Mariah Carey was born on March 27, 1970 in New York. Her parents--a black Venezuelen father and Irish mother--named her after the song "They Called The Wind Mariah", from the musical Paint Your Wagon. Mariah also had a brother, Morgan, and a sister, Alison. Mariah went to Harborsfield High School, but she never really excelled there because she knew that she was going to be famous one day. During high school, Mariah began commuting to Manhattan to study music with professionals. After she graduated in 1987, she moved into the city.

Mariah's big break came when she started working as a part-time back up singer for R&B singer Brenda K. Starr. It was then she met Tommy Mottola, who changed her life forever.

Today, Mariah Carey has lived up to her dream that she always knew she could achieve. Her albums have sold over 88 million copies worldwide. She is the best-selling and probably most successful artist of the decade, breaking record after record.

She worked on her first album, Mariah Carey, when she was only 18. Four songs from that album went to number one--Vision of Love, Love Takes Time, Someday, and I Don't Want To Cry. Her second album Emotions produced her fifth single Emotions that hit number one. From these two albums, Mariah Carey became the first person in the music business to have her first 5 singles all hit #1.

Her next album, Music Box produced more hits. Three songs from that album, Dreamlover, I'll Be There, and Hero went to number one. Hero was especially important. Being a Long Island girl, Mariah dedicated this song to the victims of the Long Island Rail Road shootings.

In November 1994, Mariah released her holiday album, Merry Christmas which sold over eight million copies.

In 1995, Mariah produced another album, Daydream that created three more consecutive #1 hits--Fantasy, One Sweet Day, and Always Be My Baby. Daydream debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart, and has gone platinum nine times.

Daydream was a little different from the rest of her other albums. Fantasy was a duet with rapper ODB (from WuTang), and Mariah had worked with Boyz II Men on One Sweet Day. The single Fantasy made history, for two reasons. First, it was the first single ever to ENTER the Hot 100 Billboard Chart at #1. Second, it entered the R&B charts at the same time at number one too!!

Mariah also did something else special in 1995. She donated $1 million dollars to a New York camp. Later, that camp was renamed Camp Mariah. The NY camp is for disadvantaged inner-city kids.

Two years later, Mariah produced another album, Butterfly, which (you guessed it-)had two singles that hit #1. These two songs were Honey, and My All. Honey also entered the charts at number one, and became her third single to debut at #1. There have only been 6 singles that have debuted at number one, and half of them are Mariah Carey's.

In November 1998, Mariah's next albumn, titled #1s camed out. This album included her thirteen #1 hits and four bonus tracks. It includes the theme of "The Prince of Egypt", When You Believe, which is a duet with Whitney Houston. The other three songs are Sweetheart with JD, Whenever You Call with Brian McKnight, and I Still Believe.

Mariah Carey has had more #1 hits than any other female artist. Only Elvis Presley (with 18 #1 hits) and the Beatles (with 20) have had more than her. With over 88 million albums sold worldwide, the only female artist to have sold more albums than her is Madonna (Madonna has sold over 110 million).

Mariah Carey has had two biographies. Her first one is called Mariah Carey - Her Story. Her latest bio is called Mariah Carey Revisited. You can order both at Amazon.com

~*~Mariah's Albums, Songs, & Lyrics~*~

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