b. 27 March 1970, Long Island, New York, USA. With an unparalleled string of US chart-toppers already under her belt, it is little surprise that Carey is billed as the 90s' Whitney Houston. Carey was the third child of an Irish-American mother, a former opera singer turned voice tutor, and a half-Venezuelan father. As a schoolgirl Carey began singing on R&B sessions in New York when she met keyboard player and songwriter Ben Margulies (b. c.1963) who became her songwriting partner and close friend. With Carey writing the melodies and most of the lyrics, and Margulies arranging the songs, they developed a simple blend of soul, gospel and pop that showed off Carey's amazing vocal range to the full. Carey struggled as a waitress until fortune smiled on her. While at a show business party, a friend of the singer thrust a demo cassette into the hands of Sony Music's US president Tommy Mottola. While driving home from the party Mottola played the cassette in the car and was so impressed that he immediately set out on a Prince Charming-like quest to find his Cinderella. Carey was duly signed and her debut single, 'Visions Of Love', was a smash hit. It became the first of five US number 1s. Managed by Randy Hoffman (whose roster also includes Hall And Oates ) the success story thus far has proved swift and efficient in construction. In addition to providing four chart-topping singles ('Vision Of Love', 'Love Takes Time', 'Someday' and 'I Don't Wanna Cry'), her debut album stayed on top of the US album charts for 22 weeks, as she duly picked up 1991 Grammys for Best Female Vocalist and Best New Artist, an extraordinary start to a career. The title track of Emotions gave Carey a record fifth consecutive US number 1. Subsequent number 1 singles included a cover of the Jackson Five 's 'I'll Be There' (from MTV Unplugged ), 'Dreamlover' and 'Hero' (both from Music Box ). Her only UK number 1 to date, however, came with a cover version of Badfinger 's 'Without You' in February 1994. In 1993 she married Mottola (they subsequent ly divorced in 1997). Her seasonal Merry Christmas featured another hit single, 'All I Want For Christmas Is You'. Her 1995 release, Daydream, exceeded all expectations and notched up sales of over six million in the USA within three months of release. Some critics did question whether Daydream was a controlled exercise in vacuous formula writing, with little emotion or heart. Nevertheless, it produced two further huge-selling number 1 singles, 'Fantasy' and 'One Sweet Day', the latter a collaboration with Boyz II Men that topped the American charts for a staggering 16 weeks. Butterfly featured Carey's most adventurous collection of songs to date, and inevitably repeated the success of her previous albums. 'My All' became Carey's thirteenth American number 1, placing her behind only Elvis Presley and the Beatles in the all-time US singles chart. 'When You Believe', a duet with Houston taken from the animated DreamWorks movie The Prince Of Egypt, entered the UK charts at number 4 in December 1998. Her records have already sold over 80 million copies worldwide, and she is the biggest-selling female solo artist of the 90s.

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