Mariah Carey: Grit and Glamour

At age three she was imitating her mom’s rendition of “Rigoletto.” The youngest child of a New York Irish opera singer and black Venezuelan, Mariah Angela Carey was born with a five-octave range. She was named after the wind in the “Paint Your Wagon” Broadway show. Childhood friends nicknamed her “Mirage” because she cut class to work on demo tapes. She would quit cosmetology school when the Chairman of Columbia Records chased her for two weeks, signed her to a contract then married her. A Cinderella story of sorts. Since then Mariah has sold over 220 million records, topped the Billboard 100 Hit Charts for 91 weeks over four decades and released the best-selling Xmas album ever. She even bought Marilyn Monroe’s piano for $662,500. Her girly image is apparent in albums like “Rainbow”, “Glitter”, “Music Box” and “Charmbracelet”. A more serious side was evident when she emerged as spokeswoman for racial identity. Inner turmoil would surface with a bipolar emotional breakdown in 2001 during her striptease while pushing an ice cream truck on MTV! There have been two divorces and two children along the way. Most remarkable is that only Mariah Carey has more hits than Elvis or Michael Jackson.