With her unearthly five-octave vocal range, Mariah Carey has been so firmly fixed in the highest echelon of pop music for so long, it’s hard to remember she was once a complete unknown. We didn’t yet know which one is her good side (the right, of course) or why you should absolutely never wish her “happy birthday” (it’s happy anniversary, darling).
Then, almost overnight, she was a household name. The June 12, 1990, release of Mariah Carey spawned four No. 1 singles, earned her two Grammys and made her a superstar. Calling that time “a blur,” Carey told MTV, “Everything happened so fast for me. I never had the chance to sit down and go, ‘Wow, this is actually happening.’ I just, like, went straight ahead.”
Who Was Involved
In 1988, a Long Island teen moved to Manhattan with a four-song demo tape in hand. After months without landing a record deal, though, Carey attended an industry gala with friend and fellow singer Brenda K. Starr. As the newbie, now 56, was handing her music off to one exec, a second stepped in: Tommy Mottola, then in charge of Sony. He realized he’d found a diamond and signed her to Columbia Records, and Carey got busy on her 11-track debut: She hit the studio with her original demo cowriter, Ben Margulies, as well as writers and producers like Walter Afanasieff, who later worked with her on her biggest hit, 1994’s eternal “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” and more.
Why We Remember It
Few fans would rank the elusive chanteuse’s first album as her best, but in the Whitney Houston–Madonna era, that staggering vocal range and the super-high notes of her signature “whistle register” made a mark. Billboard called “Vision of Love,” the first single, “one of the strongest creations in Carey’s entire catalog.” In fact, Beyoncé has said that was the song that made her want to try vocal runs, and Mariah Carey inspired Christina Aguilera and other future divas as well.
Key Details
By any metric, Mariah Carey is an all-out success. Eventually certified nine times platinum, it remains her longest-reigning No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 (11 consecutive weeks), and it charted for more than two years. In 1991, she took home Grammys for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, with nominations for Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Record of the Year too.
Inside Mariah Carey’s Plans for Her 1st Album in 7 Years
The Aftermath
Carey’s music dominated the 1990s and early 2000s, with almost everything she touched turning to gold (well, except 2001’s Glitter, but the true stans know it’s due for a reexamination). Today, she’s still the solo artist with the most No. 1 Billboard singles — and the most “lambs,” a.k.a. her fans. And personally, she ended up marrying Mottola, now 76 (he’s 21 years older), in 1993. They divorced in 1998.
A New Perspective
Considering she wrote a chunk of her debut while still in high school, Carey has most certainly matured. “A lot of things about me are the same, but … I’ve grown into my independence and my creative and artistic freedom,” she has said. “My ability to be more specific about certain subjects in songs, to be more connected emotionally to what I’m talking about, is there.”
Where Is She Now?
Younger fans may only know Carey as the Queen of Christmas, but her icon status will never be questioned. She just celebrated the 20th anniversary of her seminal album The Emancipation of Mimi with a deluxe reissue (40 tracks!), and she appears on Barbra Streisand’s new duets album, The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two (out June 27), alongside Ariana Grande. A source recently told Us Weekly that Carey is working on a new album after the success of her single “Type Dangerous.” Mariah’s still a legend, dahhhling — and she’ll never let you forget it.
