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The vivacious Mariah Carey has always been the girl with the big smile and the bigger voice. Capable of glass-shattering range and rolling waves of quavering melisma, Carey is one of the best selling female artists of all time right out of the gate, her first five singles each went to #1 on Billboard's 100, a nearly unprecedented accomplishment. Carey grew up on Long Island with her opera coach mother, which goes a little way to explaining her remarkable vocal abilities. She first found work singing demos for local songwriters. This proved a perfect first job, since it got her hooked up with the local music network she got help recording a demo and, more importantly, an invite to am industry party attended by Columbia records big-shot Tommy Mottola. The Cinderella parallels start here clutching her glass slipper (ok, her demo tape,) Mottola scoured Long Island for Mariah, finally finding her and signing her to Columbia. Carey shares co-writing credit on every track of her self titled debut, Mariah Carey. The album sat comfortably at #1 for seven weeks and the hit singles included classic tracks like "Visions of Love" and "Someday." In 1993, Carey married Tommy the beginning of a stormy relationship that would end ugly. But that was in the future. Following her wedding, Carey teamed up with smooth producer Babyface for her classic third album of vocal-stretching pop, Music Box. Hits included "Dreamlover," "Hero" and "Without You." Carey has always suffered from stage fright, and rarely tours. Her Daydream album saw her collaborating with hip hop and R&B artists like Boyz II Men and Jermaine Dupri on hits like "Fantasy" and "Always Be My Baby." Mariah Carey's more recent effort, The Emancipation of Mimi, sees her working with hit-maker Jermaine again, as well as the quirky Neptunes and hot rapper Kanye West.

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