Mariah Carey (born March 27, 1970) is a Grammy-winning American hip hop and R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, music video director, and actress. Her debut was in 1990 under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, and she became the first recording artist to have her first five singles top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Following her marriage to Mottola in 1993, a series of hit records established her position as Columbia's highest-selling act. According to Billboard magazine, she is the most successful artist of the 1990s in the United States.[1]
Carey took much more control over her image and music following her separation from Mottola in 1997, and she introduced elements of hip hop into her album material. Her popularity was in decline when she left Columbia in 2001, and she was dropped by Virgin Records the following year after a highly publicized physical and emotional breakdown, and the poor reception of Glitter; her film and soundtrack project. In 2002, Carey signed with Island Records, and after an unsuccessful period, she returned to the forefront of pop music in 2005.
Carey was named the best selling female pop artist of the millennium at the 2000 World Music Awards.[2] She has recorded the most number-one singles for a female solo artist (seventeen) in the United States, where she is the third best-selling female recording artist of all-time, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[3] In addition to her commercial accomplishments, she has earned five Grammy Awards, and is well-known for her vocal range, power, melismatic style, and use of the whistle register. However, some critics have said Carey's efforts to showcase her vocal talents have been at the expense of communicating true emotion through song.[4][5]
1997–2000: New image and independence
Carey and Mottola separated in 1996. Although the public image of the marriage was a happy one, she said that in reality she had felt trapped by her relationship with Mottola, whom she often described as controlling.[28] They officially announced their separation in 1997, and their divorce became final the following year. Soon after the separation, Carey hired an independent publicist and a new attorney and manager. She became a major songwriter and producer for other artists during this period, contributing to the debut albums of Allure and 7 Mile through her short-lived imprint Crave Records.
"Honey" (1997), Carey's first heavily hip hop-influenced single, presented a more overtly sexual image of her than had been previously seen. Audio sample (help·info)
Carey's next album, Butterfly (1997), yielded the number-one single "Honey", the lyrics and music video for which presented a more overtly sexual image of her than had been previously seen.[29] She stated that Butterfly marked the point that she attained full creative control over her music, which continued to move in a hip hop direction with material co-written and co-produced by rappers such as Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and Missy Elliott. However, she added: "I don't think it's that much of a departure from what I've done in the past ... It's not like I went psycho and thought I was going to be a rapper. Personally, this album is about doing whatever the hell I wanted to do."[30] Reviews were generally positive: LAUNCHcast said Butterfly "pushes the envelope", a move its critic thought "may prove disconcerting to more conservative fans" but praised as "a welcome change".[31] The Los Angeles Times wrote, "[Butterfly] is easily the most personal, confessional-sounding record she's ever done ... Carey-bashing just might become a thing of the past."[32] The album was a commercial success, and "My All" (her thirteenth Hot 100 number-one) gave her the record for the most U.S. number-ones by a female artist.
Towards the turn of the millennium, Carey was developing the film project Glitter, and she wrote songs for the films Men in Black (1997) and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000). During the production of Butterfly, Carey became romantically involved with New York Yankees baseball star Derek Jeter. Their relationship ended in 1998, with both parties citing media interference as the main reason for the split.[33] That year, #1's, a collection of her U.S. number-one singles up to that point, was released. Carey said she recorded new material for the album as a way of rewarding her fans,[34] and included "When You Believe", an Academy Award-winning duet with Whitney Houston; the song was from the soundtrack of The Prince of Egypt (1998). #1's sold above expectations, but a review in NME labeled Carey "a purveyor of saccharine bilge like 'Hero', whose message seems wholesome enough: that if you vacate your mind of all intelligent thought, flutter your eyelashes and wish hard, sweet babies and honey will follow".[35] Also that year she appeared on the first televised VH1 Divas benefit concert program, though her alleged prima donna behavior had already led many to consider her a diva.[36] By the following year, she had entered a relationship with singer Luis Miguel.
Rainbow, Carey's seventh studio album, was released in 1999. It comprised more R&B/hip hop-oriented songs, many of them co-created with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. "Heartbreaker" and "Thank God I Found You" (the former featuring Jay-Z, the latter featuring Joe and boy-band 98 Degrees) reached number one in the U.S., and the success of the former made Carey the only act to have a number-one single in each year of the 1990s. A cover of Phil Collins's "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" went to number one in the UK after Carey re-recorded it with boy band Westlife. Media reception of Rainbow was generally enthusiastic, with the Sunday Herald saying the album "sees her impressively tottering between soul ballads and collaborations with R&B heavyweights like Snoop Doggy Dogg, Usher ... It's a polished collection of pop-soul".[37] VIBE magazine expressed similar sentiments, writing, "She pulls out all stops...Rainbow will garner even more adoration",[38] but despite this it became Carey's lowest selling album up to that point, and there was a recurring criticism that the tracks were too alike. When the double A-side "Crybaby"/"Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)" became her first single to peak outside the U.S. top twenty, Carey accused Sony of under promoting it: "The political situation in my professional career is not positive ... I'm getting a lot of negative feedback from certain corporate people", she wrote on her official website.[39]
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