Mariah Carey was born March 27, 1970 in Huntington, Long Island, New York. Her parents divorced and her mother worked several jobs to help support the family. This left Mariah alone quite a bit of the time, so she turned to music. When she was three she started to sing as she grew up she performed in school and by the time she was a junior in high school she was writing her own songs. She was a demo singer for the local recording studio. In 1988, she met Tommy Mottola, of Columbia records, at a party. He asked for one of her demo tapes and listened to it on his way home. He was very impressed with her talent. He turned around and went back to find her, but she had already left. He eventually tracked her down and signed her to a contract.
In 1990, she released her debut album, "Mariah Carey" which contained many the songs she wrote. To this day, she continues to write almost all her music. In 1991, she released her second album, "Emotions". It was not as successful as her first. Then she started to write for other singers as well. She has performed live, but stage fright keeps her from touring. Carey and Tommy Mottola had been dating and in June 1993, they became husband and wife.
Her next album, "Music Box" was released later that year. This became her most popular album. In 1994, she released a holiday album, "Merry Christmas". This too became one of her most successful Christmas albums.
Then in 1995, the release of her next album, "Daydream" had a bit of hip-hop to it. Everybody thought she was crazy going away from her original sound and doing this hip-hop style, but this became a huge success for her.
Carey and Mottolla separated in 1996 and they seemed like the happy couple in public but she admitted to feeling trapped and that he was controlling. They were divorced in 1998.
In 1997, she released her next album, "Butterfly". This album shows the sexier side of Mariah. Towards the end of 1999, she was developing a film career with "Glitter". She also wrote more songs for "Men In Black", and "How The Grinch Stole Christmas." In 1999, she also released her sixth album, "Rainbow". It went to number one in the United States and the United Kingdom.
She removed herself from Columbia and signed with EMI's Virgin records and her contract was worth $80 million. In July of that year, she was reported to suffer a physical and emotional breakdown. She went into the hospital and took a break from any appearances for a while.
She is now back on track, has her own clothing line and a perfume line. Carey is said to be the sixth richest woman in entertainment with an estimated net worth of $225 million.
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