Mariah Carey - singer, songwriter, producer, video director, actress, and best-selling female recording artist of the 1990's - exploded onto the global music scene 9 years ago. She has continued to set higher and higher standards, shatter records, set new ones, and sell a breakthrough 120 million albums. That is a total that very few artists approach during their entire career,
let alone in just 10 years!
On Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart, Mariah's "Honey" off her Butterfly album debuted at #1. It's her 3rd single to open in the top spot and her 12th #1 overall. That gives Mariah the most chart-toppers of any solo female artist in the rock era. In the history of the Hot 100, only 6 singles have debuted at #1, and Mariah owns 3 of them.
Her #1 selling album, Mariah Carey, yielded a record-setting 4 consecutive #1 singles ("Vision of Love," "Love Takes Time," "Someday,"y"I Don't Wanna Cry"), earned 2 Grammy awards and sold in excess of 12 million copies worldwide. Mariah Carey also brought her 3 Soul Train Awards, 2 American Music Awards, and a record 6 Billboard Awards. Mariah Carey was followed by 1992's Emotions and an MTV Unplugged EP. 1993's Music Box held the #1 chart position for 8 weeks, and has sold an astounding 24 million copies (and counting) worldwide. 1994 saw the release of Merry Christmas, already exceeding worldwide sales of 8 million.
Mariah's 1st tour of major US markets in 1993 was a sellout. She has sold more albums than any other artist in Japan, 3 of those albums in excess of 2.3 million copies. In the spring of 1996, Mariah sold out 3 performances at Japan's Tokyo Dome (a capacity of 156,000 seats) in under 30 minutes. In the summer of 1996, Mariah sold out 4 major European venues: Frankfurt's Festhalle, Rotterdam's Ahoy, Paris' Bercy and London's Wembley Arena, in record time.
Mariah has 15 #1 singles to her name: "Vision of Love," "Love Takes Time," "Someday," "I Don't Wanna Cry," "Emotions," "Hero," "I'll Be There," "Dreamlover," "Fantasy," "One Sweet Day," "Always Be My Baby," "Honey," "My All," "Heartbreaker," and "Thank God I Found You." Five of these singles reached gold status, 5 reached platinum, and one reached double platinum. In 1995, Mariah broke yet another record and became the only female ever to debut at #1 on the Hot 100 or the Hot R&B charts for her single "Fantasy," from her Daydream album. "Fantasy" spent 2 solid months at the top of the charts. Her next single, "One Sweet Day," also debuted at #1, making her the 1st recording artist in history to have 2 consecutive singles debut at #1. "One Sweet Day" spent a record-setting 16 straight weeks at #1. Her 3rd release from Daydream, "Always Be My Baby," also reached #1. For her efforts on Daydream, Mariah won 4 World Music Awards and 2 Billboard Awards.
Since 1994, Mariah has been the spokesperson for the Fresh Air Fund, an organization dedicated to providing inner-city kids with the chance to spend summers in the country camping with other kids like themselves and enjoy a wide variety of activities and learning opportunities. A career-awareness camp was named Camp Mariah in her honor, for her dedication she has shown and the over $1 million in funds she has raised for the organization she continues to represent and support.
The inception of Crave Records in 1997, a new Sony Music Independent Label record company, marks Mariah's latest impressive accomplishment. As CEO, Mariah will preside over all creative and business activities, using her experience and creative strength to help build careers for artists on her label.
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