Coordinates	52°13′20″N16°31′41″N
name	Nickelodeon
logofile	Nickelodeon logo new.svg
logosize	250px
logocaption	The current logo used since the September 28, 2009 rebrand.
launch	December 1, 1977(as Pinwheel)April 1, 1979(as Nickelodeon)
picture format	480i (SDTV)1080i (HDTV)
broadcast area	Nationwide
owner	Warner-AMEX/Warner Cable (1977-1986)Viacom(1986-present)(operated by MTV Networks)
country	United States
former names	Pinwheel (1977-1979)
slogan	''Putting kids first''
headquarters	New York City
sister names	Nick Jr.NicktoonsTeenNickNick at NiteTV Land
web	nick.com
sat serv 1	DirecTV
sat chan 1	Channel 299 (East)Channel 300 (West)Channel 1300 (VOD)
sat serv 2	Dish Network
sat chan 2	Channel 170 (East/HD)Channel 171 (West)
cable serv 1	Verizon FiOS
cable chan 1	Channel 252 (East)Channel 253 (West)Channel 752 (HD)
cable serv 2	Available on many other cable systems
cable chan 2	Check local listings for channels
adsl serv 1	AT&T; U-verse
adsl chan 1	Channel 314 (East)Channel 315 (West)Channel 1314 (HD) }}

Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American cable channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers ages 2–6. Since 2006, Nickelodeon has been run by MTVN Kids & Family Group President Cyma Zarghami. It is ranked as the #1 cable channel as of 2011, and had been promoted as "The First Kids' Network," as it was the first American television network aimed at children since the Pinwheel days.

Nickelodeon's broadcast day runs on Sunday-Thursdays from 7 a.m.-8 p.m., Fridays from 7 a.m.-9 p.m. and Saturdays from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific Time). Since 1985, it shares its channel space with Nick at Nite, a night time channel that airs sitcom reruns during the interim hours. It is treated as a separate channel from Nickelodeon by A.C. Nielsen Co. for ratings purposes. The two services are sometimes referred to under the collective name "Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite", due to their association as two individual channels sharing the same channel space.

History

Early history (1977–1979)

Nickelodeon's pre-history began on December 1, 1977 when QUBE, the first two-way interactive cable TV system was launched in Columbus, Ohio by Warner Cable (owned by Warner Communications, and an ancestor of Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment). One of the specialized channels available to subscribers of the QUBE system was Pinwheel, a cable channel offering children's programming.

Relaunch as Nickelodeon and national expansion (1979–1990)

Pinwheel was re-launched as Nickelodeon on April 1, 1979, and despite its prior history on the QUBE system under the Pinwheel name, Nickelodeon has declared that 1979 is the network's official launch year. It began airing on various Warner Cable systems, beginning in Buffalo, New York and quickly expanded its audience reach. Originally a commercial-free cable channel, shows airing during its broadcast day (which initially ran from 10 a.m.-10 p.m. ET on weekdays and 9 a.m.-8 p.m. ET on weekends) included ''Video Comic Book'', ''Pop Clips'' and the long-running ''Pinwheel'' (now formatted as a daily hour-long series that ran in a 3-5 hour block format, and was a precursor to the Nick Jr. block) along with other shows such as ''America Goes Bananaz'', ''Nickel Flicks'' and ''By the Way''. In 1980, new shows were added to the lineup, including ''Dusty's Treehouse'', ''First Row Features'', ''Special Delivery'', ''What Will They Think Of Next?'', ''Livewire'', and ''Hocus Focus''.

The network's first logo had a mime looking into a Nickelodeon machine that was placed in the N. In between television programs, the filler would be a mime, and the mime would turn the crank on the Nickelodeon as soon as the next program was about to start. As the channel signed off for the night, Star Channel (later The Movie Channel) would take over the channel space; this ended when ARTS launched. The second logo had the word "Nickelodeon" in Pinwheel's logo font. The third logo was a silver pinball with the "Nickelodeon" title in multicolor. Nickelodeon's first popular children's television series was ''You Can't Do That on Television'', a Canadian sketch comedy that made its American debut on Nickelodeon in late 1981. On April 12, 1981, the channel extended its hours from 8 a.m.-9 p.m. ET by turning its channel over to the Alpha Repertory Television Service (ARTS) and, later until 1985, A&E; Network after ARTS merged with NBC's struggling cable service The Entertainment Channel.

In 1983, Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment began divesting its assets and spun off Nickelodeon and two other channels, MTV and the now-defunct Radio Television Station (RTS) into the newly-formed subsidiary; in order to increase revenue, Nickelodeon began to accept PBS-style corporate underwriting for its programming. The green slime originally featured on ''You Can't Do That On Television'' was then adopted by the channel as a primary feature of many of its shows, including ''Double Dare''. In the early years, other shows such as ''Livewire'', ''Standby: Lights, Camera, Action'', ''The Third Eye'' and ''Mr. Wizard's World'' were part of the regular Nickelodeon time slots.

The channel struggled at first, having lost $4 million by 1984, mostly due to a lack of successful programs including failed shows such as ''Against the Odds'' and ''Going Great'', and finishing dead last among the cable channels. After firing the previous staff, MTV Networks president Bob Pittman turned to Fred Seibert and Alan Goodman, who created MTV's iconic IDs a few years earlier, to reinvigorate Nickelodeon. Seibert and Goodman's company, Fred/Alan (now Frederator Studios), teamed up with Tom Corey and Scott Nash of the advertising firm Corey McPherson Nash to replace the "Pinball" logo with the "orange splat" logo with the name Nickelodeon written in Balloon font, that would be used in hundreds of different variations for the next quarter century. Fred/Alan also enlisted the help of animators, writers, producers and doo-wop group The Jive Five to create new channel IDs. Within six months of the rebranding, Nickelodeon would become the dominant channel in children programming and has remained so for more than 25 years, even in the midst of increasing competition in recent years from other kids-oriented cable channels such as Disney Channel and Cartoon Network. The same year as the rebrand, Nickelodeon began accepting traditional advertising.

In January 1985, after A&E; dropped its partnership with Nickelodeon and became its own 24-hour channel, Nickelodeon simply went to a test screen after sign-off. That July, Nickelodeon added a new nighttime block called Nick at Nite, and became a 24/7 service. That same year, American Express sold their stake in Warner-Amex to Warner Communications and was renamed Warner Cable; by 1986, Warner Cable turned MTV Networks into a private company, and sold MTV, RTS, Nickelodeon and the new VH1 network to Viacom for $685 million. In 1988, Nick aired the first annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (previously known as The Big Ballot) and introduced Nick Jr., an educational television block for younger children around preschool age. Nick Jr. was made to replace Nickelodeon's former preschool block, Pinwheel.

Success in the 1990s and the 2000s (1990–2009)

In 1990, Nickelodeon opened Nickelodeon Studios, a television studio/attraction at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando which many of its sitcoms and game shows were filmed and entered into a multimillion-dollar joint marketing agreement with international restaurant chain Pizza Hut, which provided ''Nickelodeon Magazine'' for free at participating Pizza Hut restaurants (which was put on hiatus for three years). In 1991, Nickelodeon developed its first animated series, ''Doug'', ''Rugrats'', and ''The Ren and Stimpy Show''. These series, known as Nicktoons, premiered on August 11, 1991. The network had previously refused to produce weekly animated series due to high cost.

The three Nicktoons found success by 1993, so Nickelodeon developed its fourth Nicktoon, ''Rocko's Modern Life'', which was also a success along with the three other Nicktoons. Later, Nickelodeon partnered with Sony Wonder and released top selling video cassettes of the network's programming until 1997. ''Doug'' and ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'' would both end production about that time, but still would air reruns up until about 2001. However ''Doug'' would find success when Disney Channel picked it up and placed it on its new block. It was called Disney's One Saturday Morning. ''Rugrats'', on the other hand, returned from hiatus on May 9, 1997 (reruns continued to air up until that point). In 1998, ''The Rugrats Movie'' was released in theaters. The movie grossed more than $100 million in the United States and became the first non-Disney animated movie to ever earn that much. Then in May 1999, the channel debuted the animated series ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', which quickly became one of the most popular Nicktoons in the network's history, and has remained very popular to this day, consistently ranking as the channel's highest-rated series since 2000.

In August 1992, the channel extended its Saturday schedule to 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET with the launch of a primetime block called SNICK, which was home to shows such as ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'', ''Clarissa Explains It All'', ''All That'', ''The Amanda Show'' and ''Kenan & Kel''; in 2004, the block was reformatted as the Saturday edition of TEENick (which originally debuted on Sunday evenings in 2000), and the Saturday night block continues today without an official block name (though ''A Night of Premieres'' is occasionally used when two or more programs feature new episodes on that night); the TEENick branding, with its spelling altered to TeenNick, has since been used on the Nickelodeon sister channel previously known as The N. In June 1993, Nickelodeon resumed its magazine brand, Nickelodeon Magazine. The success of the Saturday primetime block led Nickelodeon to expand its programming into weeknight primetime in 1996, by extending its broadcast day to 8:30 p.m. ET (and later extended to 9 p.m. ET from 1998 to 2009) on Sunday through Friday nights.

In 1994, Nickelodeon launched The Big Help, which spawned a spinoff program The Big Green Help in 2007; the point of the program is to change yourself and the earth by exercising and protecting the environment to show a difference to the earth. Also that same year, Nickelodeon removed ''You Can't Do That on Television'' from its schedule after a thirteen-year run and by the same year the network had launched a new sketch comedy show, ''All That''. For many years, until its cancellation in 2005, ''All That'' would launch the careers of many actors and actresses including Kenan Thompson, Amanda Bynes, and Jamie Lynn Spears. The show's executive producer, Dan Schneider, would go on to create and produce several hit series for Nickelodeon including among others ''Kenan & Kel'', ''The Amanda Show'', ''Drake & Josh'' and ''Zoey 101'', and more recently ''iCarly'' and ''Victorious''. In October and December 1994, Nickelodeon sold Halloween and Christmas themed episodes of its Nicktoons through syndication to local markets across the United States, with then-new former corporate relative, Paramount Domestic Television (now CBS Television Distribution).

In October 1995, Nickelodeon ventured in the World Wide Web and launched Nick.com. Initially the website was available only using America Online's internet service, but was later available to all internet service providers. The website's popularity grew and in March 1999, Nick.com became the highest-rated website aimed at children aged 6–14 years old. Nickelodeon used the website in conjunction with television programs which increased traffic. In 2001, Nickelodeon partnered with Networks Inc. to provide broadband video games for rent from ''Nick.com''. The move was a further step in the multimedia direction that the developers wanted to take the website. Skagerlind indicated that over 50% of Nick.com's audience are using a high speed connection which allows them to expand the gaming options on the website. To accompany the broadband content, TurboNick was created. Initially it was a popup panel which showcased broadband content on Nick.com.

In March 2004, Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite were split up in the Nielsen primetime and total day ratings, due to the different programming, advertisers and target audiences between the two services; this caused controversy by cable executives believing this manipulated the ratings, given that Nick at Nite's broadcast day takes up only a fraction of Nickelodeon's programming schedule. Nickelodeon's and Nick at Nite's respective ratings periods encompasses only the hours they each operate under the total day rankings, though Nickelodeon only is rated for the daytime ratings; this is due to a ruling by Nielsen in July 2004, that networks have program for 51% or more of a daypart to qualify for ratings for a particular daypart.

Nickelodeon Studios closed down in 2005 and was converted into the Blue Man Group Sharp Aquos Theatre in 2007; Nickelodeon now tapes its live-action series at the Nickelodeon On Sunset studios (formerly the Earl Carroll Theatre) in Hollywood, California and other studio locations in Hollywood and other areas. In 2007, Nickelodeon began a four-year development deal with Sony Music to produce music-themed series for the channel, help fund and launch albums in conjunction with the label tied to Nickelodeon shows and produce original songs for the programs to be released as singles as result; the only series produced under the partnership that was greenlit as a series, ''Victorious'' debuted in 2010, though a similar hit music-themed sitcom, ''Big Time Rush'' that debuted the same year features a similar partnership with Columbia Records, though with Columbia only being involved with the show's music, Sony Music became involved with that show's production midway through its first season. ''Big Time Rush'' soon, after less than a month on the air, became a hit series, garnering 6.8 million viewers for its debut on January 18, 2010, and setting a new record for highest-rated live-action series premiere in the network's history.

Rebranding and plans for the future (2009–present)

Nickelodeon had announced in February 2009 that Noggin and The N were to be rebranded as Nick Jr. and TeenNick to bring both channels in line with the Nickelodeon brand identity. Nickelodeon later announced in May 2009 that Nick Magazine would be discontinued by the end of the year. In July 2009, Nickelodeon unveiled a new logo for the first time in 25 years on the packaging of Nickelodeon DVDs coming out beginning that month, the Australian service, and that year's Nickelodeon Animation Festival, intending to create a unified look that can better be conveyed across all of MTV Networks's children's channels.

As of September 28, 2009, the new logo is used across Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite, along with the rebranded TeenNick, Nick Jr. and Nicktoons (formerly The N, Noggin and Nicktoons Network, respectively) channels in varying versions customized for brand unification and refreshment purposes; a new logo for Nickelodeon Productions also began being used in end credit tags on all Nickelodeon shows, even on episodes aired before the new logo took effect (end credit tags of programs airing on TeenNick, Nick Jr. and some shows on Nicktoons only use the current Nickelodeon Productions logo and variants for their respective channel's original programming on episodes of series made after the rebrand). New York based creative director/designer Eric Zim rebranded Nickelodeon, creating the new identity, logos, and the look and feel. In addition to creating the new Nickelodeon corporate logo, he created a whole new logo system to represent the company’s entire family of sub-brands (including digital networks Nick Jr., Nicktoons, TeenNick and Nick at Nite).

Though it is mainly a wordmark, during the days prior to the 2010 and 2011 Kids' Choice Awards, the logo bug was given a blimp background to match the award given out at the show; and beginning the week of September 7, 2010 the logo was formed by a splat design (a la the 2006-2009 logo) in the on-screen program bug during new episodes of its original series. The new logo was adopted in the UK on February 15, 2010, in Spain on February 19, 2010, in Asia on March 15, 2010 and in Latin America on April 5, 2010. The "Nickelodeon on ABS-CBN" block on ABS-CBN in the Philippines adopted the rebranded logo on July 26, 2010. On November 2, 2009, a Canadian version of Nickelodeon was launched, in partnership between Viacom and Corus Entertainment (owners of YTV, which has aired Nick shows for several years, and will continue to do so); as a result, versions of Nickelodeon now exist in most of North America.

On May 12, 2010, after an agreement was reached with Haim Saban (who earlier that month had bought back rights to the ''Power Rangers'' franchise from The Walt Disney Company), Nickelodeon agreed to air an eighteenth season of the series, and the production resumed in late 2010 for. The new show, ''Power Rangers Samurai'', debuted in February 7, 2011; as part of the deal, Nickelodeon also plans to air the existing 700-episode catalog of the series on the Nicktoons cable channel later that year.

On January 1, 2011, Nickelodeon debuted a new original series, ''House of Anubis''. The show, which was based on the series ''Het Huis Anubis'' which aired on an international version of Nickelodeon in The Netherlands, became the first original scripted series to be broadcast in a weekdaily strip (in a similar format to a soap opera) and the first original series produced by the flagship Nickelodeon in the United States not to be produced in the United States or Canada.

Programming

Current programming on Nickelodeon includes ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''iCarly'', ''Fanboy and Chum Chum'', ''The Fairly Oddparents'', ''Supah Ninjas'', ''Planet Sheen'', ''Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures'', ''Victorious'', ''The Penguins of Madagascar'', ''Big Time Rush'' and ''T.U.F.F. Puppy'', ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''iCarly'', and ''Big Time Rush'' are the most frequently aired programs on Nickelodeon, with ''SpongeBob'' in particular typically airing about 9-11 times each day on average. ''iCarly'' currently ranks as of 2010 as the channel's highest-rated original series and the highest-rated cable program among children ages 2 and up, according to Nielsen Media Research. Nickelodeon also continues to air bi-monthly special editions of the long-running magazine series ''Nick News'', hosted by Linda Ellerbee since its debut in 1992 (until the early 2000s, ''Nick News'' had aired on Nick on an almost weekly basis on Sunday nights).

On February 2, 2009, Nickelodeon discontinued the TEENick and Nick Jr. programming blocks but the programming within the blocks remained; the former TEENick Saturday evening and Sunday late afternoon blocks no longer carry a name.

On October 21, 2009, it was announced that Nickelodeon secured the rights to the ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' franchise from Mirage Studios. The network plans to develop a new CGI-animated TMNT television series and will partner with fellow Viacom company Paramount Pictures to bring a new TMNT movie to theaters. Both are expected for 2012. On September 2, 2010, Nickelodeon announced it had acquired the rights to the animated series ''Winx Club'' for broadcast on the flagship American channel and several of its international channels. The channel plans to co-produce the fifth and sixth seasons of the series, and has also gained the rights to air the existing episodes of the TV series and two theatrical films. On June 27, the first of four one-hour specials, created to summarize the first two seasons, aired, with the second set to air on August 1. Season three will air in full when the specials finish, with season four sometime after. Both the specials and the full seasons will feature a new voice cast and a re-vamped animation style, a bit different from the original.

On March 15, 2010, Nickelodeon announced the renewals of 16 of its existing series for the 2010-11 season that include the second season renewals of freshman series ''The Troop'' and ''Big Time Rush'' (the latter series was picked up for another season after only 10 episodes aired) and veteran series such as ''iCarly'' (whose fourth season renewal was already announced in late 2009 and it was announced later that it would be renewed for a 5th season as well), ''True Jackson, VP'' and ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. The channel also announced the additions of an English-language version of the Belgian/Dutch live-action Nickelodeon series ''Het Huis Anubis'' called ''House of Anubis'', a ''Kung Fu Panda''' animated series, and the preschool series ''Bubble Guppies'' for the Nick Play Date block.

Unlike most cable channels (save for sports-oriented channels), Nickelodeon is sometimes susceptible to programs overrunning their designated timeslot because of short-form segments airing in commercial breaks during special programming which add time to commercial breaks with no limiting of the number of commercials shown when these segments air between breaks, this often causes program start times to be disrupted, which is problematic for those recording Nick programs as part of the program may be cut off. In these circumstances, commercial breaks may be shortened during some programs on Nick at Nite's late evening and overnight schedules and regular "top-and-bottom of the hour" start times would not be restored until early the next morning; similar issues in which programming schedules become off-sync also occur periodically on sister channels MTV and VH1.

Nicktoons

Nicktoons are animated television series produced by and aired on Nickelodeon. Until 1991, the animated series that aired on Nickelodeon were largely imported from foreign countries, and some original animated specials were also featured on the channel up to that point as well. Nicktoons continue to make up a substantial portion of Nickelodeon's lineup, with roughly 6–7 hours airing on weekdays and around nine hours on weekends including a five-hour weekend morning block. Since the late 2000s, after the channel struck a deal with DreamWorks Animation in 2006 to develop the studio's animated films into weekly series, there has been a gradual shift towards Nicktoon series using three-dimensional computer animation rather than traditional or digital two-dimensional ink and paint; the introductions of ''The Penguins of Madagascar'' and ''Fanboy and Chum Chum'' to the channel's lineup reflect this.

Movies

Nickelodeon does not air movies on a regular basis; however, it does produce its own original made-for-cable television movies, which usually premiere in weekend evening timeslots.

The channel occasionally airs feature films produced by the network's Nickelodeon Movies film production division (whose films are distributed by sister company Paramount Pictures); however, despite the fact that the film division bears the Nickelodeon name, the Nickelodeon cable channel does not have access to most Nickelodeon Movies-produced films released through Paramount. Nickelodeon does have broadcast access to most feature films based on or that served as the basis for original series produced by the channel (such as ''Barnyard'' and ''The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie''); the majority of live-action feature films produced under the Nickelodeon Movies banner are licensed for broadcast by various television outlets, primarily cable networks (however, Nickelodeon has aired a small number of live-action features from Nickelodeon Movies including ''Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging'' and ''Good Burger'', which have aired on the channel's Nick at Nite nighttime block).

Nickelodeon also advertises hour-long episodes of its original series, such as ''iCarly'', ''True Jackson, VP'', ''Big Time Rush'', ''Victorious'' and ''House of Anubis'' as movies; though these technically do not qualify as such as the "TV movie" versions of Nickelodeon's original series are shorter than the standard length of a television movie (approximately 45 minutes without commercials, compared to the typical 75–100 minutes for television movies), the hour-long episodes of the channel's multi-camera comedies are shot using that camera setup (whereas feature films and television movies are standardly shot in a single-camera setup), laugh tracks are used and the programs are shot on videotape instead of film (though the video frame rate of its multi-camera comedies are reduced to the 24p film frame rate, using the filmizing process). Films not produced by Nickelodeon or its Nickelodeon Movies division also occasionally air on the channel including Universal's ''Barbie: A Fashion Fairy Tale'', and ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles Forever'' (which was later released by Nickelodeon Movies through Paramount DVD for DVD release).

''Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards''

The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards are an annual event held on the last Saturday night in March, and airs live and is usually held and telecast live (though with a three-hour time delay for those watching in the Pacific Time Zone or on the Nick 2 feed on digital cable that, on systems in the Eastern and Central time zones, simulcasts the Pacific time zone feed), which honors the year's biggest television, movie, and music acts, as voted by Nickelodeon viewers. Winners receive a hollow orange blimp figurine, a logo outline for much of the network's 1984-2009 "splat logo" era.

The show features numerous celebrity guests and about two or three musical acts. In recent years, slime stunts have been incorporated into the show. The KCA's also host live entertainment. It has also been known to overwhelmingly cover people with the network's trademark green slime. Will Smith has won the most KCA awards; Rosie O'Donnell has hosted the most KCA awards. In 2011, the first monster truck slime stunt was held.

''Worldwide Day of Play''

On October 2, 2004, Nickelodeon launched an annual event to mark the conclusion of its six-month long "Let's Just Play" campaign launched that same year called the ''Worldwide Day of Play'', designed to influence kids to get active and participate in outdoor activities; schools and educational organizations are also encouraged to host events to promote activity among children. Nickelodeon and its sister channels Nick Jr., TeenNick and Nicktoons (along with some international versions of the channel) suspend programming for three hours from 12-3 p.m. ET/PT on a Saturday afternoon in late September (since 2005) during the event and show their testcards instead, and the respective websites of all four Nickelodeon channels are taken offline during that same three-hour time period.

All four Nickelodeon channels display a message on-screen encouraging viewers to participate in outdoor activities during that time and notifying them that the channels will resume normal programming at 3 p.m. ET/PT (the west coast feed of the main Nickelodeon channel viewable via basic cable in the Pacific and Mountain time zones, and on digital cable and satellite nationwide will begin suspending regular programming at the same time the east coast feed resumes programming). Since 2010, the Worldwide Day of Play event became part of The Big Help program, as part of an added focus on healthy lifestyles in addition to the program's main focus on environmental issues. New episodes of Nickelodeon's original series are commonly aired during its Saturday primetime lineup on the night of the event.

Programming blocks

Various types of programs are broadcast on Nickelodeon in named programming blocks.

Preschool programming block

Nickelodeon currently programs shows targeted at preschool-age children on Monday through Fridays from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. ET/PT. This block was known as "Nick Jr." from January 1988 to February 2009 and has been known as the "Play Date" since February 2009. The block exists because Nickelodeon's usual audience of school-age children are in school at that time; as such, on holidays and during the summer months, a shorter block of preschool shows will air in the earlier time period of 7-10 a.m. ET/PT, and the block does not air on weekends at any time of the year.

Programming in the Nick Play Date block is somewhat fluid, but currently, ''Dora the Explorer'', ''Go, Diego, Go!'', ''Max and Ruby'', ''Team Umizoomi'', ''The Fresh Beat Band'', and ''Bubble Guppies'' have a permanent place in the schedule.

Nick at Nite

Nick at Nite (stylized as "nick@nite") is Nickelodeon's nighttime programming block. It debuted on July 1, 1985 and broadcasts over Nickelodeon on Sunday through Thursdays from 8 p.m.-7 a.m., Fridays from 9 p.m.-7 a.m. and Saturdays from 10 p.m.-7 a.m. ET/PT. Originally featuring classic sitcoms such as ''The Donna Reed Show'', ''Mr. Ed'' and ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'', programming changed to repeats of popular sitcoms from the 1980s and 1990s such as ''Full House'', ''Home Improvement'', ''The Cosby Show'' and ''Roseanne''.

Programs currently airing on Nick at Nite include ''George Lopez'', ''Family Matters'', ''The Nanny'' and most recently ''Married... with Children'', ''My Wife and Kids'' and ''That 70's Show''. A.C. Nielsen rates Nick at Nite as being a separate cable channel from Nickelodeon. In 1996, the original older programming was spun off Nick at Nite as a new channel entitled TV Land, which currently airs a variety of older shows, primarily sitcoms from the 1950s through the 2000s.

Weekend programming blocks

Nickelodeon airs first-run or recent episodes of its original series on Friday nights from 8-9 p.m. ET, Saturday mornings, Saturday nights from 8-10 p.m. ET, and Sunday nights from 7-7:30 p.m. ET. , Friday nights feature primarily reruns of various original series, the Saturday night schedule (sometimes called "A Night of Premieres", when new episodes of three or four of its original programs are scheduled to air) features episode premieres or repeats of ''iCarly'', ''Big Time Rush'' and ''Victorious'', along with periodic episode premieres of ''Supah Ninjas'' (all first-run episodes are cycled on the schedule, giving a variable schedule) and occasional original movie premieres, while Sunday nights feature first-run episodes of ''Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures'' and bi-monthly episode premieres of ''Nick News'' (the latter of which after Nickelodeon gave the Sunday 8 p.m. ET hour to Nick at Nite in June 2010, currently airs during what is technically part of the Nick at Nite schedule). The Saturday morning lineup (also sometimes called "A Morning of Premieres", when new episodes of at least three of its original animated series are scheduled to air), features episode premieres of many of the channel's animated series, including ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''The Fairly OddParents'', ''The Penguins of Madagascar'', ''Planet Sheen'' and ''T.U.F.F. Puppy''.

Nickelodeon program blocks on other channels

The 90's Are All That is a programing block on TeenNick. At this time there are no more programing blocks on any other Nickelodeon channels. Nickelodeon has not had any real programing blocks other than "The 90's Are All That" for a long time.

Related networks

Sister channels

Current channels

Nicktoons

This channel debuted on May 1, 2002, and was once known as Nicktoons TV from its launch until May 2003 and as Nicktoons Network from 2005 until September 2009. Nicktoons airs classic Nicktoons during the overnight and early morning hours, and also airs Nicktoons produced exclusively for the channel and current first-run Nicktoons aired on Nickelodeon during the daytime and evening hours, along with a minimal amount of live-action programs from Nickelodeon. The channel is carried on a separate digital cable tier and is carried on expanded satellite packages.

Nick Jr.

This United States-based television channel aimed at preschool-aged children, originally launched as a joint venture between MTV Networks and Children's Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop) before Sesame Workshop opted out of the venture in 2002, has only programming promotions in lieu of commercials and is usually carried on a digital cable tier and the basic tiers of satellite providers. Nick Jr.'s programming consists of preschool-oriented programming also seen on Nickelodeon's Nick Play Date block, original series exclusive to the channel and some discontinued shows seen on the former Nick Jr. block on Nickelodeon.

Originally launching on February 2, 1999 and based on the former Noggin, which starting in 2002, shared channel space with the teen-oriented The N (now TeenNick, and operating as a separate channel from Nick Jr. since December 31, 2007), the network was rebranded Nick Jr. as of September 28, 2009. The channel is named after the former Nick Jr. preschool program block on Nickelodeon, that ran weekday mornings from January 1988 to February 2009. Full closing credits are seen during Nick Jr. airings of programming.

TeenNick

This television channel in the United States is aimed at teenagers and young adults, and is usually carried on a digital cable tier and the basic tiers of satellite providers. TeenNick, which has more relaxed program standards than the other Nickelodeon channels allowing for moderate profanity, suggestive dialogue and some violent content (though Nickelodeon series and some off-network programs airing on the channel do not include this), once shared the evening and overnight portion of each day with Noggin as The N (in a similar manner to Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite) starting with The N's initial launch on April 1, 2002, but on December 31, 2007 it took over Nickelodeon GAS's satellite transponder and became a stand-alone channel. The network was rebranded as TeenNick (with actor Nick Cannon as its "chairman") on September 28, 2009.

The channel is named after the former TEENick weekend evening program block on Nickelodeon, that ran from July 2000 to February 2009. The channel's flagship series is the Canadian teen drama ''Degrassi'', which has aired uninterrupted on the channel since 2003 as The N, two years after its official debut on Canadian broadcast network CTV; TeenNick also airs repeats of current and former Nickelodeon series and some off-network sitcoms. On July 25, 2011, TeenNick began airing ''The '90s Are All That'', a block of Nickelodeon's most popular 1990s programming, targeting the network's target demographic from that era.

TV Land

A cable channel that was based on the Nick at Nite block, TV Land debuted on April 29, 1996 and originally aired classic programming from as far back as the early 1950s. Starting in 2004, TV Land moved to more modern programming such as reality shows and 1990s TV sitcoms. In 2007, TV Land created a programming block called, "TV Land PRIME." TV Land PRIME runs from 9 p.m. until 12 a.m. ET/PT (though curiously, shows that air within the block that are aired in timeslots outside of the block display the block's logo bug). TV Land PRIME is a programming block aimed towards TV Land viewers that are in the 40- to 55-year-old range. Since 2008, a minimal amount of original programming began being included as well airing within the TV Land PRIME block. In 2006, TV Land stopped operating under the control of Nick at Nite though it is still operated as part of Viacom's MTV Networks division. The channel is usually carried on the basic tiers of cable and satellite providers.

Other Nickelodeon channels

Nick HD

Nick HD is the on-air name for a feed provided by Nickelodeon to broadcast a limited schedule of programming (mainly the network's post-2008 live action series and some animation) in 1080i high definition, which is carried by most of the major American cable providers on a simulcast schedule that programs based on a Eastern/Central and a Pacific/Mountain schedule.

Nick 2

Nick 2 is the on-air name for a feed provided by Nickelodeon to digital cable providers that features either the Pacific/Mountain or Eastern/Central feed of the channel, giving viewers, depending on geographical location, a second chance to watch programming three hours after its airing on the east coast feed in the Eastern and Central time zones, or to watch the show ahead of time three hours before the original airing on the west coast feed in the Pacific and Mountain time zones. The network was originally offered as part of the "MTV Networks Digital Suite" which was intended to offer digital cable providers exclusive channels not offered to satellite providers (though most of these channels now do air over those services also), and is currently the only example of two feeds provided by cable and IPTV providers to be offered to their customers. A Nick TOO logo was used on the channel until 2004, when MTV Networks decided to no longer customize the feed as Nick TOO (Nick 2 presently uses an off-air logo that is utilized solely for electronic program guides as a placeholder image); most television listings thus either show the additional channel under the brandings "Nickelodeon Pacific/NICKP" or "Nickelodeon Eastern/NICKE". DirecTV and Dish Network also offer both Nickelodeon feeds, though unbranded as most of their children's networks have both time zone feeds by default.

Nick on Demand

Nick on Demand is a free video-on-demand service available on most cable systems, carrying Nickelodeon's live-action, animated, and preschool programming. Nick at Nite programming is not included as most of the network's syndication rights are limited by contract to late evening and overnight time slots.

Former channels

Nickelodeon Games and Sports for Kids

Nickelodeon Games and Sports for Kids (commonly referred to in on-air usage as Nickelodeon GAS or Nick GAS), was an American digital cable and satellite television channel that was launched on March 1, 1999 as part of MTV Networks' suite of digital cable channels. Nick GAS was essentially a children's version of (and Viacom's answer to) Game Show Network (now branded as GSN), which had launched in December 1994. The channel ceased operations on December 31, 2007 on digital cable providers and DirecTV, with an automated loop remaining on Dish Network due to unknown factors until April 23, 2009.

Ratings

For 2010, Nickelodeon finished in first place among all basic cable networks in total day for the 16th straight year among total viewers (ages 2+) and all children's demographics, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Media

Nick.com

Nick.com is Nickelodeon's main online portal.

Nickelodeon Movies

Nickelodeon Movies is the channel's motion picture production arm founded in 1995. It has produced films based on Nickelodeon animated programs including ''Rugrats'' and ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', as well as other adaptations and original projects. The studio's films are released by Paramount Pictures. Nickelodeon Movies initially did not introduce a new logo when Nickelodeon's current logo came into effect as part of its September 2009 rebrand; Nickelodeon Movies eventually instituted a new logo on January 1, 2010, which made its debut with the release of the film ''The Last Airbender'' on July 1, 2010. ''The Last Airbender'' showed a version of the logo on fire while promoting the film. The official version of the logo premiered on ''Rango''.

Nick Magazine

Nickelodeon Magazine was a magazine launched by Nickelodeon in 1993, following a short-lived effort from 1990. It contained informative non-fiction pieces, humor, interviews, pranks, recipes (such as green slime cake), and a comic book section in the center featuring original comics by leading underground cartoonists as well as strips about popular Nicktoons. In July 2009, Nickelodeon, in response to a hard-hit magazine industry, announced it would shut Nick Magazine down after 16 years; the final issue was published in December 2009.

Experiences

Nickelodeon Universe

Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America is the largest in-door theme park in America. On August 18, 2009, Nickelodeon and Southern Star Amusement announced that the second Nickelodeon Universe will be located in New Orleans, Louisiana and have a tentative opening date by the end of 2010. It was set to be the first outdoor Nickelodeon Universe theme park, but on November 9, 2009, Nickelodeon announced that it had ended the licensing agreement with Southern Star Amusements.

Nickelodeon Animation Studios

Nickelodeon Animation Studios (formerly Games Animation) is the home of Nicktoons located in Burbank, California; it houses production of many current Nicktoons.

Nickelodeon On Sunset Studios

Nickelodeon On Sunset is the studio of production for series Nickelodeon.

Hotel brands

Nickelodeon Suites Resort is a Nickelodeon-themed hotel in Orlando, Florida, located near Universal Studios Resort and one mile (1.6 km) from Walt Disney World Resort. The property includes one, two, and three-bedroom Nick-themed kid suites and various forms of Nick-themed entertainment. Nickelodeon Suites Resort also contains a Nick at Nite suite for adults.

Nickelodeon Resorts by Marriott was a proposed hotel chain similar to the above Family Suites, featuring a waterpark area and 650 hotel rooms. Announced in 2007, the first location was to open in San Diego in 2010 but was canceled in 2009 due to the economy. Plans for the remaining 19 hotels originally slated to open remain unclear.

Cruise

Nickelodeon at Sea is a series of Nickelodeon-themed cruise packages in partnership with Norwegian Cruise Line. These cruises feature special amenities and entertainment themed to various Nickelodeon properties. Norwegian Cruise Line will also be hosting some Nickelodeon Cruises on the Norwegian Jewel and Norwegian Epic, the event is known as "Nickelodeon at Sea".

Theme park areas

Almost all theme park areas themed to Nickelodeon are now closed:

Nickelodeon Universe was also an area inside of Paramount's Kings Island featuring Nickelodeon-themed rides and attractions. The area was one of the largest areas in the park, and has been voted "Best Kid's Area" by Amusement Today magazine from 2001 to the area's closure in 2009.

Nickland is an area inside of Movie Park Germany featuring Nickelodeon-themed rides, including a SpongeBob SquarePants-themed "Splash Battle" ride, and a Jimmy Neutron-themed roller coaster. This area is currently being expanded to fill space formerly occupied with rides based on Warner Bros. characters.

Nickelodeon Studios was an attraction at Universal Orlando Resort that opened on June 7, 1990, and housed production for many Nickelodeon programs. It closed on April 30, 2005, after Nickelodeon's facilities were moved to New York City and Burbank, California. Nick Studios was replaced by the Blue Man Group Sharp Aquos Theatre. Another Nickelodeon themed attraction at the Orlando park, Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast, opened in 2003 and remains operating today, but will be closing permanently in August 2011.

Nickelodeon Central was an area inside of California's Great America, Carowinds, Kings Dominion, Canada's Wonderland, and Dreamworld that featured shows, attractions, and themes featuring the Nickelodeon characters. The only remaining Nickelodeon Central is in Dreamworld, located in Australia.

Nickelodeon Blast Zone was an area in Universal Studios Hollywood that featured attractions centered around Nickelodeon characters and themes. The four attractions that were present in the area were "Nickelodeon Splash", a waterpark-style area, 'The Wild Thornberrys Adventure Temple', a jungle-themed foam ball play area, and "Nick Jr. Backyard", a medium-sized toddler playground. This area closed in winter 2007 and has been rethemed to Curious George. Another attraction, "Rugrats Magic Adventure", was present at the opening of the area in 2001, but closed in 2002 to make way for Shrek 4-D.

Nickelodeon Splat City was an area inside California's Great America (1995–2002), Kings Island (1995–2000), and Kings Dominion (1995–1999), that featured attraction involving getting messy or wet. The slime refinery theme was carried out in the attractions such as the "Green Slime Zone Refinery", the "Crystal Slime Mining Maze", and the "Green Slime Transfer Truck". All of these areas were later transformed into either Nickelodeon Central or Nickelodeon Universe.

Nickelodeon Land opened on May 4, 2011 in Pleasure Beach Blackpool, featuring several rides including ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'', ''Dora the Explorer'' and ''The Fairly OddParents''.

There is also a Nickelodeon theme park inside the Mall of America, in Minnesota called Nickelodeon Universe.

International

In 1995, Nickelodeon only had international channels in the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany in addition to the flagship American channel, but had created blocks or put their shows on other blocks in 70 countries. Since the mid-1990s and early 2000s, Nickelodeon as a brand has expanded into include language- or culture-specific Nickelodeon channels for various other territories in different parts of the world including Europe, the Middle-East, Russia, Asia, and recently Canada, and has licensed some of its cartoons and other content, in English and local languages, to TV and cable stations such as KI.KA and Super RTL in Germany, RTÉ Two (English speaking) and TG4 (Irish speaking) in Ireland, YTV (in English) and VRAK.TV (in French) in Canada, Canal J in France, Alpha Kids in Greece and CNBC-e in Turkey.

In addition to the flagship United States channel and the original international versions in the UK, Australia and Germany, as of early-March 2010, the channel also broadcasts in South East Asia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Cyprus, India, Italy, Israel, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Hungary, France, Russia, Greece, Canada, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Africa, Brazil, Colombia and Latin America. A Japanese version of the channel had existed as well, but was shut down in 2009, though their website remains online. As of September 2010, Nickelodeon Japan now airs as a block on Animax, called Nick Time.

On October 11, 2006, Viacom's subsidiary MTV Networks Asia Pacific set up a new unit to manage Nickelodeon South East Asia TV based in Singapore. Nickelodeon was launched in Singapore and expanded its services in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Polynesia. In the present, Nickelodeon Philippines, Nickelodeon Pakistan, and Nickelodeon India started working independently. They started their new website, Nicksplat.com in 2003. On April 1, 2011, Nickelodeon launched a dedicated feed to Filipino kids.

In India, Nickelodeon is available on the One Alliance bouquet, through the Dish TV and Tata Sky DTH services. In the Philippines, it is available on SkyCable Gold, Silver and Platinum channel 45, Sun Cable channel 34 and Global Destiny Cable channel 52. In Hong Kong, it is available on now TV, while in Malaysia, it is available over Astro via Channel 612. In Singapore, it is available over StarHub TV and in Indonesia, Nickelodeon is available on Astro Nusantara channel 14, Global TV, a free-to-air television channel, and is also broadcast on Indovision channel 33. In Pakistan, Nickelodeon is available on PTCL Smart TV, WorldCall CATV and Southern Networks as well as on the Pakistan satellite Paksat-1.

A pan-Arabia version of Nickelodeon has been relaunched in 2008, in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon. From 1996 to 2002, it used to be on the Showtime Arabia and Orbit satellite services, until is was removed. The Polish version of Nickelodeon had launched on July 10, 2008 in Platform N, replacing a Polish feed of Nickelodeon Russia that was banned in 2002.

In September 2009, Corus Entertainment, owners of YTV and Treehouse TV, announced that they would launch Nickelodeon Canada on November 2. Before that and since then, YTV has served as a ''de facto'' outlet for Nickelodeon's programming in Canada, and also brands a Sunday morning block called ''Nickelodeon Sundays''.

See also

Nicktoons

Nickelodeon Games and Sports for Kids

Nick Jr.

TeenNick

Nickelodeon Movies

Cartoon Network

Disney Channel

References

External links

Mobile version

Category:Television channels and stations established in 1977 Category:American television networks Category:Children's television networks Category:Viacom Category:MTV Networks Category:English-language television stations in the United States Category:Spanish-language television networks in the United States

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Coordinates	52°13′20″N16°31′41″N
name	Jessie J
alt	f
background	solo_singer
birth name	Jessica Ellen Cornish
alias	Jessie J
birth date	March 27, 1988
birth place	Chadwell Heath, London, England
genre	R&B;, pop, hip hop, soul
years active	2006–present
label	Lava, Universal Republic, Island, Gut
website
notable instruments	}}

Jessica Ellen Cornish (born on 27 March 1988), better known by her stage name Jessie J, is an English singer-songwriter, currently signed to Island Records. She began her career as a songwriter for artists including Chris Brown and Miley Cyrus. Her debut single, "Do It Like a Dude", was released in November 2010 and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Charts. Follow-up single "Price Tag" reached number one in the United Kingdom, France, Ireland and New Zealand, and reached the top 10 in nineteen other countries. Her debut album, ''Who You Are'', was released in February 2011 and charted at number two on the UK Albums Chart. In February 2011 Jessie J won a BRIT Award, Critics' Choice. It was revealed in October 2011 that Jessie J will be a coach and a mentor on the television show, ''The Voice UK''.

Early life

Jessie J was born Jessica Ellen Cornish in Chadwell Heath, London and was educated at Mayfield High School in the London Borough of Redbridge. She attended Colin's Performing Arts School and as an eleven year old was cast in Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End production of ''Whistle Down the Wind''. Jessie has two sisters, who are five and seven years older than her, who were both head girls at school.

Unlike her academic sisters, Cornish has stated she was "never really that good at anything". She said, "At school they were like 'oh, you're a Cornish girl' and they kind of expected me to be the same as my sisters. Give me something to draw or an outfit to pick for someone, or hair, make-up, acting, write a song, I'm fine with it, but anything to do with sums – it was never my thing." She also said she never based her intelligence on her exam results. She also said she was always good at singing and it was her "thing".

At the age of 16 she began studying at the BRIT School and at 17 she joined a girl group named "Soul Deep". She graduated in the class of 2006 along with singers Adele and Leona Lewis. At 18 she suffered a stroke.

Music career

2006–2009: Career beginnings

Jessie J was signed to Gut Records, recording an album for the label, but the company went bankrupt before any material was released. She then found success as a songwriter, gaining a Sony ATV publishing contract. She was also the support act for Cyndi Lauper during Lauper's UK dates of her 2008 Bring Ya To The Brink tour (Lauper invited J to join her on stage for the performances of Girls Just Want To Have Fun). Jessie has also written lyrics for artists such as Chris Brown and Miley Cyrus, including "Party in the U.S.A.".

Jessie J was also part of a girl band, called 'Soul Deep', for two years, however she left due to thoughts that "it wasn't going anywhere". Despite people thinking that her first notoriety was through YouTube, Jessie was signed for four years before her first video was posted.

Jessie first came to the attention of Lava Records when her publisher at Sony/ATV, Rich Christina, sent Lava president Jason Flom a link to her MySpace page, which the record executive loved. After seeing an impressive U.S. showcase, Lava was, along with several other labels, keen to sign the artist but progress was hampered by her management's insistence on, what Flom called, a "crazy deal", and their refusal to let Jessie speak to any labels directly. Despite this, Senior Director of A&R; at Lava, Harinder Rana, made surreptitious efforts to meet Jessie on her own in winter of 2008. Later in the year a change in management to Sarah Stennett and Nadia Khan of Crown Music allowed record deal negotiations to take place. Jessie eventually signed with Lava as part of a joint venture with Universal Republic.

2010–present: ''Who You Are''

Jessie J began recording her debut studio album in 2006 and it was completed on 19 January 2011. She revealed that "Big White Room" would be on the album and was written from an experience she had when she was 11 years old, although she wrote the song at age 17, in hospital, where a ward mate, a little boy, died. Jessie J says the album's title track, "Who You Are", is one of her proudest creations, she said the song is a "positive role model for young people" and "I always say that I'm half-artist, half-therapist"

In late 2010 Jessie J released her first single, "Do It Like a Dude" which was co-written with George Astasio, Tj Normandin, Jason Pebworth, Jon Shave, Kyle Abrahams and Peter Ighile. Originally, she wrote the song with Rihanna in mind because "Rude Boy" was released at the time, partly inspiring the song. She then sent the song to her label, Island Records, before sending it to Rihanna's management. Island insisted the song become Jessie J's first single. She wishes to perform the song with Rihanna at one point. The single gained positive reception from critics. The single charted at number two on the UK Singles Charts. Her follow-up single "Price Tag" was released in late January 2011. This was written by Jessie J, Lukasz Gottwald, Claude Kelly, and Bobby Ray Simmons, Jr. and charted at number one in the top of the charts. "Price Tag" was released in the United States on 1 February 2011 and peaked at 23 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. "Price Tag" also charted at number-one in New Zealand and Ireland and is the most successful online video J has released. As of October 2011, the video has generated over 148 million views on Youtube and Vevo, making it the 22nd most viewed music video of all time. Her first American television appearance was as the musical guest on the 12 March 2011 episode of NBC's ''Saturday Night Live''.

On 25 February 2011 her debut album, ''Who You Are'', was released. The album first entered the charts on 6 March 2011 where it charted on the UK Album Charts at number two. The album charted into the top ten in a number of countries and number 11 in the United States.After the release she went on to release a third single from the album, "Nobody's Perfect". MTV reported that the single is, so far, only confirmed for release in the United Kingdom. The album's fourth single was "Who's Laughing Now". "Domino" was her second US single. The Dr. Luke-produced track was sent to mainstream radio on 6 September 2011. With the success of ''Who You Are'' in North America, Jessie was chosen to tour as the opening act for American pop artist Katy Perry's ''California Dreams Tour'' in 2011 but after she was unable to fully recover from her injuries during rehearsals she was forced to pull out under the doctor's orders.

Jessie J served as the house artist at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, performing several of her original songs along with covers around commercial breaks.

In early 2011 she suffered a panic attack on stage after she was forced to perform in the dark. "I did a gig recently and had a panic attack on stage," she told ''NOW''. "The night was called 'Black Out' and I had to perform in the dark. I asked them to turn on the lights and they didn't. I was onstage in pitch black and, because I couldn't see anything, I started to panic. It was awful." James Morrison's third studio album, ''The Awakening'' features a collaboration with Jessie J called "Up", the song was released as a single on 4 December 2011. On 4 October Jessie announced that she will be one of four coaches for new BBC program, ''The Voice UK''.Jessie J re-released "Who You Are" on 9 November 2011, featuring the regular tracks plus "Domino" and two new songs. "Domino" became her second top 30 hit in the U.S., following the success of "Price Tag". The song also peaked at number 1 in January 2012 in the UK, before it was even officially released there.

Personal life

On 12 June 2011 at the Capital Radio Summertime Ball, Jessie ruptured several tendons in her foot during rehearsals, and performed her set the following day while sitting on a gilded throne. For her appearance at Glastonbury Festival 2011 on 25 June 2011, she performed on the throne again, claiming her physician had told her not to perform with her broken foot which would take six weeks to heal. Jessie J was scheduled to play at several festivals throughout the summer, however it was reported on 1 July 2011 that she would not be able to attend T in the Park, T4 On The Beach, Wembley:Orange, iTunes Festival, Lovebox and Oxegen due to the injuries to her foot. Jessie J personally tweeted before surgery; "Keep making nervous jokes with the doctor and he keeps looking at me blankly. Which is making me laugh even more. It's getting serious. I just took my nose stud out." Tweeting after the surgery, she wrote: "Can't keep tweeting. Still very dizzy and being sick. But I'm OK, I got through it." Her record label released an official statement on 30 June 2011 that under strict orders from her doctor, she will not be able to perform for a number of weeks so she can heal and recuperate properly. She returned to the concert circuit in late August, including sets at the V Festival and The Big Chill. For the 2011 VMA's she was still in a cast and using the throne to keep off of it.

Jessie J confirmed on 2 August 2011 that she would be shaving her hair off for charity in 2012. Speaking via her official Twitter account she said: “It’s hair, It will grow back. Even if it takes 2 years, if it saves lives it’s worth it. Even if its 1 life that’s something.”

Jessie J is openly bisexual and stated in an interview on the "In Demand" radio show on March 3, 2011, "I've never denied it. Whoopie doo guys, yes, I've dated girls and I've dated boys – get over it."

Music and voice

Although she was first identified as a soul singer, she primarily records songs of contemporary R&B; and pop music with hip-hop influences.

Music critic Matthew Perpetua of Pitchfork Media compared Jessie J to her peers Adele and Amy Winehouse, but admitted she was missing something: "Whereas Adele and Winehouse also have powerhouse voices, they fit into clear aesthetic niches and invest their songs with depth and humanity. Jessie J doesn't have even a fraction of their restraint." Perpetua added: "Her idea of showcasing her gift is to shoot for a blaring melisma on "Mamma Knows Best" that makes Christina Aguilera seem as subtle as Joni Mitchell by comparison." Ailbhe Malone of the music magazine NME also recognized Cornish's "undeniably potent voice". However, she pointed out the possible "identity crisis" that might have been caused by Jessie's songwriter past: "This is an album of singles for other artists. There’s Rihanna Jessie (‘Do It...’), Perry Jessie (‘Abracadabra’), Pixie Jessie (‘Mamma Knows Best’), Ellie Jessie ('Big White Room')."

Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian shared her positive opinion about the singer, saying that "if any singer has the potential to be the British Katy Perry or Pink, with the accompanying millions of sales, it's her". Sullivan also complimented Cornish's attitude: "[Her songs] are delivered with a confidence that money can't buy." Entertainment Weekly's music critic Adam Markovitz said of Jessie: "The 23-year-old Brit has all the tools, from a monster voice to an ear for hooks — she co-wrote Miley Cyrus' Party in the U.S.A. — and a manic persona that's equal parts Katy Perry, Kristin Chenoweth, and Alice Cooper.

Discography

''Who You Are'' (2011)

Filmography

+Television	Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2012	''The Voice UK''	Herself

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Category:1988 births Category:Living people Category:Bisexual musicians Category:Electronica musicians Category:English female singers Category:English mezzo-sopranos Category:English pop singers Category:English rhythm and blues singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English-language singers Category:LGBT musicians from the United Kingdom Category:LGBT people from the United Kingdom Category:People educated at the BRIT School Category:Singers from London Category:Stroke survivors Category:The Voice judges Category:People from Chadwell Heath

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Coordinates	52°13′20″N16°31′41″N
Name	Nick Vujicic
Birth date	December 04, 1982
Birth place	Melbourne, Australia
Death date
Occupation	Preacher, motivational speaker, Director of Life Without Limbs
Ethnicity	Serbian
Religion	Christian }}

Nicholas James Vujicic (born 4 December 1982) is a preacher and motivational speaker – born with Tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs. He struggled as a child, eventually came to terms with his disability and started his own non-profit organization ''Life Without Limbs'' – at age seventeen. Vujicic presents motivational speeches worldwide, on life with a disability, hope, and finding meaning in life.

Background and personal

The eldest child of a Serbian family, Vujicic (pronounced 'Vooy-ee-chich') was born in Melbourne, Australia. He was limbless, missing both arms at shoulder level, as well as legless. His feet were toeless except for two toes on one foot. Initially, his parents were devastated, though Vujicic was otherwise healthy.

Originally prohibited by Victoria state law from attending a mainstream school because of his physical disability, even though he was not mentally impaired, Vujicic became one of the first disabled students integrated into a mainstream school, once the laws changed.

Being bullied at school, Vujicic grew depressed and by the age of 8, contemplated suicide. At age 10, he tried to drown himself in 4 inches of water, but did not go through with it out of love for his parents. After praying to grow arms and legs, Vujicic eventually realized that his accomplishments could inspire others – and became grateful for his life. A key turning point came when his mother showed him a newspaper article about a man dealing with a severe disability. Vujicic realized he wasn't unique in his struggles and began to embrace his disability.

He began to master the daily tasks of life. He learned to write using the two toes on his left foot with a special grip that slid onto his big toe. He learned to use a computer and type using the "heel and toe" method. He learned to throw tennis balls, play drum pedals, get himself a glass of water, comb his hair, brush his teeth, answer the phone and shave.

In grade seven he was elected captain of his school and worked with the student council on fund-raising events for local charities and disability campaigns. When he was seventeen, he started to give talks at his prayer group, and eventually started his non-profit organization, Life Without Limbs.

In 2005 Vujicic was nominated for the "Young Australian of the Year" Award.

Vujicic currently lives in California.

Career

Vujicic graduated from university at the age of 21 with a double major in Accounting and Financial Planning. Subsequently he became a motivational speaker, travelling internationally and focusing on teen issues. Having addressed over three million people in over 24 countries on five continents, he speaks to corporate audiences, congregations and schools.

Vujicic promotes his work through television shows and through his writing. His first book, ''Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life'' (Random House, 2010) was published in 2010. He markets a motivational DVD, ''Life's Greater Purpose, '' a short documentary filmed in 2005 highlighting his home life and regular activities. The second part of the DVD was filmed at his local church in Brisbane – one of his first professional motivational speeches. He markets a DVD for young people titled: ''No Arms, No Legs, No Worries: Youth Version''.

In March 2008, he was interviewed by Bob Cummings for ''20/20''.

He starred in the short film "The Butterfly Circus" which won the Doorpost Film Project's top prize of 2009, and the Best Short Film award at the Method Fest Film Festival, where Vujicic was also awarded Best Actor in a short film. Butterfly Circus also just won the Best Short Film at the Feel Good Film Festival in Hollywood in 2010.

See also

Hirotada Ototake

Tetra-amelia syndrome

References

;Notes

External links

Life Without Limbs

Attitude is Altitude

An inspirational movie was created around Nick Vujicic called "The Butterfly Circus"

Video Interview with Nick

Category:Australian people with disabilities Category:1982 births Category:People from Melbourne Category:Living people Category:Australian motivational speakers Category:Australian people of Serbian descent Category:Australian Christians Category:Limbless people

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Coordinates	52°13′20″N16°31′41″N
name	Mariah Carey
background	solo_singer
birth date	March 27, 1970
birth place
genre	R&B;, pop, hip hop, soul, dance
years active	1988–present
occupation	Singer-songwriter, record producer, actress
spouse
label	Columbia, Virgin, Island
website	}}

Mariah Carey (born March 27, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut in 1990 under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, and released her self-titled debut studio album, ''Mariah Carey''. The album went multi-platinum and spawned four consecutive number one singles, on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Following her marriage to Mottola in 1993, a series of hit records, including ''Emotions'' (1991), ''Music Box'' (1993) and ''Merry Christmas'' (1994), established her position as Columbia's highest-selling act. ''Daydream'' (1995), made music history when the second single, "One Sweet Day" a duet with Boyz II Men, spent a record sixteen weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100, and remains the longest running number one song in US chart history. During the recording of the album Carey began to deviate from her pop background, and slowly traversed into R&B; and Hip-hop. After her separation from Mottola, this musical change was evident with the release of ''Butterfly'' (1997).

Carey left Columbia in 2000, and signed a record-breaking $100 million recording contract with Virgin Records. In 2001, Carey ventured into film with ''Glitter'' (2001). Before the film's release she suffered a physical and emotional breakdown and was hospitalized for severe exhaustion. Following the film's poor reception, she was bought out of her recording contract for $50 million, which led to a decline in her career. She signed a multi-million dollar contract deal with Island Records in 2002, and after an unsuccessful period, returned to the top of music charts with ''The Emancipation of Mimi'' (2005). Its second single "We Belong Together", which became the most successful solo single of her music career, and was later named "Song of the Decade" by ''Billboard''. Carey once again ventured into film, and starred in ''Precious'' (2009). Her role in the film was well-received, and she was awarded the "Breakthrough Performance Award" at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and a NAACP Image Award nomination.

In a career spanning over two decades, Carey has sold more than 200 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. In 1998, she was honored as the world's best-selling recording artist of the 1990s at the World Music Awards. Carey was also named the best-selling female artist of the millennium in 2000. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she is the third best-selling female artist in the United States, with 63 million certified albums. With the release of "Touch My Body" (2008), Carey gained her eighteenth number one single in the United States, more than any other solo artist. Aside from her commercial accomplishments, Carey has won five Grammy Awards, and is famed for her five-octave vocal range, power, melismatic style and signature use of the whistle register.

Biography

1970–87: Early life and struggles

Mariah Carey was born in Huntington, Long Island, New York, on March 27, 1970. The singer's father, Alfred Roy, was of African American and Venezuelan descent, while her mother, Patricia (née Hickey), was an Irish American. Patricia's father had died while she was young; however, she inherited his passion for music. She developed a career as an occasional opera singer and vocal coach, and met Alfred in 1960. As he began earning a living as an aeronautical engineer, the couple wed later that year, and moved into a small suburb in New York. After the pair's elopement, Patricia's family disowned her, due to marrying a man of color. Carey later explained that growing up, she felt a notion of neglect from her maternal family, a mark that affected her greatly: "So later I was like, 'Well, where does this leave me? Am I a bad person?' You know. It's still not that common to be a multi-racial person, but I'm happy with the combination of things that I am." During the interval of years in between Allison and the singer's birth, the Carey family experienced personal struggles within the community due to their ethnicity. Carey's name was derived from the song "They Call the Wind Mariah", originally from the 1951 Broadway musical ''Paint Your Wagon.'' When Carey was only three years old, her parents divorced, due to the increasingly strenuous nature of their marriage.

}} After their separation, Carey's older sister Allison moved in with her father, while the other two children remained with Patricia. As the years passed, Carey would grow apart from her father, and would later stop seeing him altogether. By the age of four, Carey recalled that she had begun to sneak the radio under her covers at night, and just sing from her heart, and try and find peace within the music. During elementary school, she would excel in subjects that she enjoyed, such as literature, art and music, while not finding interest in others. After several years of financial struggling, Patricia earned enough money to move her family into a stable and more affluent sector in New York. Carey had already enrolled in Greenlawn's Harborfields High School. She had begun writing poems, and adding melodies to them, thus starting as a singer-songwriter. Even from a young age, Carey excelled in her music, and demonstrated usage of the whistle register, though only beginning to master and control it through her training with her mother. Though opening her daughter to the world of classical opera, Patricia never pressured Carey to pursue a career in that type of genre, as she never seemed interested in that world of music. Carey recalled that she kept her singer-songwriter works a secret and noted that Patricia had "never been a pushy mom. She never said, 'Give it more of an operatic feel'. I respect opera like crazy, but it didn't influence me."

Towards the end of her high school Carey developed a relationship with Gavin Christopher, with whom she shared musical aspirations. The song-writing duo, however, needed an assistant who could play the keyboard; "We called someone and he couldn't come, so by accident we stumbled upon Ben [Margulies]. Ben came to the studio, and he really couldn't play the keyboards very well - her was really more of a drummer - but after that day, we kept in touch, and we sort of clicked as writers." The two began writing and composing songs in his father's store basement, during Carey's senior year. After composing their first song together, "Here We Go Round Again", which Carey described as having a Motown-vibe, they continued writing material for a full length demo. After Carey's graduation her mother wed once more, which ultimately prompted her to move out from Patricia's apartment, and into a one bedroom studio in Manhattan, which she shared with four other female students. During this period, Carey worked several jobs as a waitress, usually getting fired after two week intervals. While requiring work to pay for her rent, Carey's mind and effort still remained with her musical ambitions, as she continued working late into the night with Margulies, in hopes of completing a demo take that could be passed on to record executives. After completing her four song demo tape, Carey tried to pass it to music labels, but was met with failure each time. It was then she was introduced to rising pop singer of Puerto Rican descent, Brenda K. Starr.

1988–92: Recording debut and career beginnings

As Carey's friendship with Starr grew, so did her interest in helping Carey succeed in the industry. On a Friday night in November 1987, Carey accompanied Starr to a record executives gala, where she handed her demo tape to Tommy Mottola, head of Columbia Records, who listened to it on his way back home. After the first two songs, he became so enamored at the sound and quality of Carey's voice that he turned around returned to the event, only to find that she had left. In what has been widely described by critics as a modern day Cinderella-like tale, after searching Carey for two weeks, and eventually contacting her through Starr's management, he immediately signed her and began mapping out her debut into mainstream music. While she maintained that she wanted to continue working with Margulies, Mottola enlisted top producers of the time, including Ric Wake, Narada Michael Walden and Rhett Lawrence. Mottola and the staff at Columbia had planned to market Carey as the main female pop artist on their roster, competing with the likes of Whitney Houston and Madonna, who were signed to Arista and Sire Records respectively. After the completion of the album, titled ''Mariah Carey'', Columbia spent an upward of $1 million to promote it. Though opening with weak sales, the album eventually reached the top of the ''Billboard'' 200, after Carey's exposure at the 33rd annual Grammy Awards. ''Mariah Carey'' stayed atop the charts for eleven consecutive weeks, and she won the Best New Artist, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance trophies for her single "Vision of Love". The album yielded an additional three number one singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, following the four week number-one run of "Vision of Love". Carey became the first artist since The Jackson 5 to have their first four singles reach number one. ''Mariah Carey'' finished as the best-selling album in the United States of 1991, while totaling sales of over 15 million copies.

Only months after the ''Mariah Carey'' began its descent on the charts, Carey already began working on her second studio effort, eventually titled ''Emotions'' (1991). The album, as Carey described it, paid homage to Motown soul music, as she felt the need to pay tribute to the type of music and genre that truly influenced her as a struggling child. For the project, Carey worked with Walter Afanasieff, who only had a small role on her debut, as well as Clivillés and Cole, from the dance group C+C Music Factory. However, Carey's relationship with Margulies deteriorated over a contract Carey had signed prior to her signing with Columbia, agreeing to split not only the songwriting royalties from the songs, but half of her earnings as well. However, when the time came to write music for ''Emotions,'' Sony officials made it clear he would only be paid the fair amount given to co-writers on an album. Subsequently, Margulies filed a lawsuit against Sony which ultimately led to their parting of ways. On September 17, 1991, ''Emotions'' was released around the world, and was accepted by critics as a more mature album than its predecessor. While praised for Carey's improved songwriting, production and new sound, the album was criticized for its material, which many felt was noticeably weaker than her debut. Though the album managed sales of over eight million copies globally, ''Emotions'' failed to reach the commercial and critical heights of its predecessor.

As they had done after the release of her debut, critics once again questioned whether Carey would embark on a world tour, in promotion for her material. Although Carey explained that due to her stage fright, and the general strenuous nature of her songs, a tour sounded very daunting, speculation grew that Carey was a "studio worm", and that she wasn't capable of producing the perfect pitch and 5-octave vocal range for which she was known. In hopes of putting any claims of her being a manufactured artist to rest, Carey and Walter Afanasieff decided to book an appearance on MTV Unplugged, a television program aired by MTV. The show's purpose was to present name artists, and feature them "unplugged" or stripped of studio equipment. While Carey felt strongly of her more soulful and powerful songs, it was decided that her most popular content to that point would be included. Days prior to the show's taping, Carey and Afanasieff thought of adding a cover version of an older song, in order to provide something different and unexpected. They chose "I'll Be There", a song made popular by The Jackson 5 in 1970, rehearsing it few times before the night of the show. On March 16, 1992, Carey recorded a seven-piece set-list at Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York. The revue was met with critical acclaim, leading to it being aired over three times as often as an average episode would. The revue's success tempted Sony officials to use it as some form of an album. Sony decided to release it as an EP, selling for a reduced price due to its shorter length. The EP proved to be a success, shunning critics and speculations that Carey was just a studio artist, and was given a triple-Platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and managed Gold and Platinum certfications in several European markets.

1993–96: First marriage, ''Music Box'' and ''Daydream''

During early 1993, Carey began working on her third studio album, ''Music Box''. After ''Emotions'' failed to achieve the commercial heights of her debut album, Carey and Columbia came to the agreement that the next album would contain a more pop influenced sound, in order to appeal to a wider audience. During Carey's writing sessions, she began working mostly with Afanasieff, with whom she co-wrote and produced most of ''Music Box''. During the album's recording, Carey and Mottola became romantically involved. They wed in a lavish ceremony on June 5, 1993, with several high profile guests including Barbra Streisand, Billy Joel, Gloria Estefan and Ozzy Osbourne. One month later, on August 31, ''Music Box'' was released around the world, debuting at number-one on the ''Billboard'' 200. The album was met with mixed reception from music critics; while many praised the album's pop influence and strong content, others felt that Carey made less usage of her acclaimed vocal range. Ron Wynn from Allmusic described Carey's different form of singing on the album: "It was wise for Carey to display other elements of her approach, but sometimes excessive spirit is preferable to an absence of passion." The album's second single, "Hero", would eventually come to be one of Carey's most popular and inspirational songs of her career. The song became Carey's eighth chart topper in the United States, and began expanding Carey's popularity throughout Europe. With the release of the album's third single, Carey achieved several career milestones. Her cover of Badfinger's "Without You" became her first number one single in several European countries, including Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Due to the song's success, ''Music Box'' spent prolonged periods at number one on the album charts of several countries, and eventually became one of the best-selling albums of all time, with worldwide sales of over 32 million copies. After declining to tour for her past two albums, Carey agreed to embark on a short stateside string of concerts, titled the Music Box Tour. Spanning only six dates across North America, the short but successful tour was a large step for Carey, who dreaded the hassle of touring.

Following ''Music Box'', Carey took a relatively large period of time away from the public eye, and began working on an unknown project throughout 1994. The project was kept very secretive until ''Billboard'' announced on their October issue, that Carey would release a holiday album later that year. In late 1994, Carey recorded a duet with Luther Vandross; a cover of Lionel Richie and Diana Ross's "Endless Love". By that point, Columbia felt Carey had already established herself as a pop singer, and vocalist, but wanted to to try and feature her as more of an entertainer. Through the release of ''Merry Christmas'', Columbia hoped that audiences would buy Carey's material solely for her name and reputation, and squash fears of her being a typical pop singer. The album was released on November 1, 1994, on the same day that the album's first single, "All I Want for Christmas Is You", was released. The album eventually became the best-selling Christmas album of all time, with global sales reaching over 15 million copies. Additionally, "All I Want for Christmas Is You" was critically lauded, and is considered "one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon." ''Rolling Stone'' described it as a "holiday standard", and ranked it fourth on its Greatest Rock and Roll Christmas Songs list. Commercially, it became the best-selling holiday ringtone of all time, and the best-selling single by a non-Asian artist in Japan, selling over 2.1 million units (both ringtone and digital download). By the end of the holiday season of 1994, Carey and Afanasieff had already begun writing material for her next studio album, which would be released in the fall of of the following year.

Released on October 3, 1995, ''Daydream'' combined the pop sensibilities of ''Music Box'' with downbeat R&B; and hip hop influences. The album's second single, "One Sweet Day" was inspired by the death of Cole, as well as her sister Allison, who had contracted AIDS. The song remained atop the Hot 100 for a record-breaking sixteen weeks, and became the longest running number one song in history. ''Daydream'' became her biggest-selling album in the United States, and became her second album to be certified Diamond by the RIAA, following ''Music Box''. The album again was the best-seller by an international artist in Japan, shifting over 2.2 million copies, and eventually reaching global sales of over 25 million units. Critically, the album was heralded as Carey's best to date; ''The New York Times'' named it as one of 1995's best albums, and wrote, "best cuts bring R&B; candy-making to a new peak of textural refinement [...] Carey's songwriting has taken a leap forward and become more relaxed, sexier and less reliant on thudding clichés." Carey once again opted to embark on a short world tour titled Daydream World Tour. It had seven dates, three in Japan and four throughout Europe. When tickets went on sale, Carey set records when all 150,000 tickets for her three shows at Japan's largest stadium, Tokyo Dome sold out in under three hours, breaking the previous record help by The Rolling Stones. Due to the album's success, Carey won two awards at the American Music Awards for her solo efforts: Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B; Female Artist. ''Daydream'' and its singles were respectively nominated in six categories at the 38th Grammy Awards. Carey, along with Boyz II Men, opened the event with a performance of "One Sweet Day". However, Carey did not receive any award, prompting her to comment "What can you do? I will never be disappointed again. After I sat through the whole show and didn't win once, I can handle anything." In 1995, due to ''Daydream''s enormous Japanese sales, ''Billboard'' declared Carey the "Overseas Artist of the Year" in Japan.

1997–2000: New image and independence, ''Butterfly'' and ''Rainbow''

" }} After the release of ''Daydream'' and the success that followed, Carey began focusing on her personal life, which was a constant struggle at the time. Carey's relationship with Mottola began to deteriorate, due to their growing creative differences in terms of her albums, as well as his controlling nature. With each following album, and her continual established fame and popularity, Carey began to take more initiative and control with her music, and started infusing more genres into her work. During mid-1997, Carey was well underway, writing and recording material for her next album, ''Butterfly'' (1997). She sought to work with other producers and writers other than Afansieff, such as Sean Combs, Kamaal Fareed, Missy Elliott and Jean Claude Oliver and Samuel Barnes from Trackmasters. During the album's recording, Carey and Mottola separated, with Carey citing is as her way of achieving freedom, and a new lease on life. Aside from the album's different approach, critics took notice of Carey's altered style of singing, which she describe as breathy vocals. Her new-found style of singing was met with mixed reception; some critics felt is was a sign of maturity, that she didn't feel the need to always show off her upper range, while others felt it was a sign of her weakening and waning voice. The album's lead single, "Honey", and its accompanying music video, introduced a more overtly sexual image than Carey had ever demonstrated, and furthered reports of her freedom from Mottola. Carey stated that ''Butterfly'' marked the point when she attained full creative control over her music. However, she added, "I don't think that it's that much of a departure from what I've done in the past [...] It's not like I went psycho and thought I would be a rapper. Personally, this album is about doing whatever the hell I wanted to do." Growing creative differences with producer Afanasieff continued, and eventually ended their working relationship, after collaborating on most of Carey's material. Reviews for ''Butterfly'' were generally positive: ''Rolling Stone'' wrote, "It's not as if Carey has totally dispensed with her old saccharine, Houston-style balladry [...] but the predominant mood of 'Butterfly' is one of coolly erotic reverie. [... Except "Outside" the album sounds] very 1997. [...] Carey has spread her wings and she's ready to fly", Allmusic editor, Stephen Thomas Erlewine described Carey's vocals as "sultrier and more controlled than ever", and heralded ''Butterfly'' as her "best record and illustrates that Carey continues to improve and refine her music, which makes her a rarity among her '90s peers." The album was a commercial success, although not to the degree of her previous three albums.

Toward the turn of the millennium, Carey began developing other projects, many of which she wasn't able to during her marriage. On April 14, 1998, Carey partook in the VH1 Divas benefit concert, where she sang alongside Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Gloria Estefan and Carole King. Carey had begun developing a film project ''All That Glitters'', later re-titled to simply ''Glitter'', and intended her songwriting to other projects, such as ''Men in Black'' (1997) and ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas'' (2000). After ''Glitter'' fell into developmental hell, Carey postponed the project, and began writing material for a new album. The executives at Sony Music, the parent company of Carey's label Columbia, wanted her to prepare a greatest hits collection in time for the commercially favorable holiday season. However, they disagreed as to what content and singles should constitute the album. Sony wanted to release an album that featured her number one singles in the United States, and her international chart toppers on the European versions, void of any new material, while Carey felt that a compilation album should reflect on her most personal songs, not just her most commercial. She felt that not including any new material would result in cheating her fans, therefore including four new songs that she had recorded. While compromised, Carey often expressed distaste towards the album's song selection, expressing her disappointment in the omission of her "favorite songs". The album titled, ''#1's'' (1998), featured a duet with Whitney Houston, "When You Believe", and was included on the soundtrack for ''The Prince of Egypt'' (1998). During the development of ''All That Glitters'', Carey had been introduced to DreamWorks producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, who asked her if she would record the song "When You Believe" for the soundtrack to the animated film ''The Prince of Egypt''. In an interview with ''Ebony'', Houston described working with Carey, as well as their growing friendship: "Mariah and I got along very great. We had never talked and never sang together before. We just had a chance for camaraderie, singer-to-singer, artist-to-artist, that kind of thing. We just laughed and talked and laughed and talked and sang in between that ... It's good to know that two ladies of soul and music can still be friends." ''#1's'' became a phenomenon in Japan, selling over one million copies in its opening week, and placing as the only international artist to accomplish this feat. When describing Carey's popularity in Japan throughout the 1990s, author Chris Nickson compared it to Beatlemania in the 1960s. The album sold over 3.25 million copies in Japan after only the first three months, and holds the record as the best-selling album by a non-Asian artist, while amassing global sales of over 17 million copies.

During the spring of 1999, Carey began working on the final album of her record contract with Sony, her ex-husband's label. During this time, Carey's strained relationship with Sony affected her work with writing partner Afanasieff, who had worked extensively with Carey throughout the first half of her career. She felt Mottola was trying to separate her from Afanasieff, in hopes of keeping their relationship permanently strained. Due to the pressure and the awkward relationship Carey had now developed with Sony, she completed the album in a period of three months in the summer of 1999, quicker than any of her other albums. The album, titled ''Rainbow'' (1999), found Carey once again working with a new array of music producers and songwriters, such as Jay-Z and DJ Clue. Carey also wrote two ballads with David Foster and Diane Warren, whom she seemingly used to replace Afanasieff. ''Rainbow'' was released on November 2, 1999, to the highest first week sales of her career at the time, however debuting at number two on the ''Billboard'' 200. Throughout early-2000, Carey's troubled relationship with Columbia grew, as they halted promotion after the album's first two singles. They felt ''Rainbow'' didn't have any strong single to be released, whereas Carey wanted a ballad regarding personal and inner strength released. The difference in opinion led to a very public feud, as Carey began posting messages on her webpage in early and mid-2000, telling fans inside information on the dispute, as well as instructing them to request "Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)" on radio stations. One of the messages Carey left on her page read: "Basically, a lot of you know the political situation in my professional career is not positive. It's been really, really hard. I don't even know if this message is going to get to you because I don't know if they want you to hear this. I'm getting a lot of negative feedback from certain corporate people. But I am not willing to give up." Fearing to lose their label's highest seller, Sony chose to release the song. Carey, initially content with the agreement, soon found out that the song had only been given a very limited and low-promotion release, which made charting extremely difficult and unlikely. Critical reception of ''Rainbow'' was generally enthusiastic, with the ''Sunday Herald'' saying that the album "sees her impressively tottering between soul ballads and collaborations with R&B; heavyweights like Snoop Doggy Dogg and Usher [...] It's a polished collection of pop-soul." ''Vibe'' magazine expressed similar sentiments, writing, "She pulls out all stops [...] ''Rainbow'' will garner even more adoration". Though a commercial success, ''Rainbow'' became Carey's lowest selling album to that point in her career.

2001–04: ''Glitter'', ''Charmbracelet''; personal and professional struggles

After she received ''Billboard'''s Artist of the Decade Award and the World Music Award for Best-Selling Female Artist of the Millennium, Carey parted from Columbia and signed a record-breaking $100 million five-album recording contract with Virgin Records (EMI Records), Carey was given full conceptual and creative control over the project. She opted to record an album partly mixed with 1980s influenced disco and other similar genres, in order to go hand-in-hand with the film's setting. She often stated that Columbia had regarded her as a commodity, with her separation from Mottola exacerbating her relations with label executives. Just a few months later, in July 2001, it was widely reported that Carey had suffered a physical and emotional breakdown. She had left messages on her website that complained of being overworked, and her relationship with the Latin icon Luis Miguel ended. In an interview the following year, she said, "I was with people who didn't really know me and I had no personal assistant. I'd do interviews all day long and get two hours of sleep a night, if that." Due to the pressure from the media, her heavy work schedule and the split from Miguel, Carey began posting a series of disturbing messages on her official website, and displayed erratic behavior on several live promotional outings. On July 19, 2001, Carey made a surprise appearance on the MTV program ''Total Request Live'' (TRL). As the show's host Carson Daly began taping following a commercial break, Carey came out pushing an ice cream cart while wearing a large men's shirt, and began a striptease, in which she shed her shirt to reveal a tight yellow and green ensemble. While she later revealed that Daly was aware of her presence in the building prior to her appearance, Carey's appearance on TRL garnered strong media attention. Only days later, Carey began posting irregular voice notes and messages on her official website: "I'm trying to understand things in life right now and so I really don't feel that I should be doing music right now. What I'd like to do is just a take a little break or at least get one night of sleep without someone popping up about a video. All I really want is [to] just be me and that's what I should have done in the first place ... I don't say this much but guess what, I don't take care of myself." Following the quick removal of the messages, Berger commented that Carey had been "obviously exhausted and not thinking clearly" when she posted the letters.

On July 26, she was suddenly hospitalized, citing "extreme exhaustion" and a "physical and emotional breakdown". Carey was inducted at an un-disclosed hospital in Connecticut, and remained hospitalized and under doctor's care for two weeks, followed by an extended absence from the public. Following the heavy media coverage surrounding Carey's publicized breakdown and hospitalization, Virgin Records and 20th Century Fox delayed the release of both ''Glitter'', as well as its soundtrack of the same name. Consequently, critics suggested that in delaying ''Glitter'', hype for the project would have largely subsided, and would possibly hurt both ticket and album sales. When discussing the project's weak commercial reaction, Carey blamed both her frame of mind during the time of its release, its postponement, as well as the soundtrack having been released on September 11. Critics panned ''Glitter'', as well as its accompanying soundtrack; both were unsuccessful commercially. The accompanying soundtrack album, ''Glitter'', became Carey's lowest-selling album to that point. The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' dismissed it as "an absolute mess that'll go down as an annoying blemish on a career that, while not always critically heralded, was at least nearly consistently successful." Following the negative cloud that was ensuing Carey's personal life at the time, as well as the project's poor reception, her unprecedented $100 million five-album record deal with Virgin Records (EMI Records) was bought out for $50 million. Soon after, Carey flew to Capri, Italy for a period of five months, in which she began writing material for her new album, stemming from all the personal experiences she had endured throughout the past year. Carey later said that her time at Virgin was "a complete and total stress-fest [...] I made a total snap decision which was based on money and I never make decisions based on money. I learned a big lesson from that." Later that year, she signed a contract with Island Records, valued at more than $24 million, and launched the record label MonarC. To add further to Carey's emotional burdens, her father, with whom she had little contact since childhood, died of cancer that year.

In 2002, Carey was cast in the independent film, ''WiseGirls'', alongside Mira Sorvino and Melora Walters, who co-starred as waitresses at a mobster-operated restaurant. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and received generally negative critical response, though Carey's portrayal of the character was praised; Roger Friedman of Fox News referred to her as "a Thelma Ritter for the new millennium", and wrote , "Her line delivery is sharp and she manages to get the right laughs". Later that year, Carey performed the American national anthem to rave reviews at the Super Bowl XXXVI at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. Towards the end of 2002, Carey released her next studio album ''Charmbracelet'', which she said marked "a new lease on life" for her. Though released in the wake of ''Glitter'' and Carey's return to the music scene, sales of ''Charmbracelet'' were moderate and the quality of Carey's vocals came under criticism. Joan Anderson from ''The Boston Globe'' declared the album "the worst of her career, and revealed a voice [that is] no longer capable of either gravity-defying gymnastics or soft coos", while Allmusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine expressed similar sentiments and wrote, "What is a greater problem is that Mariah's voice is shot, sounding in tatters throughout the record. She can no longer coo or softly croon nor can she perform her trademark gravity-defying vocal runs." In an attempt to "relaunch" her career following the poor reception to ''Glitter'', as well as her breakdown, Carey announced a world tour in April 2003. Lasting over eight months, the Charmbracelet World Tour: An Intimate Evening with Mariah Carey, became her most extensive tour to date, spanning sixty-nine shows around the world. Throughout the United States, the shows were done in smaller theaters, and something more Broadway-influenced, "It's much more intimate so you'll feel like you had an experience. You experience a night with me." However, while smaller productions were booked throughout the tour's stateside leg, Carey performed at stadiums in Asia and Europe, performing for a crowd of over 35,000 in Manila, 50,000 in Malaysia, and to over 70,000 people in China. In the United Kingdom, it became Carey's first tour to feature shows outside of London, booking arena stops in Glasgow, Birmingham and Manchester. Charmbracelet World Tour: An Intimate Evening with Mariah Carey garnered generally positive reviews from music critics and concert goers, with many complimenting the quality of Carey's live vocals, as well as the production as a whole.

2005–07: Return to prominence with ''The Emancipation of Mimi''

Throughout 2004, Carey focused on composing material for her tenth studio album, ''The Emancipation of Mimi'' (2005). The album found Carey working predominantly with Jermaine Dupri, as well as Bryan-Michael Cox, Manuel Seal, The Neptunes, Kanye West and Carey's longtime collaborator, Jermaine Dupri. The album debuted atop the charts in several countries, and was warmly accepted by critics. Caroline Sullivan of ''The Guardian'' defined it as "cool, focused and urban [... some of] the first Mariah Carey tunes in years which I wouldn't have to be paid to listen to again", while ''USA Today''s Elysa Gardner wrote, "The ballads and midtempo numbers that truly reflect the renewed confidence of a songbird who has taken her shots and kept on flying." The album's second single, "We Belong Together", became a "career re-defining" song for Carey, at a point when many critics had considered her career over. music critics heralded the song as her "return to form", as well as the "return of The Voice", while many felt it would revive "faith" in Carey's potential as a balladeer. "We Belong Together" broke several records in the United States and became Carey's sixteenth chart topper on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. After staying at number one for fourteen non-consecutive weeks, the song became the second longest running number one song in US chart history, behind Carey's 1996 collaboration with Boyz II Men, "One Sweet Day". ''Billboard'' listed it as the "song of the decade" and the ninth most popular song of all time. Besides its chart success, the song broke several airplay records, and according to Nielsen BDS, gathered both the largest one-day and one-week audiences in history.

During the week of September 25, 2005, Carey set another record, becoming the first female to occupy the first two spots atop the Hot 100, as "We Belong Together" remained at number one, and her next single, "Shake It Off" held the number two spot. On the Billboard Hot 100 Year-end Chart of 2005, the song was declared the number one song, a career first for Carey. ''Billboard'' listed "We Belong Together" ninth on The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs and was declared the most popular song of the 2000s decade by ''Billboard''. The album earned ten Grammy Award nominations in 2006–07: eight in 2006 for the original release (the most received by Carey in a single year), and two in 2007 for the ''Ultra Platinum Edition''. In 2006 Carey won Best Contemporary R&B; Album for ''The Emancipation of Mimi'', as well as Best Female R&B; Vocal Performance and Best R&B; Song for "We Belong Together". ''The Emancipation of Mimi'' was the best-selling album in the United States in 2005, with nearly five million units sold. It was the first album by a solo female artist to become the year's best-selling album since Alanis Morissette's ''Jagged Little Pill'' in 1996. At the end of 2005, the IFPI reported that ''The Emancipation of Mimi'' had sold more than 7.7 million copies globally, and was the second best-selling album of the year after Coldplay's ''X&Y;''. It was the best-selling album worldwide by a solo and female artist. To date, ''The Emancipation of Mimi'' has sold over 12 million copies worldwide. At the 48th Grammy Awards, Carey performed a medley of "We Belong Together" and "Fly Like a Bird". The performance earned the night's only standing ovation, prompting Teri Hatcher, who was presenting the next award, to exclaim, "It's like we've all just been saved!"

In support of the album, Carey embarked on her first headlining tour in three years, named The Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, The Hits, The Tour after a "Carey-centric fan's" music diary. The tour spanned forty stops, with thirty-two in the United States and Canada, two in Africa, and six in Japan. Tickets for the tour went on sale on June 2, 2006, with prices ranging from $95 to $150 USD, and featured Carey's long-time friend Randy Jackson as the tour's musical director. Carey's performances consisted of old songs from her catalog as well as her newest singles. The tour received warm critical reaction from music critics and concert goers, many of which celebrated the quality of Carey's live vocals, as well as the show as a whole. However, critics felt the show's excesses, such as Carey's often costume changes and pre-filmed clips, were unnecessary distractions. The tour proved successful, with Carey playing to over 60,000 fans in the two stop in Tunis alone. Midway through the tour, Carey booked a two-night concert engagement in Hong Kong, which was scheduled to take place following her Japanese shows. The shows were cancelled, however, after tickets went on sale. According to Carey's then-manager Benny Medina, the cancellation was due to the concert promoter's refusal to pay Carey her agreed-upon compensation. The promoter instead blamed poor ticket sales (allegedly, only 4,000 tickets had sold) and "Carey's outrageous demands". Carey ultimately sued the promoter, claiming $1 million in damages due to the concert's abrupt cancellation.

2007–09: ''E=MC²'', second marriage, ''Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel'' and acting breakthrough

By spring 2007, Carey had begun to work on her eleventh studio album, ''E=MC²'', in a private villa in Anguilla. When asked regarding the album title's meaning, Carey said "Einstein's theory? Physics? ''Me?'' Hello! ...Of course I'm poking fun." She characterized it as "''Emancipation of Mimi'' to the second power", and said that she was "freer" on this album than any other. Although ''E=MC²'' was well received by most critics, some of them criticized it for being very similar to the formula used on ''The Emancipation of Mimi''. Two weeks before the album's release, "Touch My Body", the record's lead single reached the top position on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming Carey's eighteenth number one and making her the solo artist with the most number one singles in United States history, surpassing the record held by Elvis Presley. Additionally, it gave Carey her 79th week atop the Hot 100, tying her with Presley as the artist with the most weeks at number one in the ''Billboard'' chart history." ''E=MC²'' debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200 with 463,000 copies sold, the biggest opening week sales of her career. With six number one albums, Carey is now tied with Britney Spears and Janet Jackson in the United States for the third most number one albums for a female artist, behind Madonna with seven and Barbra Streisand's nine chart toppers. In 2008, ''Billboard'' magazine ranked her at number six on the "Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists", making Carey the second most successful female artist in the history of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Carey and actor/comedian Nick Cannon met while they shot her music video for her second single, "Bye Bye", on an island off the coast of Antigua. On April 30, 2008, Carey married Cannon at her private estate on Windermere Island in The Bahamas. Carey had a cameo appearance in Adam Sandler's 2008 film ''You Don't Mess with the Zohan'', playing herself. On January 20, 2009, Carey performed "Hero" at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball after Barack Obama was sworn as America's first African-American president. On July 7, 2009, Carey – alongside Trey Lorenz – performed her version of The Jackson 5 song "I'll Be There" at the memorial service for Michael Jackson. At the sight of Jackson's casket, Carey's voice, overwhelmed with emotion, cracked in the opening line of the song. She later apologized on ''The Today Show'', explaining how she did her best effort despite the circumstances.

In 2009, she appeared as a social worker in ''Precious'', the movie adaptation of the 1996 novel ''Push'' by Sapphire. The film garnered mostly positive reviews from critics, as has Carey's performance. ''Variety'' described her acting as "pitch-perfect". ''Precious'' won awards at both the Sundance Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival, receiving top honors there. In January 2010, Carey won the Breakthrough Actress Performance Award for her role in ''Precious'' at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. September 25, 2009, Carey's twelfth studio album, ''Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel'', was released. Reception for the album was generally positive, but mixed in certain aspects; Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic called it "her most interesting album in a decade", while Jon Caramanica from ''The New York Times'' criticized Carey's vocal performances, decrying her overuse of her softer vocal registers at the expense of her more powerful lower and upper registers. Commercially, the album debuted at number three on the ''Billboard'' 200, and became the lowest-selling studio album of her career. The album's lead single, "Obsessed", became her 40th entry on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and her highest debut on the chart since "My All" in 1998. The song debuted at number eleven and peaked at number seven on the chart, and became Carey's 27th US top-ten hit, tying her with Elton John and Janet Jackson as the fifth most top-ten hits. Within hours after the song's release, various outlets speculated that its target was rapper Eminem, in response to his song "Bagpipes from Baghdad", in which he taunted Carey's husband, Nick Cannon. According to MTV, Carey alludes to drug problems in "Obsessed", which Eminem opened up about on his sixth studio album, ''Relapse''. The album's follow-up single, a cover of Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is", failed to achieve any significant chart success in the United States, or much throughout Europe, but managed to break airplay records in Brazil. The song spent 27 weeks atop the Brasil Hot 100 Airplay, making it the longest running song in the chart's history. On December 31, 2009, Carey embarked her seventh concert tour, Angels Advocate Tour, which visited the United States and Canada. Though stateside, the tour spanned few international dates, such as in Brazil and Singapore, where Carey played to over 100,000 spectators. On January 30, 2010, it was announced that Carey would release a remix album of ''Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel''; titled ''Angels Advocate'' (an R&B; remix album featuring a collection of newly remixed duets with some of Carey's favorite artists). The album was slated for a March 30, 2010 release, but was eventually cancelled.

2010–present: ''Merry Christmas II You'', motherhood and fourteenth studio album

Following the cancellation of the ''Angels Advocate'', it was announced that Carey would return to the studio to start work on her thirteenth studio album. It was later revealed that it would be her second Christmas album, the follow-up to ''Merry Christmas'' (1994), which became the best-selling Holiday album of all time. Long time collaborators for the project include Jermaine Dupri, Johntá Austin, Bryan-Michael Cox and Randy Jackson, as well as new collaborators such as Marc Shaiman. Dupri stated that a single would be released alongside the album before the year's end. During a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, in August 2010, Island Def Jam executive Matt Voss announced that the album would be out on November 2, 2010. and would include six new songs and a remix of her classic hit "All I Want for Christmas Is You". The album, titled ''Merry Christmas II You'', was released alongside an accompanying DVD, and was sent to retailers on November 2, 2010. ''Merry Christmas II You'' debuted at number four on the ''Billboard'' 200 with sales of 56,000 copies, surpassing the opening week sales of Carey's previous holiday album of 45,000 copies 16 years prior. It also became Carey's 16th top ten album in the United States. The album debuted at number one on the R&B;/Hip-Hop Albums chart, making it only the second Christmas album to top this chart.

In May 2010, Carey dropped out of her planned appearance in ''For Colored Girls'', the film adaptation of the play ''For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf'', citing medical reasons. After much media speculation, Carey confirmed on October 28, 2010, that she and Cannon were expecting a baby, and that she would be due in the spring of 2011. Carey also revealed that she had been pregnant shortly after her wedding with Cannon, but she miscarried. On April 30, 2011, the couple's third wedding anniversary, Carey gave birth to fraternal twins via C-section. The twins were named Monroe, after Marilyn Monroe, and Moroccan Scott, after Cannon proposed to Carey in her Moroccan-style room; Scott is Cannon's middle name and his grandmother's maiden name. On February 11, 2011, Carey announced on HSN, that she recorded a duet with Tony Bennett for his upcoming "Duets" album, titled "When Do The Bells Ring For Me". Following the birth of their children, Cannon revealed during an interview with ''Billboard'' that Carey had already begun working on a new record. Cannon said "She's been working away, and we have a studio in the crib, and [the pregnancy] has totally inspired her on so many different levels. You're definitely gonna see some new phenomenal music from Mariah" and assured Carey would plan on releasing it by the end of the year. In October 2011, Carey announced that she re-recorded her song "All I Want for Christmas Is You" with Justin Bieber as a duet for his Christmas album, ''Under the Mistletoe''. On November 5, 2011, Carey and Bieber filmed a music video for the duet at the Macy's in New York City. On October 21, 2011, a pre-taped interview with Barbara Walters aired on ABC's 20/20, during the interview Carey and Cannon allowed the cameras to photograph/film twins Moroccan and Monroe for the first time ever. In November 2011, Carey was included in the remix to the mixtape single "Warning" by Uncle Murda, the remix also features 50 Cent and Young Jeezy. That same month, Carey announced that she and John Legend collaborated on a duet, "When Christmas Comes", which was originally part of Carey's 2010 holiday album ''Merry Christmas II You''.

On February 8th, 2012, Mariah uploaded a video on her Youtube channel for the song "Love Story".

Artistry

Musical style

Love is the subject of the majority of Carey's lyrics, although she has written about themes such as racism, social alienation, death, world hunger, and spirituality. She has said that much of her work is partly autobiographical, but ''Time'' magazine wrote: "If only Mariah Carey's music had the drama of her life. Her songs are often sugary and artificial—NutraSweet soul. But her life has passion and conflict," applying it to the first stages of her career. He commented that as her album's progressed, so too her songwriting and music blossomed into more mature and meaningful material. Jim Faber of the ''New York Daily News'', made similar comments, "For Carey, vocalizing is all about the performance, not the emotions that inspired it. Singing, to her, represents a physical challenge, not an emotional unburdening." While reviewing ''Music Box'', Stephen Holden from ''Rolling Stone'' commented that Carey sang with "sustained passion", while ''Entertainment Weekly''s Arion Berger wrote that during some vocal moments, Carey becomes "too overwhelmed to put her passion into words." In 2001, ''The Village Voice'' wrote in regards to what they considered Carey's "centerless ballads", writing, "Carey's Strawberry Shortcake soul still provides the template with which teen-pop cuties draw curlicues around those centerless [Diane] Warren ballads [...] it's largely because of [Blige] that the new R&B; demands a greater range of emotional expression, smarter poetry, more from-the-gut testifying, and less unnecessary notes than the squeaky-clean and just plain squeaky Mariah era. Nowadays it's the Christina Aguileras and Jessica Simpsons who awkwardly oversing, while the women with roof-raising lung power keep it in check when tune or lyric demands."

Carey's output makes use of electronic instruments such as drum machines, keyboards and synthesizers. Many of her songs contain piano-driven melodies, as she was given piano lessons when she was six years old. Carey said that she cannot read sheet music and prefers to collaborate with a pianist when composing her material, but feels that it is easier to experiment with faster and less conventional melodies and chord progressions using this technique. While Carey learned to play the piano at a young age, and incorporates several ranges of production and instrumentation into her music, she has maintained that her voice has always been her most important asset: "My voice is my instrument; it always has been." Carey began commissioning remixes of her material early in her career and helped to spearhead the practice of recording entirely new vocals for remixes. Disc jockey David Morales has collaborated with Carey on several occasions, starting with "Dreamlover" (1993), which popularized the tradition of remixing R&B; songs into house records, and which ''Slant'' magazine named one of the greatest dance songs of all time. From "Fantasy" (1995) onward, Carey enlisted both hip-hop and house producers to re-structure her album compositions. ''Entertainment Weekly'' included two remixes of "Fantasy" on a list of Carey's greatest recordings compiled in 2005: a National Dance Music Award-winning remix produced by Morales, and a Sean Combs production featuring rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard. The latter has been credited with popularizing the R&B;/hip-hop collaboration trend that has continued into the 2000s, through artists such as Ashanti and Beyoncé. Combs said that Carey "knows the importance of mixes, so you feel like you're with an artist who appreciates your work—an artist who wants to come up with something with you".

Voice and timbre

Mariah Carey possesses a 5-octave vocal range, and has the ability to reach notes beyond the 7th octave. She was ranked first in a 2003 MTV and ''Blender'' magazine countdown of the 22 Greatest Voices in Music, as voted by fans and readers in an online poll. Carey said of the poll, "What it really means is voice of the MTV generation. Of course, it's an enormous compliment, but I don't feel that way about myself." She also placed second in ''Cove'' magazine's list of "The 100 Outstanding Pop Vocalists".

Regarding her voice type, Carey said that she is alto, while French-American baritone and singing teacher in the Conservatoire de Paris Malcolm Walker states that she is light lyric soprano, "because the upper register is much more healthy than the lower register." However, within contemporary forms of music, singers are classified by the style of music they sing. There is currently no authoritative voice classification system within non-classical music. Attempts have been made to adopt classical voice type terms to other forms of singing, but they are controversial, because the development of classic voice categorizations were made with the understanding that the singer would amplify his or her voice with their natural resonators, without a microphone.

Baritone Malcolm Walker as well as music critic Stephen Holden of ''The New York Times'' and vocal pedagogue Jeannette Lo Vetri describes Carey's voice as "pure, full, rounded and warm", adding that belting and head voices has a great brightness. Malcolm Walker praise her belting voice, saying it "works very well" and states that Carey "passes easily in head voice. It's her true voice." The middle register is "ample and full" and the voice resonates with strong vibrato. Jon Pareles, of ''The New York Times'', describes Carey's lower register as "rich" and "husky", on the other hand, Walker, Holden, and Lo Vetri state it's "tired", "distended" in its lowest parts. Carey also possesses a "whisper register". In an interview with the singer, Ron Givens of ''Entertainment Weekly'' described it this way, "In one brief swoop, she seems to squeal and roar at the same time: whisper register." Additionally, towards the late 1990s, Carey began incorporating breathy vocals into her material, usually beginning the song and then building up to a "full throated" climax. Tim Levell from the BBC News described her vocals as "sultry close-to-the-mic breathiness", while ''USA Today''s Elysa Gardner wrote "it's impossible to deny the impact her vocal style, a florid blend of breathy riffing and resonant belting, has had on today's young pop and R&B; stars." Tenor Juan Diego Flórez has described her whistle register in detail, saying "Her whistle register is beautiful, fluid, very free and resonant—she has a "ring" in it. She shows an exceptionnal texture manipulation in this register : It can be bright, silky, crystalline, airy, piercing, metallic. She can imitate an electric guitar, a bird chirping, a piccolo... She can also phrase in that register. And the greatest thing about her whistle is that she use it for express different moods and feelings. She is the only pop singer who do that."

Voice experts praise Carey's vocal technique, stating that she can deliver very fast staccatos, marcato, portato and arpeggios with great control, "always keeps a neutral larynx position—except sometimes in her lower register" and "glides effortlessly from bottom to top and vice versa." Diego Flórez said "either in chest, head voices and whistle, she has a gorgeous mastery of dynamics" and describes her legato as "silky." Carey's musicianship is of high-level. Soprano Montserrat Caballé and Diego Flòrez said she has a "refined", "subtle" phrasing, a "perfect" sense of rhythm, and a high architectural sense of line-proportion, climax and resolve, ideas and themes. Jon Pareles adds "she can linger over sensual turns, ... syncopate like a scat singer." Her sense of pitch is admired, Flórez specify that "no matter how fast she executes her melismas, she always stay in tune."

Influences

Carey has said that from childhood she has been influenced by R&B; and soul musicians such as Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. Her music contains strong influences of gospel music, and she credits The Clark Sisters, Shirley Caesar and Edwin Hawkins as the most influential in her early years. When Carey incorporated hip-hop into her sound, speculation arose that she was making an attempt to take advantage of the genre's popularity, but she told ''Newsweek'', "People just don't understand. I grew up with this music". She has expressed appreciation for rappers such as The Sugarhill Gang, Eric B. & Rakim, the Wu-Tang Clan, The Notorious B.I.G. and Mobb Deep, with whom she collaborated on the single "The Roof (Back in Time)" (1998). Carey was heavily influenced by Minnie Riperton, and began experimenting with the whistle register due to her original practice of the range.

During Carey's career, her vocal and musical style, along with her level of success, has been compared to Whitney Houston and Celine Dion. Carey and her peers, according to Garry Mulholland, are "the princesses of wails [...] virtuoso vocalists who blend chart-oriented pop with mature MOR torch song". Author and writer Lucy O'Brien attributed the comeback of Barbra Streisand's "old-fashioned showgirl" to Carey and Dion, and described them and Houston as "groomed, airbrushed and overblown to perfection". Carey's musical transition and use of more revealing clothing during the late 1990s were, in part, initiated to distance herself from this image, and she subsequently said that most of her early work was "schmaltzy MOR". Some have noted that unlike Houston and Dion, Carey co-writes her own songs, and the ''Guinness Rockopedia'' (1998) classified her as the "songbird supreme".

Legacy

Carey's vocal style and singing ability have significantly impacted popular and contemporary music. As music critic G. Brown from ''The Denver Post'' wrote, "For better or worse, Mariah Carey's five-octave range and melismatic style have influenced a generation of pop singers." According to ''Rolling Stone'', "Her mastery of melisma, the fluttering strings of notes that decorate songs like "Vision of Love", inspired the entire ''American Idol'' vocal school, for better or worse, and virtually every other female R&B; singer since the Nineties." Jody Rosen of ''Slate Magazine'' wrote of Carey's influence in modern music, calling her the most influential vocal stylist of the last two decades, the person who made rococo melismatic singing. Rosen further exemplified Carey’s influence by drawing parallel with American Idol, which to her, “often played out as a clash of melisma-mad Mariah wannabes. And, today, nearly 20 years after Carey's debut, major labels continue to bet the farm on young stars such as the winner of Britain's X Factor show, Leona Lewis, with her Generation Next gloss on Mariah's big voice and big hair." Sean Daly of ''St. Petersburg Times'' wrote, "Depending on how you feel about public humiliation, the best/worst parts of American Idol are the audition shows, which normally break down into three distinct parts:(1) The Talented Kids.(2) The Weird Kids.(3) The Mariahs." Daly further commented, "The Mariahs are the hardest ones to watch, mainly because most of them think they're reeeaaally good. The poor, disillusioned hopefuls plant themselves in front of judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson – then proceed to stretch, break and mutilate every note of a song, often Mariah's Hero, a tune that has ruined more throats than smoker's cough." ''New York Magazine's'' editor Roger Deckker said that in regarding Carey as an influential artist in music, he commented that "Whitney Houston may have introduced melisma (the vocally acrobatic style of lending a word an extra syllable or twenty) to the charts, but it was Mariah—with her jaw-dropping range—who made it into America’s default sound." Deckker also added that "Every time you turn on American Idol, you are watching her children". Despite her vocal prowess, Carey's vocal technique particularly with the use of melisma and belting, has been subject to public scrutiny mainly because of young singers such as from talent shows have been overly imitating her singing technique in which critics commented "Mariah Carey is, without a doubt, the worst thing to happen to amateur singing since the karaoke machine". As Professor Katherine L. Meizel noted in her book, ‘’The Mediation of Identity Politics in American Idol’’, “Carey’s influence not just stops in the emulation of melisma or her singing amongst the wannabe’s, it’s also her persona, her diva, her stardom which inspires them.... a pre-fame conic look.”

}} Carey’s influence is notable in numerous hip hop, pop and R&B; artists, including Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, Rihanna, Kelly Clarkson, Nelly Furtado, Leona Lewis, Brandy Norwood, Pink, Mary J. Blige, and Missy Elliott, among others. Knowles credits Carey's singing and her song "Vision of Love" as influencing her to begin practicing vocal "runs" as a child, as well as helping her pursue a career as a musician. Rihanna has stated that Carey is one of her major influences and idol. Christina Aguilera has cited in her early stages of her career that Carey is a big influence in her singing career and being one of her idols. According to Pier Dominguez, author of ''Christina Aguilera: a star is made : the unauthorized biography'', Aguilera has stated how she loved listening to Whitney Houston, but it was Carey who had the biggest influence on her vocal styling. Carey's carefully choreographed image of a grown woman struck a chord on Aguilera. Her influence on Aguilera also grew from the fact that both were of mixed heritage. Philip Brasor, editor of ''The Japan Times'', expressed how Carey's vocal and melismatic style even influenced Asian singers. He wrote regarding Japanese superstar Utada Hikaru, "Utada sang what she heard, from the diaphragm and with her own take on the kind of melisma that became de rigueur in American pop after the ascendance of Mariah Carey." In an article called "Out With Mariah's Melisma, In With Kesha's Kick", writer David Browne of ''The New York Times'' discusses how the ubiquitous melisma pop style has suddenly fallen down from pop culture in favor of young stars who uses the now ubiquitous autotune in which the first mentioned was heavily popularized into mainstream pop culture with the likes of Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. Browne had commented "But beginning two decades ago, melisma overtook pop in a way it hadn’t before. Mariah Carey’s debut hit from 1990, “Vision of Love,” followed two years later by Whitney Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You,” set the bar insanely high for notes stretched louder, longer and knottier than most pop fans had ever heard." Browne further added "A subsequent generation of singers, including Ms. Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson and Beyoncé, built their careers around melisma. (Men like Brian McKnight and Tyrese also indulged in it, but women tended to dominate the form.)"

Carey is also credited for introducing R&B; and hip hop into mainstream pop culture, and for popularizing rap as a featuring act through her post-1995 songs. Sasha Frere-Jones, editor of ''The New Yorker'' commented, "It became standard for R&B;/hip-hop stars like Missy Elliott and Beyoncé, to combine melodies with rapped verses. And young white pop stars—including Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Christina Aguilera, and 'N Sync—have spent much of the past ten years making pop music that is unmistakably R&B.;" Moreover Jones concludes that "[Carey’s] idea of pairing a female songbird with the leading male MCs of hip-hop changed R&B; and, eventually, all of pop. Although now anyone is free to use this idea, the success of “The Emancipation of Mimi” suggests that it still belongs to Carey." Judnick Mayard, writer of ''The Fader'', wrote that in regarding of R&B; and hip hop collaboration, "The champion of this movement is Mariah Carey." Mayard also expressed that "To this day ODB and Mariah may still be the best and most random hip hop collaboration of all time", citing that due to the record "Fantasy", "R&B; and Hip Hop were the best of step siblings." Kelfa Sanneh of ''The New York Times'' wrote, "In the mid-1990s Ms. Carey pioneered a subgenre that some people call the thug-love duet. Nowadays clean-cut pop stars are expected to collaborate with roughneck rappers, but when Ms. Carey teamed up with Ol' Dirty Bastard, of the Wu-Tang Clan, for the 1995 hit "Fantasy (Remix)", it was a surprise, and a smash." Aside from her pop culture and musical influence, Carey is credited for releasing a classic Christmas song called "All I Want For Christmas Is You". In a retrospective look at Carey's career, Sasha Frere-Jones of ''The New Yorker'' said, the "charming" song was one of Carey's biggest accomplishments, calling it "one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon". ''Rolling Stone'' ranked "All I Want for Christmas Is You" fourth on its Greatest Rock and Roll Christmas Songs list, calling it a "holiday standard." Following the release of her ''Greatest Hits'' album, Devon Powers of Popmatters has said in his review that "She has influenced countless female vocalists after her. At 32, she is already a living legend—even if she never sings another note." Carey’s business ventures include the launch of her perfumes, her clothing line, and books. She has portrayed the true nature of being a superstar, according to sociologist Naomi Hirahara, and is a classic example of the word "diva". Carey is never seen without her large entourage, whether it be award shows, performances or as guests on late night specials. Hirahara says, "her demands are sporadic, her looks are glamorous, she is hardly of her age, but she is still ruling. Nowadays people emulate the idea of being a diva, but Carey was the original one in true sense of the term."

Honors and awards

Throughout Carey's career, she has collected many honors and awards, including the World Music Awards' Best Selling Female Artist of the Millennium, the Grammy's Best New Artist in 1991, ''Billboard'''s Special Achievement Award for the Artist of the Decade during the 1990s. In a career spanning over 20 years, Carey has sold over 200 million albums, singles, and videos worldwide, making her one of the biggest-selling artists in music history. Carey is ranked as the best-selling female artist of the Nielsen SoundScan era, with over 52 million copies sold. Possessing a five-octave vocal range, Carey was ranked first in MTV and ''Blender'' magazine's 2003 countdown of the 22 Greatest Voices in Music, and was placed second in ''Cove'' magazine's list of "The 100 Outstanding Pop Vocalists". Aside from her voice, she has become known for her songwriting. Yahoo Music editor Jason Ankeny wrote, "She earned frequent comparison to rivals Whitney Houston and Celine Dion, but did them both one better by composing all of her own material." According to ''Billboard'' magazine, she was the most successful artist of the 1990s in the United States. At the 2000 World Music Awards, Carey was given a Legend Award for being the "best-selling female pop artist of the millennium", as well as the "Best-selling artist of the 90s" in the United States, after releasing a series of albums of multi-platinum status in Asia and Europe, such as ''Music Box'' and ''Number 1's''. She is also a recipient of the Chopard Diamond Award in 2003, recognizing sales of over 100 million albums worldwide. Additionally, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) lists Carey as the third-best-selling female artist, with shipments of over 63 million units in the US. In Japan, Carey has the top four highest-selling albums of all time by a non-Asian artist.

Carey has spent a record 79 weeks at the number-one position on ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming the artist with the most weeks at number-one in US chart history. On that same chart, she has accumulated 18 number-one singles, which ties her with Elvis Presley for the second most number-one singles in the chart's history (after only The Beatles). In 1994, Carey released her holiday album ''Merry Christmas'' has sold over 15 million copies worldwide, and is the best-selling Christmas album of all time. It also produced the successful single "All I Want for Christmas Is You", which became the only holiday song and ringtone to reach multi-platinum status in the US. In Japan, ''Number 1's'' has sold over 3,250,000 copies and is the best-selling album of all time in Japan by a non-Asian artist. Her hit single "One Sweet Day", which featured Boyz II Men, spent sixteen consecutive weeks at the top of ''Billboard''s Hot 100 chart in 1996, setting the record for the most weeks atop the Hot 100 chart in history. After Carey's success in Asia with ''Merry Christmas'', ''Billboard'' estimated Carey as the all-time best-selling international artist in Japan. In 2008, ''Billboard'' listed "We Belong Together" ninth on The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs and second on Top Billboard Hot 100 R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs. The song was also declared the most popular song of the 2000s decade by ''Billboard''. In 2009, Carey's cover of Foreigner's song "I Want to Know What Love Is" became the longest-running number-one song in Brazilian singles chart history, spending 27 consecutive weeks at number-one. Additionally, Carey has had three songs debut at number-one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100: "Fantasy", "One Sweet Day" and "Honey", making her the artist with the most number-one debuts in the chart's 52-year history. Also, she is the first female artist to debut at number 1 in the U.S. with "Fantasy". In 2010, Carey's 13th album and second Christmas album, ''Merry Christmas II You'', debuted at No.1 on the R&B;/Hip-Hop Albums chart, making it only the second Christmas album to top that chart. On November 19, 2010, ''Billboard'' magazine named Carey in their "Top 50 R&B;/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years" chart at number four.

Philanthropy and other activities

Carey is a philanthropist who has donated time and money to organizations such as the Fresh Air Fund. She became associated with the Fund in the early 1990s, and is the co-founder of a camp located in Fishkill, New York, that enables inner-city youth to embrace the arts and introduces them to career opportunities. The camp was called Camp Mariah "for her generous support and dedication to Fresh Air children", and she received a Congressional Horizon Award for her youth-related charity work. She is well-known nationally for her work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation in granting the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses, and in November 2006 she was awarded the Foundation's Wish Idol for her "extraordinary generosity and her many wish granting achievements". Carey has volunteered for the New York City Police Athletic League and contributed to the obstetrics department of New York Presbyterian Hospital Cornell Medical Center. A percentage of the sales of ''MTV Unplugged'' was donated to various other charities. In 2008, Carey was named Hunger Ambassador of the World Hunger Relief Movement. In February 2010, the song, "100%", which was originally written and recorded for the film, ''Precious'', was used as one of the theme songs for the 2010 Winter Olympics, with all money proceeds going to Team USA.

One of Carey's most high-profile benefit concert appearances was on VH1's 1998 ''Divas Live'' special, during which she performed alongside other female singers in support of the Save the Music Foundation. The concert was a ratings success, and Carey participated in the Divas 2000 special. In 2007, the Save the Music Foundation honored Carey at their tenth gala event for her support towards the foundation since its inception. She appeared at the ''America: A Tribute to Heroes'' nationally televised fundraiser in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, and in December 2001, she performed before peacekeeping troops in Kosovo. Carey hosted the CBS television special ''At Home for the Holidays'', which documented real-life stories of adopted children and foster families, from the Wayback Machine on October 22, 2001. In 2005, Carey performed for Live 8 in London and at the Hurricane Katrina relief telethon "Shelter from the Storm". In August 2008, Carey and other singers recorded the charity single, "Just Stand Up" produced by Babyface and L. A. Reid, to support "Stand Up to Cancer".

Declining offers to appear in commercials in the United States during her early career, Carey was not involved in brand marketing initiatives until 2006, when she participated in endorsements for Intel Centrino personal computers and launched a jewelry and accessories line for teenagers, Glamorized, in American Claire's and Icing stores. During this period, as part of a partnership with Pepsi and Motorola, Carey recorded and promoted a series of exclusive ringtones, including "Time of Your Life". She signed a licensing deal with the cosmetics company Elizabeth Arden, and in 2007, she released her own fragrance, "M". In 2007, ''Forbes'' named her as the fifth richest woman in entertainment, with an estimated net worth of US $270 million. In November 2011, it was reported that Carey's net worth was valued at more than $500 million. On November 29, 2010, she debuted a collection on HSN, the collection range included jewelry, shoes and fragrances. In November 2011, Carey was announced as the new global ambassador for Jenny Craig, following her weight loss with the program after giving birth to fraternal twins in April. Carey claims she lost on the program.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	!scope="row"	Ilana
2001	!scope="row"	Billie Frank
2002	''WiseGirls''	Raychel
2003	''Death of a Dynasty''	Herself	Cameo appearance
2005	''State Property 2''	Dame's Wifey
2008	''You Don't Mess with the Zohan''	Herself	Cameo appearance
2009	!scope="row"	Krystal
2009	!scope="row"	Mrs. Weiss		Palm Springs International Film Festival>Palm Springs International Film Festival Breakthrough Performance Award	Capri Hollywood International Film Festival Award for Supporting Actress of the Year	Black Reel Awards of 2010>Black Reel Award for Best Ensemble	Boston Society of Film Critics>Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Ensemble Cast	Black Reel Awards of 2010>Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actress	Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture	Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture	Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2009>Critics' Choice Awards for Best Acting Ensemble

! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2002	''Ally McBeal''	Candy Cushnip
2003	''The Proud Family''	Herself	Voice role

Discography

''Mariah Carey'' (1990)

''Emotions'' (1991)

''Music Box'' (1993)

''Merry Christmas'' (1994)

''Daydream'' (1995)

''Butterfly'' (1997)

''Rainbow'' (1999)

''Glitter'' (2001)

''Charmbracelet'' (2002)

''The Emancipation of Mimi'' (2005)

''E=MC²'' (2008)

''Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel'' (2009)

''Merry Christmas II You'' (2010)

See also

List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)

List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. dance chart

List of awards received by Mariah Carey

List of best-selling music artists

List of best selling music artists in U.S.

List of Mariah Carey tours

Notes

References

Hardy, Phil. ''The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music: Fully Revised Third Edition'' (2001). pg. 156–157. UK: Faber and Faber Limited. ISBN 0-571-19608-X.

Mulholland, Garry. ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music'' (2003). pg. 57. UK: Flame Tree Publishing. ISBN 1-904041-70-1.

''Fred Bronson's Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, 5th Edition'' (ISBN 0-8230-7677-6)

''Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Sixties'' (ISBN 0-89820-074-1)

''Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Nineties'' (ISBN 0-89820-137-3)

Additional information concerning Carey's chart history can be retrieved and verified in ''Billboard's'' online archive services and print editions of the magazine.

External links

Mariah Carey at LAUNCHcast

}}

Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:Actors from New York City Category:African American female singer-songwriters Category:African American film actors Category:African American record producers Category:American dance musicians Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:American music video directors Category:American people of Venezuelan descent Category:American philanthropists Category:American pop singer-songwriters Category:American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters Category:American sopranos Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Hip hop singers Category:Virgin Records artists Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Island Records artists Category:Musicians from New York City Category:People from Long Island Category:Singers with a five octave vocal range Category:Spanish-language singers Category:World Music Awards winners Category:Article Feedback 5

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Coordinates	52°13′20″N16°31′41″N
name	Nick Cannon
background	solo_singer
birth name	Nicholas Scott Cannon
born	October 08, 1980San Diego, California, United States
spouse	Mariah Carry
occupation	Rapper, comedian, record producer, actor, television host, entrepreneur
genre	Hip hop
years active	1998–present
label	Jive, Can I Ball, Columbia
website	www.nickcannon.com
spouse	Mariah Carey}}

Nicholas Scott "Nick" Cannon (born October 8, 1980) is an American actor, comedian, rapper, entrepreneur, record producer, radio and television personality. On television, Cannon began as a teenage sketch comedian on ''All That'' before going on to host ''The Nick Cannon Show'', ''Wild 'N Out'', and ''America's Got Talent''. He acted in the films ''Drumline'', ''Love Don't Cost a Thing'', and ''Roll Bounce''. As a rapper, he released his debut self-titled album in 2003 with the hit single "Gigolo", a collaboration with singer R. Kelly. In 2006, Cannon recorded singles "Dime Piece" and "My Wife" for a planned album ''Stages'', which was never released. Cannon married Mariah Carey on April 30, 2008.

Beginning in 2011, he will be a member of the regular cast of the NBC sitcom ''Up All Night''.

Early life

Cannon was born in San Diego to Beth Gardner (1959–) and James Cannon (1954–2010), a televangelist who hosted a public-access television cable TV ministry in Charlotte, North Carolina. As a child, Cannon divided his time with his mother and grandmother in San Diego and with his father in Charlotte. He began performing at age nine. Cannon is the nephew of Katie Geneva Cannon, who is currently serving as ''Annie Scales Rogers Professor for Christian Ethics'' at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.

Before filming ''Drumline'', he lived in Augusta, Georgia, on Nellyville Road. At age 11, he landed a spot on his father's public-access television program performing stand-up comedy. When Cannon was in his mid-teens, he moved to Hollywood, where he performed stand up at The Improv, The Laugh Factory and the Comedy Store. He graduated from Monte Vista High School, in 1998.

Acting career

Cannon scored his television debut on Nickelodeon's ''All That''. In 2002, he was featured in his own series, ''The Nick Cannon Show''. Later that year, he had his first starring role in ''Drumline'', followed by the 2003 comedy ''Love Don't Cost a Thing''. In 2005, he appeared in ''Roll Bounce'' with fellow actor and rapper Bow Wow. That same year, Nick Cannon starred in and executive produced the comedy ''Underclassman''. In 2006, Cannon lent his voice for the animated feature ''Monster House'', followed by a role in the drama ''Bobby''.

His successful sketch comedy show ''Wild 'n Out'' ran for 4 seasons on MTV from 2005–2007. The following year, Cannon created ''Short Circuitz'', a sketch comedy series that also aired on MTV, but it was not well received and cancelled shortly.

Music career

Early music career

As a teenager, Cannon formed the rap duo "Da Bomb Squad" with his best friend Steve Groves; they opened for the likes of Will Smith, LFO, 98 Degrees, and Montell Jordan.

Self-titled debut album (2001–2003)

After signing with Jive Records in 2001, he was featured alongside Romeo Miller and 3LW on the ''Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius'' soundtrack with a cover of the 1988 hit song "Parents Just Don't Understand". His debut self titled album was released in 2003 and included the single "Your Pops Don't Like Me".

Stages (2005–2006)

In 2005, Cannon formed his own record label, Can I Ball Records, with plans to release his second studio album, entitled ''Stages'', later that year. The album's first single, "Can I Live?", a pro-life song, was released in July 2005 followed by the second single "Dime Piece" in March 2006. But it was never released because of Nick Cannon's acting career.

Slick Rick parody "Slick Nick"(2010–present)

In 2010, Nick created a parody of hip hop pioneer "Slick Rick" entitled "Slick Nick". He released two songs of the character such as "I'm A Slick Rick" which more or less dissed Hip-Hop star Eminem. It was a freestyle of Cali Swag District's "Teach Me How to Dougie" & "Nick's Story" which was a freestyle of Slick Rick's "Children's Story". It is unknown if he will be using the character to make a mixtape or album.

Other Ventures

Hosting

In 2005, Cannon produced and hosted the MTV improv comedy series ''Wild 'N Out''. That same year he hosted the world record slime stunt on Nickelodeon's 2005 Kids' Choice Awards in which a human cannonball was shot into slime. By complete chance, it was Nick Cannon with the Nick(elodeon) Cannon! Donald Trump did the honors of announcing "You're fired" to trigger the cannonballl shooting. In 2009, He hosted the fourth season of ''America's Got Talent'' and is currently hosting the fifth season. He also hosted the first and only season of Nickelodeon's ''Friday Night Slimetime''. He also was the DJ on Ellen DeGeneres's ''Bigger, Longer, And Wider'' show. In 2009, Cannon hosted the HALO Awards along with Justin Timberlake, Hayden Panettiere, LeBron James, Kelly Rowland and Alicia Keys which premiered on December 11.

On July 4, 2011, he appeared at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Business

The former Nickelodeon star and MTV Networks personality is now the Chairman of TeenNick and the development and creative consultant of the network.

Radio hosting

On January 19, 2010, Cannon started hosting the morning show (6-10AM) with co-hosts Nikki and Southern Sarah Lee at 92.3 NOW FM (WXRK-FM) in New York.

Cannon will launch his own weekly chart program "Cannon's Countdown" syndicated by CBS Radio starting April 23.

Comedy

Nick hosted and performed on the comedy show Wild 'N' out that aired on MTV for four seasons between 2005 - 2007. On July 13, 2010, Cannon announced that he was going on a comedy tour in the Fall 2010 beginning at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal.

In early 2011, Cannon recorded his first-ever stand-up comedy special titled ''Mr. Showbiz'' at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. The special premiered on Showtime on May 14, 2011. A digital release of ''Mr. Showbiz'' became available for sale on iTunes beginning May 16, 2011, with a physical release of the album on May 31, 2011. On the special, Cannon unabashedly reveals his thoughts on his famous marriage (to music icon Mariah Carey), pending fatherhood, and how to put an end to his buzzed about Twitter war with hip-hop star Eminem. He also shares candid stories about his humble beginnings, his family, his 'hood tendencies' and failed attempts at being a gangster.

N'Credible Entertainment

In 2010, Nick Cannon formed his new label entitled N'Credible Entertainment or N'Credible Records; originally the label was called Can I Ball.

;Current artists

Aaron Fresh

RydazNRtist

Wonder Broz

The Ranger$

Lil' Will

Maxrank

Little Ladiez

;Managed artists

School Gyrls

Cory Gunz

;Discography

{|class="wikitable" !align="left"|Album information |- |align="left"|Aaron Fresh - ''Fresh N Up''

Released: TBA, 2011

Chart Positions:

RIAA Certification:

Singles:

Promo Singles: "Dirty Girl" (featuring Cory Gunz), "Spending All of My Time"

|- |align="left"|RydazNRtist - ''TBA''

Released: TBA, 2011

Chart Positions:

RIAA Certification:

Singles: "Cakes" (featuring Fabolous)

Promo Singles: "Sorry Ass Apology"

|- |align="left"|The Ranger$ - ''TBA''

Released: TBA, 2011

Chart Positions:

RIAA Certification:

Singles:

|- |}

Controversy

Eminem

Eminem's 2009 album, ''Relapse'', contained a track titled "Bagpipes from Baghdad", poking fun at Cannon's wife Mariah Carey. Cannon responded back with tweets via his Twitter page, while Mariah released a song and video titled "Obsessed", with lyrics and visuals aimed at Eminem. Eminem responded back with a mixtape-style track called "The Warning" in which he addressed both Cannon and Mariah, and later commented that he was finished talking about the subject. The feud was thought to have been over until Nick released a response in the style of hip-hop pioneer Slick Rick a year later entitled "I'm A Slick Rick" over the instrumental for Cali Swag District's "Teach Me How to Dougie". This was followed by a campaign via Facebook, Twitter, and Nick's radio show proposing a boxing ring fight between Eminem and Cannon for charity.

Personal life

Cannon met actress/singer Christina Milian on the set of their film, ''Love Don't Cost a Thing'', in 2003, and they began dating. After being together for two and a half years, Milian ended her relationship with Cannon in 2005 when she found out he was cheating on her. Cannon revealed that he refused to stay faithful to Milian because their relationship was becoming too much like a "Christian romance". When Cannon married Mariah Carey on April 30, 2008, Milian said, "regardless of what I felt in the past at the time, I actually forgive him and I'm very much over that".

Cannon's paternal grandmother Ella Cannon died on March 27, 2003 at the age of 79. His paternal grandfather died on September 19, 2003 at the age of 91.

Cannon began dating Victoria's Secret model Selita Ebanks in February 2007. and just six weeks later, on May 7, 2007, Cannon proposed to Ebanks via the Times Square jumbotron. The couple called off their engagement five months later in October 2007.

With no prior announcement on April 30, 2008, Cannon married Mariah Carey at her private estate on Windermere Island in The Bahamas. On October 28, 2010 Carey confirmed that she and Cannon were expecting their first child. She revealed that she had conceived naturally. Carey added that she had been pregnant shortly after her wedding with Nick Cannon, but that she miscarried. Carey and Cannon decided to keep the matter private. On April 30, 2011, the couple's third wedding anniversary, Carey gave birth to fraternal twins. The daughter is named Monroe Cannon (after Marilyn Monroe), the son Moroccan Scott Cannon (because Cannon proposed to Carey in her Moroccan-style room; Scott is Cannon's middle name and his grandmother's maiden name; Monroe doesn't have a middle name as Mariah herself doesn't have one).

Cannon's music video for ''Can I Live?'' reveals that he was almost aborted by his mother, for whom the song was written.

Charitable Work

In 2011, Cannon filmed a public service announcement for Dosomething.org encouraging teens to find a cause about which they are passionate and take action in their communities.

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album details	Peak chartpositions				! style="width:35px;"	! style="width:35px;"
		2003	style="text-align:left;"	* Release date: December 9, 2003		* Label: [[Jive Records">Music recording sales certification
! style="width:35px;"	! style="width:35px;"	! style="width:35px;"
2003	style="text-align:left;"	* Release date: December 9, 2003	* Label: [[Jive Records	83	N/A	15		* US sales: 275,000
2011		* Release date: May 14, 2011	* Label: New Wave Dynamics	-	3	66
2011		* Release date: TBD	* Label: New Wave Dynamics	-	-	-

Singles

Year	Single	Chart Positions			Album
		! style="width:40px;"	! style="width:40px;"	! style="width:40px;"
		—	—	—
	92	46	—
style="text-align:left;"	24	21	9
2005	style="text-align:left;"	—	85	—
2006		—	70	—
2011		—	—	—	TBD

Mixtapes

''Child of the Corn'' (2011)

Filmography

+ Film
! Year	! Film	! Role	Notes
2000		Chess Club Kid
2002	''Men in Black II''	MIB Autopsy Agent	Alternative titles: ''MIB 2''''MIIB''
2002		Devon Miles
2003		Alvin Johnson	Alternative title: ''Love Don't Co$t a Thing''
2004	''Garfield: The Movie''	Louis	Voice
2004		Scott
2005	''The Beltway''		Executive producer
2005	''Underclassman''	Tracy "Tre" Stokes	Writer, Executive producer
2005	''Roll Bounce''	Bernard
2006	''The Adventures of Brer Rabbit''		Voice
2006		Godfrey Snow
2006		Officer Lester	Voice
2006		Dwayne
2007	''Weapons''	Reggie
2007	''Goal! 2: Living the Dream...''	TJ Harper
2008		Mike
2008		Salazar
2008	''Ball Don't Lie''	Mico
2008	''The Killing Room''	Paul Brody
2010		Lunch Lady & Director

+ Television
! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1998–2000	''All That''	Various	33 episodes
1998–1999	''Kenan & Kel''	Uncredited/Pizza Boy	4 episodes
2000	''The Parkers''	Garland	1 episode
2001		AlexLaTanya	2 episodes
2002–2003	''The Nick Cannon Show''	Himself	22 episodesWriterExecutive producer
2004	''Chappelle's Show''	Himself	1 episode Episode #24
2005–2007		Himself	WriterDirectorExecutive producer
2007		Himself	8 episodesDirectorExecutive producer
2009–present	''America's Got Talent''	Himself	Host
2009–present	''TeenNick''	Himself	Chairman
2010	''The Nightlife''	Himself	Host
2011		Calvin	Recurring Role

Awards and nominations

! Year	! Award	! Result	! Category	! Film or series
2003	Nominated		Best Breakthrough Performance — Viewer's Choice	''Drumline''
2006	Nominated	Best Ensemble	''Roll Bounce'' (Shared with cast)
2007	Won	Cannes Film Festival	Male Revelation	-
2006	Won	Hollywood Film Festival	Ensemble of the Year	''Bobby'' (Shared with cast)
2001	Nominated		Favorite Television Actor	''All That''
2002	Won	Favorite Television Actor	''The Nick Cannon Show''
	Nominated	Favorite Television Actor	''The Nick Cannon Show''
Nominated		Breakthrough Male Performance	''Drumline''
Nominated	Best Kiss	''Drumline'' (Shared with Zoe Saldana)
2007	Nominated	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	''Bobby'' (Shared with cast)
	Nominated		Choice Movie Actor — Drama/Action Adventure	''Drumline''
Nominated	Choice Movie Breakout Star — Male	''Drumline''
	Nominated	Choice Movie Liplock	''Love Don't Cost a Thing'' (Shared with Christina Milian)
Nominated	Choice Movie Liar	''Love Don't Cost a Thing''
Nominated	Choice Movie Chemistry	''Love Don't Cost a Thing'' (Shared with Christina Milian)
2006	Nominated	TV — Choice Personality	''Nick Cannon Presents Wild 'n Out''
2007	Nominated	TV — Choice Personality	''Nick Cannon Presents Wild 'n Out''

References

External links

[ Nick Cannon] at Allmusic

official website

Category:1980 births Category:Actors from California Category:Actors from North Carolina Category:Actors from San Diego, California Category:African-American businesspeople Category:African American actors Category:African American comedians Category:African American rappers Category:African American television directors Category:African American television personalities Category:American Christians Category:American comedians Category:American film actors Category:American film producers Category:American hip hop record producers Category:American music video directors Category:American record producers Category:American television actors Category:American television directors Category:American television producers Category:American television writers Category:American voice actors Category:America's Got Talent Category:Jive Records artists Category:Living people Category:People from Charlotte, North Carolina Category:People from San Diego, California Category:Rappers from California

da:Nick Cannon de:Nick Cannon fr:Nick Cannon it:Nick Cannon hu:Nick Cannon nl:Nick Cannon ja:ニック・キャノン no:Nick Cannon pl:Nick Cannon pt:Nick Cannon ru:Кэннон, Ник fi:Nick Cannon sv:Nick Cannon th:นิก แคนนอน zh:尼克·卡农