Mariah Carey

Mariah’s music is all about emotions and escapism, with a lot of deeper intentions and passions. Her music is a reminder of the initial intention of music-which people sang because they sang. She is one of the most talented, successful and best loved artistes around the globe. She is a true Diva who can carry out glossy ballads to hip-hop-inspired dance-pop hits with great ease and so appeals to audiences of all ages and nationalities. Since she started her Prima Donna career, she has since become the best-selling female performer of all time. She became the only artist to top the charts in the decade of the 1990s, and, with "Heartbreaker," she transcended the Beatles supremacy as the artist with the most collective weeks spent atop Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles chart. During her concerts, she demonstrates that she is genuinely seasoned to the concept of live performance, instead of singing in the studios only. Encouraged by her opera singer mother, Mariah began singing at the tender age of 4. After graduating high school, she performed in New York City clubs, shopping around her favorite music genres. A gifted diva with four to five-octave vocal ranges, her big break came when she sang backup for Brenda K. Starr. After her demo landed in the hands of Tommy Mottola -- the president of Columbia records and Mariah's future (ex) husband -- Carey was signed to his label.

Carey's professional music career began with the release of her eponymous debut album, Mariah Carey, in 1990. The album debuted low on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, but ascended to number one a year after its release. Emotions, Carey's second album was released in the fall of 1991. The title track of Emotions gave Carey a record fifth successive US number 1. Her only UK number 1 to date came with a cover version of Badfinger's "Without You" in February 1994. Her 1995 release, Daydream, exceeded all expectations and notched up sales of over six million in the USA within three months of release. Daydream, was a combination of her pop sensibilities of Music Box with modern R&B/hip-hop influences. Critics such as Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Bill Lamb declared Daydream as her finest album yet at the time. Carey's 1997 album, Butterfly, saw her continuing to move in an R&B/hip-hop direction. Butterfly featured Carey's most adventurous collection of songs to date, and inevitably repeated the success of her previous albums. "When You Believe", a duet with fellow diva Whitney Houston was a huge worldwide hit during 1998. The same year Mariah courted New York Yankees baseball player Derek Jeter. Also that year, she appeared on the first televised VH1 Divas program, a joint benefit concert appearance with singers such as Aretha Franklin and Shania Twain. Rainbow, Carey's sixth studio album, was released in 1999. The album featured yet another US chart-topper, "Heartbreaker" and "Thank God I Found You." Carey finally ended her contract with Sony and signed a five-album contract with EMI's Virgin Records worth a reported US$80 million in 2001. But her alliance with the label was a big disaster, probably because of her mental and physical exhaustion, and the contract expired in 2002. Later in the year she signed a multi-album recording contract with Island Def Jam, and formed her own impression, Monarc Music. The first release on the label was Charmbracelet. The quality of Carey's vocals sounded in tatters. "I Know What You Want", Carey's 2003 duet with Busta Rhymes recorded for his eighth album. Carey's ninth studio album, The Emancipation of Mimi, was released in 2005. Its second single, "We Belong Together," became the biggest hit of 2005 and Carey's career: