Possessing a spectacular five-octave range, Mariah has proven that she is equally at home with sweeping ballads and pop, often incorporating elements of dance and hip-hop into the mix. Perhaps even more impressive, she composes all of her own material.

In May 2002, Mariah signed an exclusive recording contract with the Universal Music Group's Island Records. In addition, Carey has formed her own label, MonarC Music. The first release for MonarC Music will be Mariah's upcoming studio album set for release on December 3, 2002.

Mariah's new platinum album, Charmbracelet, features the songstress writing and co-producing with such pioneers as Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and Jermaine Dupri among others. The album, which is lyrically very personal, showcases Mariah's stunning voice, prolific songwriting and incredible versatility. This is fully evident on the first single, the sweeping epic ballad, Through The Rain, which is a perfect example of Mariah at her best.

Mariah was born March 27, 1970 in Long Island, NY.  She was named after the song They Call the Wind Mariah from the popular Lerner and Loewe musical Paint Your Wagon.  Mariah's mother, Patricia Carey, is a former Irish-American opera singer and vocal coach.  Her father, Alfred Roy Carey, an Afro-American/Venezuelan, made his career out of engineering.  Despite the attractiveness of the two descents, the mixing of the racial backgrounds ended up being a very difficult experience for the Carey family.  Because of the mere fact that Carey's parents were of different races, and because people disapproved of two different backgrounds coming together, the Carey family dealt with many dark and tragic situations, such as having their car blown up and their dogs brutally poisoned.  As a way to escape the insults and threats of the cruel world, Mariah utilized music as her comfort.

Mariah began singing at the age of four and was writing her own songs by the time she was attending Oldfield Middle School.  After graduating from high school, 16-year-old Mariah moved to New York City to pursue her dreams.  Honing her songwriting skills and lending her vocals to several local acts, she first garnered industry attention when singing backup for Brenda K. Starr, who gave Mariah's demo tape to Sony Music Entertainment chief record producer Tommy Mottola at a party. As legend has it, Mottola played the demo on his ride home and ordered his driver to immediately return to the party so that he could meet the young singer. Soon afterwards, Mottola signed Mariah to a Columbia Records contract, whom she later married and divorced from.

Mariah's self-titled Columbia debut, released in 1990, spawned an extraordinary four #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 1991 album, Emotions, was another smash, with the title track scoring her fifth consecutive #1 single and two other titles Cant Let Go and Make It Happen reaching the Top Five. Her next release, 1992s MTV Unplugged EP, scored another #1 with her version of the Jackson 5's number I'll Be There.

In 1993, Music Box became her biggest seller to date, with Dreamlover and Hero again topping the charts, and was followed by 1994's Merry Christmas, which contained another hit with the upbeat single, All I Want for Christmas is You.  Daydream, Mariah's 1995 album, contained the club-friendly Fantasy, which debuted at #1 making Mariah the second artist in history, and the first female performer, to accomplish that feat.  The follow-up single, One Sweet Day (recorded with Boyz II Men), followed suit and stayed at the top of the charts for a record 16 weeks.

Mariah revealed an even greater hip-hop flavor in 1997 when Butterfly was released.  Butterfly contained hits with Honey and My All.  In 1998, New York Newsday stated, "Mariah has a voice that can probably shatter glass and put it back together, that sounds as if she's taking the words and twirling them over her head like a cowboy with a lasso."  During that same year, Mariah released a greatest hits collection titled #1s, which included a new song, When You Believe (from the film The Prince of Egypt), a duet with Whitney Houston.  This collaboration paired the two most successful female recording artists in pop history.  Rainbow, with it's chart-topping single, Heartbreaker, followed in 1999.

In 2001, Mariah signed with Virgin Records, which released Glitter, the soundtrack album to the film of the same name, with Mariah in her first lead acting role.  She has also been featured in the films The Bachelor (1999) and Wisegirls (2002).  Mariah also has a camp named Camp Mariah, which was named after her from the Fresh Air Fund.  Camp Mariah provides inner-city kids with the opportunity to get a breath of fresh air and experience the outdoors.

Mariah has received many awards throughout her career including 2 Grammy Awards, 8 American Music Awards, Billboard's "Artist of the Decade" Award and the World Music Award for "World's Best Selling Female Artist of the Millennium" to name a few. Mariah's many accomplishments and unprecedented career success strongly stands as a testament to her creativity and talent. However, I see this as only the beginning for Mariah with many, many more accomplishments that she will indeed attain.