How Mariah Carey built a successful career. Explore key moments that defined the journey.
Mariah Carey is a highly acclaimed American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Recognized as the "Songbird Supreme" for her exceptional five-octave vocal range, melismatic style, and whistle register, she holds a prominent place in music history. Carey's influence is considerable, demonstrated by Rolling Stone ranking her as the fifth greatest singer of all time in 2023. She remains a significant figure in contemporary music and pop culture.
In 1970, Jackson 5 originally released "I'll Be There". Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff chose to add a cover of this song to the set-list of MTV Unplugged in 1992.
In 1983, Mariah Carey's album Glitter was a musical departure, recreating a 1980s post-disco era to accompany the film.
In December 1988, Mariah Carey gave her demo tape to Tommy Mottola, head of Columbia Records, at a music executive's party, leading to her signing with Columbia after a bidding war.
On June 5, 1990, Mariah Carey made her first public appearance at the 1990 NBA Finals, singing "America the Beautiful".
In 1990, Mariah Carey performed "America the Beautiful" at the NBA Finals, with Rolling Stone writer, Brittany Spanos, stating the players were struck "with awe by the incredible talent of a burgeoning young star".
In 1990, Mariah Carey rose to fame 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.
Mariah Carey celebrated the 30th anniversary of her debut album through 2020, in a promotional campaign billed "#MC30", with the first release being the live EP The Live Debut – 1990.
Mariah Carey's debut hit from 1990, 'Vision of Love', set the bar insanely high for notes stretched louder, longer and knottier than most pop fans had ever heard
During 1991, Mariah Carey co-wrote, co-produced, and recorded her second studio album, Emotions, which was released on September 17 of that year. It served as a homage to Motown soul music.
In 1991, Mariah Carey's debut album, Mariah Carey, was the best-selling album in the United States.
On March 16, 1992, Mariah Carey recorded an intimate seven-song show for MTV Unplugged at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York, which helped end speculation about her being a "studio worm".
On August 31, 1993, Mariah Carey released her album Music Box, which was to be marketed as adult contemporary and pop-friendly.
In 1993, Mariah Carey achieved international success with the best-selling album Music Box.
In 1993, Mariah Carey collaborated with Disc jockey David Morales on "Dreamlover", which popularized the tradition of remixing R&B songs into house records.
On November 1, 1994, Mariah Carey released the Merry Christmas album, which became the best-selling Christmas album.
In 1994, Mariah Carey co-founded Camp Mariah with the Fresh Air Fund and released Merry Christmas, which became a best-selling holiday album.
In 1994, Mariah Carey performed a concert at St. John the Divine Church, which was later included in the 25th anniversary re-release of her holiday album Merry Christmas in 2019.
From 1995 onward, Mariah Carey enlisted both hip hop and house producers to re-structure her album compositions, starting with "Fantasy".
In 1995, Mariah Carey achieved international success with the best-selling album Daydream.
In 1995, Mariah Carey's fifth studio album, Daydream, was released, consolidating her creative control and receiving critical acclaim for its R&B and hip hop influences.
In 2005, The Emancipation of Mimi was the first album by a solo female artist to become the year's best-selling album within the country since Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill in 1996.
In early 1996, Mariah Carey embarked on the Daydream World Tour, her first international concerts. Forbes named her the top-earning female musician of 1996, with an estimated $32 million.
On September 10, 1997, Mariah Carey released 'Butterfly', an album showcasing a more subdued singing style and mature lyrical themes, marking a shift towards incorporating hip hop and R&B elements.
In 1997, Mariah Carey adopted a new image with hip hop-inflected sounds, following a remix to "Fantasy" and more extensively on Butterfly.
In 1997, Mariah Carey wrote songs for other projects, such as Men in Black.
In 2005, Mariah Carey's 'The Emancipation of Mimi' became her first number-one album and first since Butterfly (1997)
Mariah Carey's songwriting partnership with Afanasieff extended until 1997's Butterfly album.
On April 14, 1998, Mariah Carey participated in the VH1 Divas benefit concert, performing alongside renowned artists such as Aretha Franklin and Celine Dion.
In 1998, Mariah Carey collaborated with Mobb Deep on the single "The Roof (Back in Time)", showing her appreciation for rappers such as the Sugarhill Gang, Eric B. & Rakim, the Wu-Tang Clan, and The Notorious B.I.G.
In 1998, Mariah Carey made a benefit concert appearance on VH1's Divas Live special, performing alongside other female singers in support of the Save the Music Foundation.
On November 2, 1999, Mariah Carey released her album 'Rainbow', which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with the highest first-week sales of her career at the time.
In 1999, Mariah Carey was presented with a Congressional Award for contributing to expanding opportunities for all Americans through her personal contributions and setting exceptional examples for young people.
In 2000, Mariah Carey wrote songs for other projects, such as How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Mariah Carey participated in the Divas 2000 special on VH1.
In April 2001, Mariah Carey signed an $80 million five-album recording contract with Virgin Records (EMI Records) after parting ways with Columbia Records.
In 2001, Mariah Carey began conceptualizing a film project All That Glitters, later re-titled to simply Glitter.
In 2001, Mariah Carey faced the failure of her film Glitter and a career decline.
In December 2002, Mariah Carey released her ninth studio album, Charmbracelet. This release marked a 'new lease on life' for her, though it received moderate sales and criticism for vocal quality.
During the week of September 25, 2005, Carey set another record, becoming the first woman to occupy the first two spots atop the Hot 100, as "We Belong Together" remained at number one, and her next single, "Shake It Off", moved into the number two spot (Ashanti had topped the chart in 2002 while being a featured singer on the number two single).
During the week of September 25, 2005, Mariah Carey became the first woman to hold the top two spots on the Hot 100 chart simultaneously, with "We Belong Together" at number one and "Shake It Off" at number two.
In 2005, Mariah Carey made a comeback with one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century, The Emancipation of Mimi.
In 2005, Mariah Carey performed for Live 8 in London and at the Hurricane Katrina relief telethon "Shelter from the Storm".
In 2005, Mariah Carey released 'The Emancipation of Mimi', an album that topped the charts in the United States and was well-received by critics, marking a career resurgence.
In 2005, The Emancipation of Mimi was the best-selling album in the United States, with nearly five million units sold. and the second-best-selling album of the year globally, having sold more than 7.7 million copies worldwide.
In 2005, With You became Mariah Carey's highest-charting non-holiday song on the US Adult Contemporary chart since We Belong Together.
In November 2006, Mariah Carey was awarded the Make-A-Wish Foundation's Wish Idol for her "extraordinary generosity and her many wish granting achievements."
In 2006, Mariah Carey participated in endorsements for Intel Centrino personal computers and launched a jewelry and accessories line for teenagers, Glamorized, in American Claire's and Icing stores. She also recorded and promoted a series of exclusive ringtones, including "Time of Your Life", as part of a partnership with Pepsi and Motorola.
In 2006, The Emancipation of Mimi earned eight Grammy Award nominations and won Best Contemporary R&B Album, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, and Best R&B Song for "We Belong Together".
In 2007, Mariah Carey released her own fragrance, "M", as part of a licensing deal with Elizabeth Arden. The Elizabeth Arden deal has reportedly netted her $150 million. For the fragrance, Carey won a Basenotes Fragrance Award for Best Celebrity Women's Fragrance and was nominated in three other categories.
In 2007, The Emancipation of Mimi Ultra Platinum Edition earned two Grammy Award nominations.
In 2007, author Saul Austerlitz wrote Carey had been "marketed as a whitebread pop princess" in her earlier music videos, adding the plots, directorial styles, clothes, and auras from later videos like "Heartbreaker" were very different and she was displayed as an "R&B diva".
In April 2008, Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon began dating while conceiving the music video for her song "Bye Bye", which they filmed together on an island off the coast of Antigua.
In August 2008, Mariah Carey and other singers recorded the charity single, "Just Stand Up" produced by Babyface and L.A. Reid, to support Stand Up to Cancer.
In 2008, Mariah Carey performed in a New Year's Eve concert for the family of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. She later expressed feeling "horrible and embarrassed" for her participation.
In 2008, Mariah Carey released Luscious Pink fragrance with Elizabeth Arden as part of her fragrance series.
In 2008, Mariah Carey was named Hunger Ambassador of the World Hunger Relief Movement.
On January 20, 2009, Mariah Carey performed "Hero" at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball after Barack Obama was sworn in as the first African-American president of the United States.
On September 25, 2009, Mariah Carey's twelfth studio album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, was released. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 168,000 copies and received mixed reviews.
In 2009, Mariah Carey starred in the film Precious.
On December 31, 2009, Mariah Carey embarked on her seventh concert tour, Angels Advocate Tour, which visited the United States and Canada.
In January 2010, Mariah Carey won the Breakthrough Actress Performance Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival for her role in the movie Precious.
In February 2010, Mariah Carey's song, "100%", originally written for the film Precious, was used as one of the theme songs for the 2010 Winter Olympics, with all money proceeds going to Team USA.
A remix album of Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, titled Angels Advocate, was slated for a March 30, 2010, release but was eventually cancelled by Island Def Jam.
On September 26, 2010, Mariah Carey's Angels Advocate Tour ended, after visiting the United States and Canada.
On November 2, 2010, Mariah Carey released her second Christmas album titled Merry Christmas II You which included new songs as well as a remix of "All I Want for Christmas Is You".
On November 29, 2010, Mariah Carey debuted a collection on HSN, which included jewelry, shoes, and fragrances.
In 2010, Mariah Carey released the song "Oh Santa!" which was later remixed in 2020 featuring Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson.
In February 2011, Mariah Carey recorded a duet with Tony Bennett titled "When Do The Bells Ring For Me?" for his Duets II album.
In March 2011, Mariah Carey's representative announced that royalties for the song "Save the Day", written for her fourteenth studio album, would be donated to charities that create awareness for human rights, as an amends for performing for Muammar Gaddafi's family.
In November 2011, Mariah Carey was announced as "brand ambassador" for Jenny Craig, Inc., which included participation in a new company initiative, public service announcements, and community and education programs.
On March 1, 2012, Mariah Carey performed at New York City's Gotham Hall, marking her first performance since her pregnancy, and at a fundraiser for US President Barack Obama.
In February 2013, Mariah Carey recorded and released the song "Almost Home" for the soundtrack of the film Oz the Great and Powerful.
On May 6, 2013, Mariah Carey released the lead single "Beautiful", featuring singer Miguel, from her upcoming 14th album.
On May 15, 2013, Mariah Carey taped a performance of "Beautiful" and a medley of her greatest hits, which aired on the American Idol season finale the following day.
In 2013, Mariah Carey appeared in Lee Daniels' film The Butler and had a guest role on the animated series American Dad!.
In 2013, Mariah Carey starred in the film The Butler and served as a judge on American Idol.
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".
On May 27, 2014, Mariah Carey's album, titled Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse, was released after multiple delays.
In October 2014, Mariah Carey announced an annual residency show titled All I Want for Christmas Is You: A Night of Joy and Festivity.
On December 15, 2014, Mariah Carey's residency show All I Want for Christmas Is You: A Night of Joy and Festivity began at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.
When reviewing Mariah Carey's 2014 concert, Michael Lallo wrote that "If you're Mariah, you ... stroke your hair a lot. When a high note is on the horizon, you brace yourself by touching your ear and adopting a pained expression, provoking the crowd into losing its collective mind."
On January 30, 2015, Mariah Carey left Def Jam Recordings to reunite with L.A. Reid and Sony Music via Epic Records and announced her new #1 to Infinity residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
In December 2015, Mariah Carey announced The Sweet Sweet Fantasy Tour which spanned a total of 27 dates beginning in March 2016, marking Carey's first major tour of mainland Europe in 13 years.
On March 15, 2016, Mariah Carey announced that she was filming Mariah's World, a docu-series for the E! network documenting her Sweet Sweet Fantasy tour and her wedding planning process.
In March 2016, The Sweet Sweet Fantasy Tour by Mariah Carey began, marking her first major tour of mainland Europe in 13 years.
On December 4, 2016, Mariah's World, a docu-series for the E! network, premiered.
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 participated in a Divas 2016 holiday edition special on VH1.
On December 31, 2016, Mariah Carey's performance on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve in Times Square received worldwide attention after technical difficulties caused her in-ear monitors to malfunction, resulting in a performance 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 film Girls Trip and embarked on a tour with Lionel Richie, titled, All the Hits Tour.
By October 2017, Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" had become the 11th best-selling single in history, with over 16 million copies sold worldwide.
In October 2017, Mariah Carey released a new soundtrack single, "The Star", for the movie of the same name. She also voiced a hen named Rebecca in the film.
On November 14, 2017, Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You, an animated Christmas film, was released direct-to-video.
Mariah Carey's performance at Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2017 was marred by technical issues, but she returned to the stage a year later and, according to Time, "effectively redeemed herself".
On December 31, 2017, Mariah Carey returned to perform on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve after the technical difficulties that hindered her previous performance, in what The New York Times described as a "made-for-television act of pop culture redemption".
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. The project was announced alongside the release of a new song titled "GTFO".
On September 21, 2018, Mariah Carey headlined the 2018 iHeartRadio Music Festival, where she performed her new song titled "GTFO".
On November 16, 2018, Mariah Carey's album, titled Caution, was released and received universal acclaim from critics.
By December 2018, the album Caution by Mariah Carey had been featured on numerous year-end lists by music critics and publications.
In 2018, Mariah Carey featured in an advertisement for Hostelworld with the tagline "Even Divas are Believers".
In February 2019, Mariah Carey commenced the Caution World Tour in support of the Caution album.
On August 25, 2019, Mariah Carey signed a $12 million contract with the Walkers crisps brand as part of their Christmas campaign and starred in a commercial for the company.
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.
On December 5, 2019, it was announced that a mini-documentary titled Mariah Carey Is Christmas!, charting the creation and subsequent cultural legacy of "All I Want for Christmas Is You" was to be produced and broadcast on Amazon Music.
In 2019, Mariah Carey was honored by Variety's Power of Women for her work with The Fresh Air Fund's Camp Mariah.
In 2019, Mariah Carey's The Butterfly Returns residency was extended into 2019 and 2020.
In 2019, Mariah Carey's residency show All I Want for Christmas Is You: A Night of Joy and Festivity ended at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.
In January 2020, it was announced that Mariah Carey would be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
On July 17, 2020, Mariah Carey released the live EP The Live Debut – 1990 as part of her #MC30 promotional campaign.
On October 2, 2020, Mariah Carey released a compilation album titled The Rarities, which includes rare and unreleased songs that Carey recorded at various stages of her career.
On December 4, 2020, Mariah Carey's 2020 Christmas special, Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas Special, premiered on Apple TV+ along with a soundtrack. A new version of Carey's 2010 song "Oh Santa!", featuring Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson, was released as a single the same day.
In December 2020, Mariah Carey launched a partnership with Virtual Dining Concepts and restaurateur Robert Earl for a biscuit line titled Mariah's Cookies.
In 2020, Mariah Carey released her memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey.
In 2020, Mariah Carey's The Butterfly Returns residency was extended into 2019 and 2020.
Mariah Carey's 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, revealed her involvement with the alternative rock album Someone's Ugly Daughter by the band Chick, on which she contributed writing, production, vocals and art direction during the recording of Daydream.
The song "Save the Day", that Mariah Carey wrote for her fourteenth studio album and commited royalties to charities in 2011, remained unreleased until 2020.
In July 2021, Mariah Carey was featured on the track "Somewhat Loved" from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis' debut studio album Jam & Lewis: Volume One.
On November 5, 2021, Mariah Carey released "Fall in Love at Christmas", featuring Khalid and Kirk Franklin, for her second Christmas special, Mariah's Christmas: The Magic Continues.
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, Carey also partnered with McDonald's, promoting an entirely new limited time menu.
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".
In March 2022, Mariah Carey was featured alongside DJ Khaled on the remix of Latto's single "Big Energy", which interpolates Carey's 1995 single "Fantasy".
On September 16, 2022, an expanded version of Butterfly was released for the 25th anniversary of the album.
In December 2022, Mariah Carey performed two pairs of shows at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto and Madison Square Garden in New York City.
In 2022, Mariah Carey recorded nine video lessons for MasterClass titled "Mariah Carey Teaches the Voice as an Instrument", for which she re-recorded "The Roof (Back in Time)" alongside Brandy.
In February 2023, the 2009 track "It's a Wrap" experienced a revival on TikTok, prompting Mariah Carey to release an EP for the song, which included a new sped-up version.
On September 8, 2023, Mariah Carey released a deluxe version of Music Box in celebration of the album's thirtieth anniversary.
Mariah Carey's 16-date concert tour, Merry Christmas One and All!, which ran from November 15 to December 17, 2023, in the United States, concluded. The tour grossed approximately $30 million and sold more than 200,000 tickets.
On February 16, 2024, Mariah Carey featured on the remix of Ariana Grande's single "Yes, And?".
On November 6, 2024, Mariah Carey embarked on Mariah Carey's Christmas Time tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Merry Christmas, concluding after 18 shows on December 17. A thirtieth anniversary edition of Merry Christmas was also released.
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