single "Big Energy", which interpolates Mariah Carey's 1995 single "Fantasy".

In December 2022, Mariah Carey performed two pairs of shows at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto and Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Mariah Carey served as a co-producer of Some Like It Hot on Broadway theatre, a musical based on the 1959 comedy film Some Like It Hot.

Mariah Carey's music contains strong influences of gospel music, and she credits the Clark Sisters, Shirley Caesar, and Edwin Hawkins as the most influential in her early years.

Mariah Carey was heavily influenced by Minnie Riperton, and began experimenting with the whistle register due to her original practice of the range.

Some have noted that unlike Houston and Dion, Mariah Carey writes and produces her own music.

Mariah Carey gained public perception as a balladeer with her first few releases.

Mariah Carey's output makes use of electronic instruments such as drum machines, keyboards and synthesizers.

Mariah Carey said that she cannot read sheet music and prefers to collaborate with a pianist when composing her material, but feels that it is easier to experiment with faster and less-conventional melodies and chord progressions using this technique.

Mariah Carey began commissioning remixes of her material early in her career and helped to spearhead the practice of recording entirely new vocals for remixes.

From "Fantasy" onward, Mariah Carey enlisted both hip hop and house producers to re-structure her album compositions.

Mariah Carey commented that as her albums progressed, so too her songwriting and music blossomed into more mature and meaningful material.

Since the beginning of her career, Mariah Carey has repeatedly described herself as a songwriter and producer and emphasized the importance of being acknowledged for these roles.

Jon Pareles of The New York Times described Mariah Carey's lower register as a "rich, husky alto" that extends to "dog-whistle high notes".

However, tiredness and sleep deprivation can affect them due to the nodules, and Mariah Carey explained that she went through a lot of practice as a child to maintain a balance during singing.

One of her earliest performances was at MTV Unplugged, which received positive reception as Mariah Carey silenced critics saying her vocals were studio-made.

Mariah Carey performed "America the Beautiful" at the 1990 NBA Finals in which Rolling Stone writer, Brittany Spanos, stated the players were struck "with awe by the incredible talent of a burgeoning young star".

Mariah Carey is known for being very static during her live performances.

Mariah Carey had been open about the fact that she had not been happy with some of her early music videos, and has subsequently been noted for self-directing and co-producing her subsequent videography.

In 2021, Mariah Carey was honoured at the African American Film Critics Association with a Special Achievement Innovator Award for her "visual storytelling in her music videos and specials".

Mariah Carey has been labeled a "diva" for her stardom and persona.

Author Lily E Hirsch argues that while Carey has displayed diva behavior during several incidents in her career, the media's association of the term with her is influenced by gender.

Mariah Carey's style has often been described as "eccentric" and "over the top".

Early in her career, Mariah Carey had a polished image, influenced by Mottola and his control over her career.

Mariah Carey's career has received heavy media attention, particularly during the rollout of her 2001 film, Glitter which became "tabloid legend".

Academic Shara Rambarran believes that Mariah Carey has matched the media's intense scrutiny and attention on her personal life through "her diva attitude, performance, identity, and music".

Mariah Carey's enduring popularity as a musician has received extensive recognition and often praised for its longevity.

Mariah Carey has been credited for her role in breaking down racial barriers in popular culture and facilitating public discourse surrounding multiracialism in the music industry.

Mariah Carey has been credited for popularizing the use of melisma amongst her peers and the generation after her, and has often been considered one of the greatest vocalists in pop music.

Mariah Carey has influenced numerous artists and her music has been recorded, performed or sampled by a variety of acts.

Mariah Carey added that because of this, various artists have since "built their careers around melisma" including Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce.

Mariah Carey has won six Grammy Awards, nineteen World Music Awards, ten American Music Awards, and twenty Billboard Music Awards.

Mariah Carey is one of the best-selling recording artists in history, with more than 220 million records sold.

Mariah Carey is an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame.

Mariah Carey was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2015, and a Billboard Icon Award in 2019.

Mariah Carey signed a licensing deal with the cosmetics company Elizabeth Arden, and in 2007, she released her own fragrance, "M".

Mariah Carey has released a series of fragrances with Elizabeth Arden, including Luscious Pink and Forever.

In December 2020, Carey launched a partnership with Virtual Dining Concepts and restaurateur, Robert Earl, for a biscuit line titled Mariah's Cookies.

In 2021, Mariah Carey announced the launch of a new line of alcohol called Black Irish, an homage to her Black, Venezuelan, and Irish heritage.

That same year, Mariah Carey partnered with McDonald's, promoting an entirely new limited time menu.

In 2022, Carey recorded nine video lessons for MasterClass titled "Mariah Carey Teaches the Voice as an Instrument", for which she re-recorded "The Roof " alongside Brandy.

Mariah Carey is a philanthropist who has been involved with several charitable organizations.

Mariah Carey became associated with the Fresh Air Fund in the early 1990s, and co-founded a camp located in Fishkill, New York, that enables inner-city youth to embrace the arts and introduces them to career opportunities.

Mariah Carey donated royalties from her songs "Hero" and "One Sweet Day" to charities.

In 2008, Mariah Carey was named Hunger Ambassador of the World Hunger Relief Movement.

In 2017, Mariah Carey was awarded with PETA's Angel for Animals Award for promoting animal adoption through her animated movie All I Want for Christmas Is You.

The concert was a ratings success, and Mariah Carey participated in the Divas 2000 special and a 2016 holiday edition.

Mariah Carey hosted the CBS television special At Home for the Holidays, which documented real-life stories of adopted children and foster families.

In 2005, Mariah Carey performed for Live 8 in London and at the Hurricane Katrina relief telethon "Shelter from the Storm".

In 2008, Mariah Carey performed in a New Year's Eve concert for the family of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Mariah Carey later said she felt "horrible and embarrassed" to have taken part in the concert.

In 2013, human rights activists criticized Mariah Carey for performing in a concert for Angola's "father-daughter kleptocracy" and accused her of accepting "dictator cash".

The newlyweds moved into a custom-built mansion, located on a 51-acre estate in Bedford, New York, referred to by Mariah Carey as "Sing Sing".

Mariah Carey was in a relationship with baseball player Derek Jeter from 1997 to 1998, and with singer Luis Miguel from 1998 to 2001.

Mariah Carey began dating actor and comedian Nick Cannon while conceiving the music video for her song "Bye Bye", which they filmed together on an island off the coast of Antigua in April 2008.

Mariah Carey filed for divorce on December 12,2014, which was finalized in 2016.

In 2015, Mariah Carey began dating Australian billionaire James Packer and, on January 21,2016, she announced they were engaged.

On December 26,2023, Tanaka confirmed that he and Mariah Carey had parted ways after seven years of dating.

Mariah Carey was diagnosed in 2001 and initially kept the diagnosis private.