Mariah Carey was born in Long Island, New York. She is the daughter of
Patricia (Hickey), a singer and vocal coach, who is of Irish descent,
and Alfred Roy Carey, an engineer, who was of Afro-Cuban ancestry.
Mariah attended Greenlawn's Harborfields High School. In June of 1990,
Mariah made her debut with "Mariah Carey" which entered at #73, but on
August 4, 1990, it reached #1. Her 1990 self-titled debut album went
multi-platinum and spawned an extraordinary four consecutive #1 singles:
"Vision of Love," "Love Takes Time," "Someday" and "I Don't Wanna Cry,"
and led to Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Vocalist.
Her 1993 album titled Music Box went ten-times platinum. On September
30, 1995, she made music history. Her single "Fantasy" from her 1995
Daydream album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the
first female artist to accomplish a number one debut in the U.S. Her
other Daydream's single "One Sweet Day" remained for 16 weeks at the top
of the charts. She is the only artist since The Beatles to have so many
#1 singles and albums. With "Heartbreaker", the first single from her
1999 album Rainbow and also her 14 #1 single, she became the only artist
to top the charts in each year of the 1990s, and with "Heartbreaker" at
its 60th week atop the Billboard's charts, she pushed ahead of The
Beatles's 59-week record as the only artist with the most cumulative
weeks spent atop Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. Following
"Heartbreaker," her second single "Thank God I Found You" also from her
Rainbow album became her 15th #1. "We Belong Together" from her 2005
album The Emancipation of Mimi became her 16th #1 single and was also
her first #1 without any guest artists since her song "My All" (also a
#1 single) captured the top spot in May 1998. The single "Don't Forget
About Us" also from her 2005 album Emancipation of Mimi became her 17th
#1 single, tying her with Elvis Presley's 17 #1 singles. Three more
Grammy Awards were gained from The Emancipation of Mimi album. She is
the most successful selling female artist in music history and is the
only female artist to have the most #1 singles and albums and also holds
the record for straight #1 singles and albums each year. Along with
numerous awards and incredible vocal range, she also composes all of her
own material, with the exception of song covers.In April 2008, the
single "Touch My Body" became her 18th #1 single, pushing her ahead of
Elvis Presley's 17 #1 singles. Now she is the only artist since The
Beatles to have as many number one singles and the only singer alive
likely to succeed them