Published by angeliquejohan

Eight-octave singer Mariah Carey churned out hits in the nineties, thanks to her formidable talent and stage presence.

Born in Long Island, New York, to a Venezuelen father and Irish mother, she was encouraged by her opera-singing mother to take her talent seriously. She began entering talent shows and singing for friends, before writing her own material at high school and starting singing lessons.

Tommy Mottola, director of Sony Music noticed her in the late eighties and she signed her first contract in 1989. Her first album came out the following year, with the hits ' Vision of Love', 'Love Takes Time' and 'Someday' making waves in the music industry. Carey married Mottola at an extravagent ceremony in 1993 and the pair continued their successful recording partnership, releasing the albums 'Emotions', 'Music Box', and 'Daydream' over the next five years.

1997 was a watershed year for Carey: she divorced Mottola and re-invented herself, bringing out a new album, entitled 'Butterfly', to mark the end of a period of personal change. The all-new, all-sexy Mariah Carey released a barrage of hits from the album, complete with provocative videos, including 'Honey' and 'My All'. The following year, she released her first greatest hits compilation, including a duet with fellow diva Whitney Houston, which was followed up in 1999 by the album 'Rainbow' and a duet with rapper Jay-Z.

After nearly three years out of the limelight, Carey took tentative first steps into the world of cinema with the semi-autobiographic film 'Glitter', which was unfortunately panned by the critics. The accompanying album did not fare much better and Carey again took time off from the music industry, suffering from depression.

She returned a year later with the album Charm Bracelet and a new record label.