Mariah Carey was born on friday, March 27, 1970 in Long Island in New York to an interracial family of black Venezuelan engineer (Alfred Roy Carey) and Irish opera singer (Patricia Carey (Hickey)). Her family had been the subject of many hate crimes and her siblings were harassed many times because of the mixed composition of the family. Things took a turn for the worse, and when Mariah was three years old, her parents divorced. Since then, Mariah lived with her mother in Long Island, having to move around very frequently and living under difficult circumstances. article continued below...

Mariah's musical talents were noticed at a very early time in her life. At age 2 1/2 she would surprise her mother by singing along her parts for her operas. By age 4, she started to receive voice lessons from her mother, and she kept on singing all along throughout her young days. Mariah credits her mother for being very supportive of her dreams to become a musician.

By her high school years, she was determined to be a singer. Every night, she would go out to Manhattan to meet some musicians and hang out with them all night, catching up sleep the next morning and missing her classes. Because she was absent from her classes very often, she earned the nickname of Mirage. The teachers of her high school say that she was indifferent to the academics and the only thing that seemed to occupy her mind was becoming a singer.

Once comedienne Whoopi Goldberg, hosting the annual Presidential Gala at Ford's Theatre (site of President Lincoln's assassination), jokingly referred to Mariah as "Pariah Carey," and that remark seems to describe humorously the kind of situation that Mariah was in during her high school years, with virtually no involvement with school and concentrating on her musical efforts. At this time she also started to write her own songs and make demo tapes, inching her way toward her dreams. When she finished high school at age 17, she moved into a Manhattan apartment with two friends, and the hardships of this time period is described in an exaggerated form in Make It Happen. She worked many odd jobs, and the story of her quitting her beauty salon job after her boss gave her an arbitrary name of "Echo" is famous. Soon she found that singer and friend Brenda K. Starr needed a backup singer, and she decided to take that job instead, starting her professional music career.

In November 1988, Brenda took Mariah to a party, where Sony Music executive Tommy Mottola happened to be at. Mariah slipped a demo tape into the hands of Tommy, who took it without much interest. Later, leaving the party, Tommy was listening to the demo tape in his limo and was extremely impressed with Mariah's singing. This was exactly what he wanted when his first priority as the new Sony executive was to find a viable competitor to Arista's Whitney Houston. Tommy returned to the party to find Mariah, but she was gone, so he left a message on her phone. Soon the deal was signed, and Mariah's music career was taking off. By June 1990, Mariah's self-titled debut album, co-produced with Ben Margulies, was out, along with her first single, Vision of Love, a song describing her own achievement of the dream of becoming a singer.

Her incredible voice and range caught people off-guard, sales were tremendous, and Mariah became a major star overnight. Love Takes Time, recorded and added to the album at the very last minute, followed Vision of Love to the top of the Billboard charts. Someday, written from a point of a little girl being rejected by her favorite boy, and I Don't Wanna Cry also topped the charts, and within a year of the debut album's release, Mariah established herself as a major force in the pop music industry.

Mariah quickly followed upon the success of her debut album by releasing Emotions in August 1991. The title track topped the charts again to let Mariah score Billboard #1's with her first five singles, a feat unmatched by anyone else. But by this time, critics and many fans were being tired of Mariah's excessive use of high notes in this album, and sales dropped off, with the subsequent two singles failing to capture the #1 spot on the Billboard charts. Critics also started to flame her as the "female Michael Bolton," drawing parallels to Michael Bolton's almost complete reliance on high notes and falsettos. But Mariah's subsequent albums once again proved Mariah's talents and won even more fans and respect.

MTV Unplugged EP was recorded off her March 1992 MTV Unplugged session, and it proved some false rumors, such as Mariah's high notes being a product of studio manipulation, completely wrong. Mariah secured attention of many people who had not taken her initial success seriously, and she also was gathering serious international recognition. Music Box, released in 1993, at first was met with harsh flames from the greedy media who now were jealous of Mariah's enormous success. TIME remarked, for example, that "Mariah is a comet that has passed Mars. When she gets to Pluto, expect a duet with Michael Bolton." TIME was wrong; Mariah sold over 25 million copies of Music Box thanks to her new international recognition and renewed interest from her American fans, despite serious competition coming from the likes of Toni Braxton and Ace of Base. Merry Christmas followed up in November 1994 to celebrate that year's huge success for Mariah and keep the fans happy for Christmas.

Mariah's newest effort, Daydream, represents her maturing as an artist, with more thoughtful lyrics and a stronger emphasis on her R&B roots throughout the album.This strong R&B feel ended up winning over even the most skeptical critics. More importantly, "Fantasy" debuted at #1 on Billboard Top 100 (a feat duplicated by "One Sweet Day") and R&B charts, a feat never previously done by another female artist, showing the enormous popularity that Mariah has built up over the years. All tracks on this album are top-notch, and "Looking In" deserves special attention because Mariah reveals her personal, shy, and often nervous side that is hidden under her fame and her superstar image. Mariah's enormous success brought her a lot of things. Tommy Mottola, the man who had signed her up back in 1988, is now her husband (that takes away one potential mate for me and many other male fans). Rising from difficult living conditions, she has gathered enormous wealth and has built a huge mansion somewhere north of New York City that occupies an area as large as La Guardia Airport. But she never forgets her humble beginnings and the fact that she would never be where she is now without others' support. She has always been grateful to the Lord for giving her the talents that built her success, and this shows through the partially religious tone of Merry Christmas. She has been actively sharing her wealth with the less fortunate; all proceeds from MTV Unplugged EP went to four New York City area charities, all proceeds from the Hero single went to the families of the six victims of the December 7, 1993 Long Island Railroad shooting, and most recently she has been involved with the Fresh Air Fund, sponsoring a camp for New York City children in Fishkill, New York that is now named after her. Also reflecting on her own life of making a success by following her dreams, Mariah wrote songs that encourage her fans to pursue their own dreams or give them some other positive message, such as There's Got to Be a Way, Make It Happen, and Hero. And unlike most other celebrities who become pompous and selfish as their popularities grow, Mariah has always appreciated her fans and has always acted responsibly and respectfully to her fans.

Rest of Mariah's family - 9 year older sister, Alison, and 10 year older brother, Morgan. Mariah's full name is Mariah Carey (she has no middle name). She was named after the song "They Call The Wind Maria" from the musical "Paint Your Wagon". Mariah is 5 feet 9 inches tall (About 1.75 m) has brown curly hair and brown eyes. She weighs about 125-130 lbs (About 60 kg). Mariah was a vegitarian but gave it up when she married Tommy Mottola After nearly four years of marriage, singer Mariah Carey and music executive Tommy Mottola have decided to live apart while remaining friends and continuing their business relationship. The couple have no children.

• Bought Marilyn Monroe 's white lacquered baby grand piano at auction in October, 1999 for $600,000 plus commission.
• Dated New York Yankee 'Derek Jeter'.
• Her highest octave is two octaves higher than normal soprano.
• Her vocal range spans eight octaves.
• Got her name from the song "They Call The Wind Mariah". The popular Lerner & Lowe musical, "Paint Your Wagon" starring Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood, which was enjoying a great deal of success, after its release in '69, and the song containing Mariah's name, although spelt without the 'H', was apparently a favourite of mother Patricia.
• Used to be a backup singer for Brenda K. Starr.
• Used to work in a hair salon sweeping up hair.
• She also states she held waitressing jobs and got fired from them all.
• Dated Latin singer 'Luis Miguel'
• Attended Oldfield Middle School and Harborfield High School.
• Father is half Venezuelan, mother is Irish.
• In 1999 Mariah won the Horizon Award at the Congressional Foundation Awards for her work with and for children.
• The only female artist to have 15 #1 songs on the U.S. Hot 100 chart. As of 2000, her albums had sold more than 125 million copies worldwide.
• (1990) Made her singing debut, age 20.
• Had the nickname "Mirage" in high school, because she never showed up for class.
• (25 July 2001) According to her spokesperson, Mariah suffered a physical and emotional breakdown, and spent the next couple weeks recovering in a Connecticut mental hospital.