Mariah Carey (born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the “Songbird Supreme” by Guinness World Records, she is noted for her songwriting, five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whistle register. An influential figure in popular music, Carey is credited for impacting the vocal style in contemporary music, merging hip-hop with pop music through her collaborations and popularizing the use of remixes. She has also been dubbed the “Queen of Christmas” for the enduring popularity of her holiday music, particularly the 1994 song “All I Want for Christmas Is You”, which is the best-selling holiday song by a female artist.

Carey rose to fame in 1990 with her eponymous debut album under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, who married her in 1993. She is the only artist to date to have their first five singles reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100, from “Vision of Love” to “Emotions”. Carey gained worldwide success with the albums Music Box (1993) and Daydream (1995) ― both of which rank among the best-selling albums and spawned several hit singles, including “Hero”, “Without You”, “Fantasy”, “Always Be My Baby” and “One Sweet Day”, which topped the US Billboard Hot 100 decade-end chart (1990s). After separating from Mottola, she adopted a new urban image and began incorporating hip-hop and R&B elements, with the release of Butterfly (1997). By the end of the 1990s, Billboard named her the most successful artist of the decade. She left Columbia in 2001 after eleven consecutive years of US number-one singles and signed a record deal with Virgin Records.

Following Carey’s highly publicized breakdown and the failure of the film Glitter (2001) and its soundtrack, Virgin bought out her contract and she signed with Island Records the following year. After a comparatively unsuccessful period, Carey returned to the top of the charts with one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century, The Emancipation of Mimi (2005). Its second single, “We Belong Together”, topped the US Billboard Hot 100 decade-end chart (2000s). Her subsequent ventures included roles in the films Precious (2009), The Butler (2013), A Christmas Melody (2015), and The Lego Batman Movie (2017), being an American Idol judge, starring in the docu-series Mariah’s World, performing at multiple concert residencies, and publishing the memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey (2020).

Carey is one of the best-selling music artists, with over 220 million records sold worldwide,[1] and is an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress and the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame.[2][3][4] She was ranked as the second greatest woman in music by VH1 in 2012 and the fifth greatest singer by Rolling Stone in 2023. Billboard named her the top-charting female solo artist, based on both album and song chart success. She holds the record for the most Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles by a solo artist (19), a female songwriter (18), and a female producer (15), spending a record 91 weeks atop the chart. Carey is the highest-certified female artist in the United States and 10th overall, with 74 million certified album units. Among her accolades are 5 Grammy Awards, 10 American Music Awards, 15 Billboard Music Awards, and 12 Guinness World Records.

Mariah Carey was born on March 27, 1969,[a] in Huntington, New York. Her name is derived from the song “They Call the Wind Maria”, originally from the 1951 Broadway musical Paint Your Wagon. She is the youngest of three children born to Patricia (née Hickey), a former opera singer and vocal coach of Irish descent, and Alfred Roy Carey, an aeronautical engineer of African-American and black Venezuelan-American lineage. The last name Carey was adopted by her Venezuelan grandfather, Francisco Núñez, after he emigrated to New York. Patricia’s family disowned her for marrying a black man. Racial tensions prevented the Carey family from integrating into their community. While they lived in Huntington, their neighbors poisoned the family dog and set fire to their car. After her parents’ divorce, Carey had little contact with her father, and her mother worked several jobs to support the family. Carey spent much of her time at home alone and began singing at age three, often imitating her mother’s take on Verdi’s opera Rigoletto in Italian. Her older sister Alison moved in with their father while Mariah and her elder brother Morgan lived with their mother.

During her years in elementary school, she excelled in the arts, such as music and literature. Carey began writing poetry and lyrics while attending Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, New York, where she graduated in 1987. Carey began vocal training under the tutelage of her mother. Though she was a classically trained opera singer, Patricia Carey never pressured her daughter to pursue a career in classical opera. Mariah Carey recalled that she had “never been a pushy mom. She never said, ‘Give it more of an operatic feel.’ I respect opera like crazy, but it didn’t influence me.” In high school, Mariah Carey was often absent because of her work as a demo singer. This led to her classmates giving her the nickname Mirage. Working in the Long Island music scene gave her opportunities to work with musicians such as Gavin Christopher and Ben Margulies, with whom she co-wrote material for her demo tape. After moving to New York City, she worked part-time jobs to pay the rent and completed 500 hours of beauty school. Carey moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan with four female students as roommates. She landed a gig singing backup for freestyle singer Brenda K. Starr.