Mariah Carey (/məˈraɪə/ mə-RY-ə;[1]: 0:01 born March 27, 1969)[a] is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Dubbed the “Songbird Supreme” by Guinness World Records, Carey is known for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whistle register. An influential figure in music, she was ranked as the fifth greatest singer of all time by Rolling Stone in 2023.
Carey rose to fame in 1990 with her self-titled debut album and became the only artist to have their first five singles reach number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, from “Vision of Love” to “Emotions“. She achieved international success with the best-selling albums Music Box (1993) and Daydream (1995), before adopting a new image with hip hop-inflected sounds, following the release of a remix to “Fantasy” with Ol’ Dirty Bastard and more extensively on Butterfly (1997). With eleven consecutive years of US number-one singles, Billboard named Carey the Artist of the Decade. Following the failure of her film Glitter (2001) and a career decline, she released one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century, The Emancipation of Mimi (2005).
Carey’s life and career have received widespread media coverage, including her diva persona, high-profile relationships and mental breakdown in 2001. She has been dubbed the “Queen of Christmas” due to the enduring popularity of her holiday music, particularly Merry Christmas (1994), one of the best-selling holiday albums, and its single “All I Want for Christmas Is You“, which is one of the best selling singles of all time. Outside of music, she co-founded Camp Mariah with the Fresh Air Fund in 1994; starred in films such as Precious (2009), The Butler (2013), and The Lego Batman Movie (2017); and served as a judge on American Idol (2013). She released a memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, in 2020.