Mariah Carey was born on March 27, 1970, in New York. Mariah translates as the "the wind" in Native American language. Mariah's beauty is a product of her heritage of an African-Venezuelan father and American-Irish mother. With a talent for pop ballads and a multi-octave voice range, Mariah has dominated the pop charts for much of the 90s. Mariah began singing from the age of 2 and began voice lessons by age 4. Faced with the insecurities of racial intolerance, and a broken marriage (Mariah's parents divorced and she was raised by her mother), Mariah turned to her singing for happiness. In 1994, Mariah reflected: "I guess when you're part Irish and part Venezuelan, you're not completely connected to any one thing, you grow up like that in a suburban neighborhood with rich kids, you're not popular because you're different. And I never had any financial security. I dreamed of possessing things. Lucky for me I had my music to hold on to as a goal. It was like, these people may not think I'm as good as them, but I can sing!" Mariah credits her early influences as Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Gladys Knight. She credits these influences for her R&B sound, although many would disagree that her sound is more R&B than pop. Her talent for singing and confidence for super-stardom eventually combined for Mariah barely out of her teenage years.

In 1987, just after graduating from high school, Mariah moved to New York City to pursue a singing career. She worked odd jobs as a coat check girl and waitress, went to beauty school, and worked on demos and focused on getting a record deal. Mariah eventually landed a job as backup singer to Brenda K. Starr. "I really didn't want to do it, but then I thought, 'Well, it's got be better than doing what I'm doing now!'" In 1988, at party with Starr, Mariah gave her demo tape to a record company head that made it to the president of Columbia Records, Tommy Mottola. The demo contained the tracks "Someday," "Prisoner," "All Alone In Love," All In Your Mind," and the unreleased, "Do You Ever Wonder." After listening to 2 songs, Mottola found what he was looking for - the next Whitney Houston. Within a month, Mariah singed with Columbia Records.

Mariah started her winning music streak with her LP, Mariah Carey, which spawned 4 consecutive #1 hits including, "Vision Of Love," "Love Takes Time," "Someday," and "I Don't Wanna Cry." Mariah describes her first hit "Vision Of Love" as "a celebration of how I was feeling at the time. It's not just a love song, it's about feeling good, and I was at a very big turning point in my life at the time, so it's about everything that was going on." For Mariah's debut, the record company brought in many top notch producers for the tracks which Mariah stated "took away some of my identity." The LP went on to sell over 8 million copies in the U.S. Mariah's awards started with 3 Soul Train Music Awards for Best R&B/Urban Contemporary Album (Mariah Carey), Best R&B/Urban Contemporary New Artist, and Best R&B/Urban Contemporary Single ("Vision Of Love").

After number one hits, and major acomplishments, in 1993, Mariah (at 23) married Tommy Mottola (43) in an elaborate, half-a-million dollar wedding ceremony. Mariah stated: "He's a very cool person. We're beyond thinking about age. I mean, occasionally he'll know a song that I've never heard of, or I'll know songs that I'm like, oh, this reminds me of seventh grade, and it was, like, not that long ago. I don't think of Tommy as an older person. I think of him as a very special person. Everybody who knows us realize that we're right for each other."

Mariah continued her winning streak with the release of Music Box in August. Again, Mariah ruled at the top of the charts with the #1 hits "Dreamlover," "Hero," and "Without You," and the Top 10 "Anytime You Need A Friend." The LP became her biggest seller with over 9 million copies sold in the U.S. Mariah also began a six-city U.S. tour by the end of the year - her first tour experience. Mariah's need for perfection and increasing nervousness had her focusing more on hitting the high notes than entertaining the audience - the result were many unkind words by critics. "That was so intense, And then they killed me. Not the audience - they knew it was my first show, they were very supportive. I got really bad reviews, though. Well, there were a lot of critics out to get me: this girl's sold all these albums, she's never toured, let's get her. So they did."

"One Sweet Day" became the #1 song of '96 and spent a record 16 weeks at #1 on the Billboard charts. The LP went on to sell over 9 million copies in the U.S. Mariah continued her success with a world tour. Mariah won 2 American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/ Rock Female Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist. Daydream was certified 6x platinum, Music Box was certified 9x platinum, and the single "One Sweet Day" was certified 2x platinum. Mariah's work was nominated for several Grammy Awards in 1996 but her luck was squelched by newcomer, Alanis Morissette. Although Mariah's career has been in constant overdrive, she has taken time to work with charities, most notably the Fresh Air Fund. The organization gives underprivileged children from inner cities a chance to visit camps in the wilderness. Mariah's help with organization resulted in a fifth camp opened in 1994 called "Camp Mariah." Mariah has also been involved with AmFAR, the United Negro College Fund, and other organizations that work with issues such as child care, animal care, and cancer research. After almost 4 years of marriage to Sony Records chief Tommy Mottola, the couple separated. The couple issued a statement that they "mutually and amicably" agreed to separate. Mariah reportedly moved out of the $10 million New York home into a Manhattan apartment. Mariah then split with her longtime manager, Randy Hoffmann, and signed with a management company in Los Angeles. The decision was said to be reflective of Mariah's desire to expand her personal and professional opportunities, which has become more evident since her separation Tommy Mottola and new LP.

Mariah's next LP, Butterfly, was released in September, and fans found that Mariah has tried to update her sound for the 90s by including a more hip hop flavor with her music. After parting with her husband and long-time manager, it isn't surprising that Mariah is taking more control with her career - and Mariah is getting some help. The first single, "Honey," was produced by Puff Daddy and hit #1. Other collaborations and guests include Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, Dru Hill, and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Mariah also covers Prince's "Beautiful Ones" from his Purple Rain LP. Additional hits from the LP included "Butterfly" and "Breakdown." Mariah gave an interview with MTV prior to the MTV Video Music Awards in September to proclaim her independence and to capitalize on the popular street-attitude of music today. She stated that her new LP, Butterfly, is her "metamorphosis" and a sign of her growth. On Tommy Mottola, with whom she's still separated from, Mariah stated that "... we're still a part of each other's families... we're not gonna be enemies." Mariah also stated that her video for "Honey" represents more of her personality than anything she has done in the past. Puff Daddy, who worked with Mariah on the LP, said "Mariah's wilding right now." The two dispelled any rumors that they were dating - although if anything, the comment probably started the rumors. The single "Honey" was certified platinum.

In Oct. 1997, Butterfly was certified 2x platinum.

By the beginning of 1998, Butterfly sold over 3 million copies in the U.S. Mariah won an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist. Butterfly was certified 3x platinum. Mariah hit the Top 40 with "Breakdown" (featuring Bone Thugs-N-Harmony).

Mariah was nominated for 2 Grammy Awards for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance ("Butterfly") and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song ("Honey"). Mariah then ended her work with her record label, Crave Records and stated "The most important thing to me and Sony Music is making sure the artists are well taken care of, whether they end up somewhere else with me in the near future, or stay within the Sony system.

Then, Mariah teamed up with Whitney Houston in New York to record "When You Believe" for the film The Prince Of Egypt. She told MTV: "Actually, Jeffrey Katzenberg from Dreamworks showed us both the movie separately and got us both excited about the project... if we were ever going to come together on any kind of record, this is definitely the right one, and really the coolest thing to me is that after all of the drama and everybody making it like we had a rivalry, she was just really cool and we had a really good time in the studio... we had fun... and so, if nothing else, it was a good experience.. and diva-ism, whatever." Mariah's movie debut will come in the form of Double-O-Soul which she will be filming in the fall with Chris Tucker. She told MTV, "I'm not nervous about it at all... if anything, I'm looking forward to it as kind of a therapeutic experience because singing and writing is one emotional outlet and one place you are coming from when you do that." (As plans for Double-O-Soul were delayed, Mariah will be in the film, The Bachelor).

A collection of Mariah's #1 singles and some new material was released: No. 1's. Throughout the year Mariah won honored at the Soul Train Lady of Soul Award with the 'Aretha Franklin Award' as Entertainer of the Year and won 2 World Music Awards for World's Best-Selling Artist/Group and World's Best-Selling Recording Artist of the 90s. Mariah was also nominated for a Billboard Video Music Award for Best Clip (Jazz/Adult Contemporary) ("My All") and a European Music Award for Best Female Video. Mariah hit the Top 40 with "When You Believe" (with Whitney Houston and from The Prince Of Egypt).

Mariah once received a Congressional Award which recognized her Fresh Air Fund and her contributions to youth charities!