Boyz II Men
Boyz II Men performing at Vega, Copenhagen.
Background information
Origin	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Genres	R&B
Years active	1988–present
Labels	Motown, Universal, Decca Records, Maverick, Up All Nite, MSM Music Group, UMTV
Associated acts	Babyface, Prodigy, Oh No, Mariah Carey, Big Boi, New Kids on the Block
Website	www.boyziimen.com
Members
Nathan Morris Shawn Stockman Wanya Morris
Past members
Michael McCary Marc Nelson

Boyz II Men is an American R&B vocal group best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are the most successful R&B group of all time, having sold more than 60 million albums worldwide.^[1] Currently the group is a trio, featuring baritone Nathan Morris alongside tenors Wanya Morris, and Shawn Stockman. In the 1990s, Boyz II Men found fame on Motown Records as a quartet, but the original member and bass singer Michael McCary left the group in 2003 due to health issues. The quartet won four Grammy Awards, and the trio was nominated for two Grammys in 2009.^[2]

In the 1990s, Boyz II Men gained international celebrity behind unprecedented success on the pop charts. The group's first single to reach Number 1, 1992's "End of the Road", a phenomenal hit, reached the top of charts across the globe.^[3] "End of the Road" would set a new record for longevity, staying at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 13 weeks, breaking a decades-old record held by Elvis Presley. Boyz II Men would exceed even that record later in the decade with hits "I'll Make Love to You" and "One Sweet Day" (with Mariah Carey), which each set new records for the longest period of time a single remained at number 1. As of 2012, "One Sweet Day" still holds the all-time record with 16 weeks at the top of the Hot 100. In short, Boyz II Men ranks at the top of the list three times -- at the number one, three, and four spots -- for the longest running Number 1 singles in Billboard history.^[4] Furthermore, when "On Bended Knee" took the number 1 spot away from "I'll Make Love To You," Boyz II Men became only the third artist ever (after The Beatles and Elvis) to replace themselves at the top of the Billboard Hot 100^[5]. Boyz II Men are among a select group of artists that have held at the number one spot for at least 50 weeks cumulatively, placing them just fourth on that list behind Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and Mariah Carey. These achievements were enough to earn Boyz II Men recognition as Billboard Magazine′s most successful musical group of the 1990s.^[6]

Boyz II Men continues to perform in concert to audiences around the world. Their most recent studio album, Twenty, was released in 2011.

History[link]

Beginnings[link]

The group, known originally as Unique Attraction, was founded during 1988 at the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, friends Nathan Morris and Marc Nelson organized several R&B singing groups, most of which ended quickly. Eventually, they found a winning formula by recruiting tenors Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman and bass Michael McCary. The group would rehearse in the high school's bathrooms, due to the excellent acoustics. They found inspiration in New Edition's harmonies and routines, and eventually renamed the group "Boyz II Men", after one of New Edition's songs. In 1989, the group managed to go backstage after a concert performed by Bell Biv DeVoe, a New Edition spin-off group. In a famous episode that would be retold in Boyz II Men's first hit, while backstage, they met New Edition/Bell Biv DeVoe member and aspiring record producer Michael Bivins. On the spot, Boyz II Men performed an a cappella rendition of New Edition's "Can You Stand the Rain". Bivins was impressed by the group, and began plans to contract them to Motown Records through a production deal with his Biv Ten Records company. The group signed shortly thereafter. Some time would pass, however, before Bivins was able to secure Boyz II Men recording time for their first album. A year before releasing their debut album, in 1990, they made an appearance on a solo album by Robbie Mychals. They are listed in the credits as singing background vocals on the song "One Mile from Paradise" as "Boy's to Men".^{[citation needed]} The delay before recording their own material and reported personality conflicts led founding member Marc Nelson to leave the group, making Boyz II Men into the quartet that would find international fame: Michael McCary, Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris, and Shawn Stockman.

[edit] Cooleyhighharmony

Boyz II Men's first album, Cooleyhighharmony, was released on Motown in 1991 and was produced by Michael Bivins. Cooleyhighharmony's drum-heavy new jack swing sound and multi-layered sampled backdrops were similar to that of Bell Biv DeVoe's own work, but featured classic-soul styled vocals in place of BBD's rapping and brassier singing. This style was dubbed "hip hop doo-wop" by the group and Bivins, who presented Boyz II Men and adolescent R&B group Another Bad Creation to the public as BBD's protégés.

From the beginning, Boyz II Men featured all four members as leads, avoiding the usual R&B group arrangement of one or two lead singers and a team of background singers. The multiple-lead arrangement became a Boyz II Men trademark, and it became typical to hear Wanya Morris' vibrato-heavy tenor, Shawn Stockman's tenor voice, Nathan Morris' baritone, and Michael McCary's bass (often used in spoken-word sections of many Boyz II Men hits) trading bars in each song.

The album's liner notes identified unique nicknames for each member of the group. These nicknames were devised in collaboration with Bivins in an attempt at marketing. Wanya was "Squirt", Shawn was "Slim", Michael was simply "Bass", and Nathan assumed the name "Alex Vanderpool", after a soap opera character who brandished a nerdy style.^[7]

Boyz II Men's first single, the Dallas Austin-produced "Motownphilly" featured a rap cameo by Michael Bivins that gives the story of how he met Boyz II Men. The single's release was accompanied with a music video that presented the group in hip hop style. (The video also included cameos from fellow Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts alumni Black Thought and Questlove of The Roots.) Cooleyhighharmony's second single was an a capella cover of a classic Motown tune, G.C. Cameron's "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" from the 1975 film Cooley High, while "Uhh Ahh" served as the third single.

Cooleyhighharmony achieved major success, eventually selling over nine million copies and winning the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 1992 Grammy Awards. Boyz II Men were also nominated for Best New Artist, alongside with British singer-songwriter Seal, fellow R&B group Color Me Badd, as well as dance group C+C Music Factory, but the Grammy was awarded to singer-songwriter Marc Cohn. "Motownphilly" and "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" were number 1 R&B hits and top five U.S. pop hits.

In 1992, Boyz II Men joined MC Hammer's high-profile 2 Legit 2 Quit tour as an opening act. While traveling the country, their tour manager Khalil Roundtree was murdered in Chicago, and the group's future performances of "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" were dedicated to him. As a result of this unfortunate experience, the song would prove to help advance their success.^[8]

"End of the Road"[link]

While touring during 1992, Boyz II Men returned briefly to the studio to record the single "End of the Road", co-written and produced by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, for the soundtrack to Eddie Murphy's film Boomerang. It has been said^{[by whom?]} that the song was recorded in only four hours. This song, released as a single on June 30, 1992, would become Boyz II Men's biggest hit. It reached the Number 1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 15, remaining there for a record-setting thirteen weeks, until November 7, 1992. The success of End of the Road instantly transformed Boyz II Men from up-and-coming R&B stars into mainstream music celebrities.

A revamped Cooleyhighharmony would be reissued during 1993, with "End of the Road" added as a special bonus track, but "End of the Road" initially appeared only on the Boomerang soundtrack. Later the track would land on a collection of singles produced by Michael Bivins called "East Coast Family, Vol. 1".^[9] Shortly after the release of this compilation, Boyz II Men and Michael Bivins parted ways professionally. Boyz II Men would continue to work with Babyface and other high-profile record producers over the next several years.

[edit] II

After releasing a Christmas compilation, Christmas Interpretations in 1993, Boyz II Men returned to the studio for their highly anticipated sophomore effort. In 1994, II was released. II sold more than 12 million copies in the United States alone, becoming one of the best-selling albums ever released by an R&B group act, and one of the biggest albums of the decade.

Most of the tracks on II were written and produced by Tim & Bob Tim Kelley and Bob Robinson (5) Babyface (2) and the successful team of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis (2). Several of II's tracks became major singles, among them Jam & Lewis's "On Bended Knee", and Babyface's "I'll Make Love to You" and "Water Runs Dry".

"I'll Make Love to You" broke "End of the Road's" 13-week record at number 1, by spending 14 weeks at the top of the chart (a feat equaled earlier that year by Whitney Houston's cover of "I Will Always Love You"). "On Bended Knee" replaced "I'll Make Love to You" at number 1, making Boyz II Men only the third act ever to replace itself at number 1 on the Hot 100, after Elvis Presley and The Beatles.^[5]

At the 37th Grammy Awards on March 1, 1995, the group won two Grammy Awards: Best R&B Album for II and Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. for "I'll Make Love to You".

[edit] Evolution and label conflicts

Motown issued The Remix Collection, a compilation of remixes of various Boyz II Men songs from Cooleyhighharmony and II. The group itself had opposed the release of the collection, because they felt the compilation did not represent Boyz II Men's best work. After the label released the album without their permission, there was a dispute between the company and the group. Boyz II Men initiated their own recording company Stonecreek (which released material by artists such as Uncle Sam), and they arranged for Stonecreek's distribution by Epic Records, not Motown.

Boyz II Men's third studio album, Evolution, was released during 1997 to mixed reviews and sold three million copies, far below the stratospheric success of II's (12 million copies) and Cooleyhighharmony (9 million). Only one of Evolution's singles, the Jam/Lewis-penned "Four Seasons of Loneliness", reached number 1 on the Hot 100 chart. The second single, the Babyface-helmed "A Song for Mama" (the theme song to the Babyface-produced film Soul Food) was a Top 10 success, but the follow-up "Can't Let Her Go" underperformed.

The global tour began in 1997 to promote Evolution was very successful in terms of ticket sales, but behind the scenes, Boyz II Men was wracked by conflicts with their record label and internal conflicts among the members of the group. Making matters worse, health problems began to take their toll on the group as well. While on tour to support the Evolution album, Wanya Morris developed a polyp on his vocal cords, and the group was forced to postpone part of the tour until he recovered. McCary's scoliosis meant that he was unable to participate in most of the group's dance routines.

Boyz II Men were nominated for 2 Grammys in 1998: Best R&B Album for Evolution and Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for "A Song for Mama".

[edit] Nathan Michael Shawn Wanya

In 1999, Motown's parent company, Polygram, was bought by Universal Music Group. Amidst the major corporate restructure, Motown was merged with UMG's Universal Records, where Boyz II Men found themselves reassigned.

Their only studio LP album for Universal, 2000's Nathan Michael Shawn Wanya, was chiefly written and produced by the group itself, in an attempt to update their sound and ward off critics who questioned the group's reliance on Babyface's hit-making songcraft. While the critics were more receptive to Nathan Michael Shawn Wanya than they had been to its predecessor, the LP sold only 500,000 copies in the US, 1 million copies worldwide, and although its two singles, "Pass You By" and "Thank You in Advance" received media attention, neither became hits.

Boyz II Men departed from Universal in 2001, ending their relationship with the company that brought them to international stardom in 1991. The label released a very successful greatest hits compilation, Legacy: The Greatest Hits Collection, to close out their contract.

[edit] Full Circle and "The Color of Love"

Signing a new deal with Arista Records in 2002, Boyz II Men began recording the Full Circle album, and recruited Babyface for a new single, "The Color of Love". In an attempt to recapture the massive success the group had enjoyed a decade earlier, the album received a significant promotional budget. Arista commissioned a high-budget music video, shot in four different locales by four different directors: supervising director Little X filmed scenes featuring Michael McCary in India, Hype Williams filmed Shawn Stockman in Tokyo, Benny Boom filmed Nathan Morris in Ghana, and Chris Robinson filmed Wanya Morris in Puerto Rico and finally all were filmed in New York. The resulting music video had a debut on BET, but failed to have a great effect, and Full Circle, like Nathan Michael Shawn Wanya before it, sold slightly more than 500,000 copies in the US and 1 million copies worldwide.

Full Circle would become Boyz II Men's final album as a quartet, and their last effort to receive extensive promotion from a major record company. On January 30, 2003, Michael McCary retired from performing due to his ongoing battle with scoliosis. Arista terminated Boyz II Men's contract on April 30, and the remaining three members took a temporary hiatus from the music industry.

Remake era[link]

[edit] Throwback, Vol. 1 and The Remedy

Boyz II Men at the Genting Highlands, Malaysia in 2007.

After a year out of the spotlight, Boyz II Men created the independent label MSM Music Group (distributed through Koch Records), and released the Throwback, Vol. 1 LP in 2004. The album is a collection of covers of classic R&B and soul songs such as The Dazz Band's "Let It Whip", Michael Jackson's "Human Nature", and, as the single, Bobby Caldwell's "What You Won't Do for Love". For this record, Nathan took on the bass lines as well as the baritone vocals that he sang when Boyz II men was a quartet. Throwback, Vol. 1 reached number 59 on the Billboard 200. The group launched an independent tour of North America and Asia in support of the Throwback series. The album sold over 200,000 copies with little to no promotion aside from the group's independent tour.

In 2005 Boyz II Men recorded a CD with Anderson Cameau called "Apocalypse," a project meant to benefit Haiti.^{[citation needed]}

In 2006, Boyz II Men's seventh studio album, The Remedy, was released exclusively in Japan, where they found a thriving fan base. In other regions, The Remedy was made available online through the group's website on February 14, 2007.

[edit] Hitsville USA

In mid-2007, the group resigned with Universal Records and released the LP Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA through the Decca Records label. The LP is a cover album featuring songs from the Motown Records catalog, co-produced by Randy Jackson of American Idol fame. The Motown album includes covers of songs by The Temptations ("Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)"), Marvin Gaye ("Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", "Mercy Mercy Me"), Smokey Robinson & the Miracles ("The Tracks of My Tears"), and even Boyz II Men themselves (an a cappella version of "End of the Road").

Boyz II Men Live at Vega in 2008.

Commercially, Motown found some success. It peaked at number 6 on the US R&B chart, and was certified Gold in the UK. The album was also a critical success. For the 51st Annual Grammy Awards in 2009, Boyz II Men received two nominations for the album Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA (Best R&B Album and Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals for "Ribbon In The Sky").

In 2008, Boyz II Men's three members appeared on Celebrity 'Don't Forget the Lyrics' and created a sensation with their performance. They earned $500,000 for their two nominated charities; the appearance also generated interest in their next release.

[edit] Love

In 2009, Boyz II Men announced plans for a new cover album, that covers "artists I don't think people would expect us to cover!" according to Shawn Stockman. Entitled Love, the album was released on November 23, 2009. The album contains remakes of love songs from outside the R&B genre.

Love Cruise[link]

Boyz II Men headlined a "Love Cruise" in honor of their 20th anniversary and in observance of Valentine's Day. The cruise took place February 11–14, 2011, and traveled from Miami, Florida, to Nassau, Bahamas. Cruise passengers received a Boyz II Men welcome cocktail party, a concert performance by Boyz II Men, an additional fan appreciation concert by Boyz II Men, a photo session with Boyz II Men (in small groups), a formal prom night, a poker tournament, a deck party with Boyz II Men and a guest DJ, a singles mixer, a gift bag, and onboard drawings for other Boyz II Men events. Couples were able to renew their wedding vows in a special ceremony with Boyz II Men.^[10]

[edit] Twenty

Twenty, named in recognition of Boyz II Men's twenty years in the music business, is a double CD album with thirteen original songs and eight rerecorded Boyz II Men classics. It was released on October 25, 2011.^[11] Twenty is the group's fourth release through MSM Music Group. It was released in Japan 13 days before its official US release date with the help of Avex Group, the biggest Japanese independent record label.

Originally, Boyz II Men announced a reunion with original member Michael McCary for the Twenty album. On September 6, 2009, at a concert in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Stockman announced that their upcoming 20th anniversary album "include all 4 members," sparking a tremendous applause.^[12] But soon after that announcement, McCary declined and did not join the project.

Style and influence[link]

Boyz II Men receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in January 2012

Boyz II Men are among the biggest names in a capella and R&B. With what was called "crossover appeal," Boyz II Men found themselves at the vanguard of the 1990s movement to take R&B back into the mainstream, where it had been back in the 1970s. Their use of hip-hop beats in combination with R&B was not unique, but it was Boyz II Men's enormous success with mainstream audiences in "putting harmony over the hip-hop tracks" that helped usher in the near-total dominance of the R&B genre on the pop charts in the 2000s and 2010s.^[13]

Boyz II Men are often positively compared with the legendary acts of Motown's heyday, making them something of a contemporary version of The Temptations. They redefined many of the elements that made The Temptations and other iconic Motown artists such as The Four Tops and Smokey Robinson & the Miracles successful, bringing that kind of artistry to a new generation of fans.

In the 1990s, several of Boyz II Men's R&B contemporaries began showing obvious inspiration from Boyz II Men's work and singing style, among them Shai, Soul for Real, BLACKstreet, All-4-One, and later Dru Hill, Jagged Edge, and (featuring Boyz II Men co-founder Marc Nelson) Az Yet. Boyz II Men's closest competitor, Uptown Records act Jodeci, with their more sexually charged style, presented a style quite different from Boyz II Men's overt wholesomeness and family-friendly image. Jodeci's style had its own followers, but their influence on the music industry as a whole was not as widespread as that of Boyz II Men.

Also notable is that several record producers, Lou Pearlman in particular, developed a large number of popular acts in the same style as Boyz II Men. Because of this, Boyz II Men is often considered to have reignited the "boy band" craze started by New Edition and New Kids On The Block in the United States. The "boy band" trend reached a new climax by the end of the 1990s, with groups such as The Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, going on to widespread international success, and others, such as Motown act 98 Degrees, finding more moderate mainstream success. All of these acts were influcened, to a large extent, by the style and themes that propelled Boyz II Men.

Boyz II Men's remarkable success and longevity have earned them recognition and accolades well into the twenty-first century. On January 5, 2012, Boyz II Men were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[14]. The group remains popular around the world, and they perform regularly in Europe, Asia, and in North America.

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Cooleyhighharmony (1991)
• Christmas Interpretations (1993)
• II (1994)
• Evolution (1997)
• Nathan Michael Shawn Wanya (2000)
• Full Circle (2002)
• Throwback, Vol. 1 (2004)
• The Remedy (2006)
• Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA (2007)
• Love (2009)
• Twenty (2011)

See also[link]

	Book: Boyz II Men
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

Philadelphia portal

• Boyz II Men discography
• Best selling music artists
• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)

References[link]

• Huey, Steve. "Boyz II Men". Allmusic. Retrieved from http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3759 on August 17, 2005.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Boyz II Men

• Boyz II Men – Official Website
• Boyz II Men – French Family
• Boyz II Men – Japan Portal

Mariah Carey
Carey at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival
Background information
Born	(1970-03-27) March 27, 1970 (age 42) Huntington, New York, United States
Genres	R&B, pop, hip hop, soul, dance
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, record producer, actress
Years active	1988–present
Labels	Columbia (1990—2000) Virgin (2001) Island (2002—present)
Website	mariahcarey.com

Mariah Carey^[1] (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 her most successful single of the 2000's, 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[link]

1970–87: Early life and struggles[link]

Mariah Carey was born in Huntington, New York, on March 27, 1970.^[2] The singer's father, Alfred Roy, was of African American and Venezuelan descent, while her mother, Patricia (née Hickey), is an Irish American.^[3] Patricia's father had died while she was young; however, she inherited his passion for music.^[3] She developed a career as an occasional opera singer and vocal coach, and met Alfred in 1960.^[2] 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.^[3] 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."^[3] During the interval of years in between Carey's older sister Allison and the singer's birth, the Carey family experienced personal struggles within the community due to their ethnicity.^[3] Carey's name was derived from the song "They Call the Wind Mariah", originally from the 1951 Broadway musical Paint Your Wagon.^[4][5] When Carey was three years old, her parents divorced due to the increasingly strenuous nature of their marriage.^[6]

After their separation, Allison moved in with her father, while the other two children remained with Patricia.^[6] As the years passed, Carey would grow apart from her father, and would later stop seeing him altogether.^[6][8] 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.^[8] During elementary school, she would excel in subjects that she enjoyed, such as literature, art and music, while not finding interest in others.^[9] After several years of financial struggling, Patricia earned enough money to move her family into a stable and more affluent sector in New York.^[9] Carey had begun writing poems and adding melodies to them, thus starting as a singer-songwriter while attending Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, New York.^[10][10] 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.^[10] 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.^[10] 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."^[10][11]

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."^[11] 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.^[12] 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.^[13][14] During this period, Carey worked several jobs as a waitress, usually getting fired after two week intervals.^[15] 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.^[15] After completing her four song demo tape, Carey tried to pass it to music labels, but was met with failure each time.^[16] It was then she was introduced to rising pop singer of Puerto Rican descent, Brenda K. Starr.^[16][17]

1988–92: Recording debut and career beginnings[link]

Carey exiting the Shepherd's Bush Theatre after promoting her single "Vision of Love" on The Wogan Show, in 1990.

As Carey's friendship with Starr grew, so did her interest in helping Carey succeed in the industry.^[18] 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.^[18][19] 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.^[19] In what has been widely described by critics as a modern day Cinderella-like tale,^[20][21] 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.^[18] 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.^[18] 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.^[22] After the completion of the album, titled Mariah Carey, Columbia spent an upward of $1 million to promote it.^[23] 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.^[24] Mariah Carey stayed atop the charts for eleven consecutive weeks,^[25] and she won the Best New Artist, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance trophies for her single "Vision of Love".^[26] 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.^[27] Mariah Carey finished as the best-selling album in the United States of 1991,^[28] while totaling sales of over 15 million copies.^[29]

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).^[30][31] 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.^[31] 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.^[32] However, Carey's relationship with Margulies deteriorated^[31] 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.^[31] 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.^[31] Subsequently, Margulies filed a lawsuit against Sony which ultimately led to their parting of ways.^[31] On September 17, 1991, Emotions was released around the world, and was accepted by critics as a more mature album than its predecessor.^[33] 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.^[34] Though the album managed sales of over eight million copies globally, Emotions failed to reach the commercial and critical heights of its predecessor.^[35]

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.^[36] 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.^[20][37] 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.^[38] The show's purpose was to present name artists, and feature them "unplugged" or stripped of studio equipment.^[38][39] 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.^[39] 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.^[39] 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.^[40] The revue was met with critical acclaim, leading to it being aired over three times as often as an average episode would.^[41] The revue's success tempted Sony officials to use it as some form of an album.^[42] Sony decided to release it as an EP, selling for a reduced price due to its shorter length.^[43] The EP proved to be a success, shunning critics and speculations that Carey was just a studio artist,^[43] and was given a triple-Platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA),^[44] and managed Gold and Platinum certifications in several European markets.^[42]

[edit] 1993–96: First marriage, Music Box and Daydream

During early 1993, Carey began working on her third studio album, Music Box.^[46] 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.^[46] During Carey's writing sessions, she began working mostly with Afanasieff, with whom she co-wrote and produced most of Music Box.^[45] During the album's recording, Carey and Mottola became romantically involved.^[47] 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.^[48] One month later, on August 31, Music Box was released around the world, debuting at number-one on the Billboard 200.^[49] 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.^[50] 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."^[51] The album's second single, "Hero", would eventually come to be one of Carey's most popular and inspirational songs of her career.^[52] The song became Carey's eighth chart topper in the United States,^[52] 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,^[53] the Netherlands, Ireland,^[54] Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.^[55] Due to the song's success, Music Box spent prolonged periods at number one on the album charts of several countries,^[56] and eventually became one of the best-selling albums of all time, with worldwide sales of over 32 million copies.^[45] 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.^[57] Spanning only six dates across North America,^[57] the short but successful tour was a large step for Carey, who dreaded the hassle of touring.^[58]

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.^[59] The project was kept very secretive until Billboard announced on their October issue, that Carey would release a holiday album later that year.^[59] In late 1994, Carey recorded a duet with Luther Vandross; a cover of Lionel Richie and Diana Ross's "Endless Love".^[60] By that point, Columbia felt Carey had already established herself as a pop singer, and vocalist, but wanted to try and feature her as more of an entertainer.^[61] 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.^[61] 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.^[61] The album eventually became the best-selling Christmas album of all time, with global sales reaching over 15 million copies.^[62][63][64] 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."^[62] Rolling Stone described it as a "holiday standard", and ranked it fourth on its Greatest Rock and Roll Christmas Songs list.^[65] Commercially, it became the best-selling holiday ringtone of all time,^[66] and the best-selling single by a non-Asian artist in Japan,^[67] selling over 2.1 million units (both ringtone and digital download).^[68][69] 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 the following year.^[70]

Carey performing "One Sweet Day" live alongside Boyz II Men, during a special taping at Madison Square Garden.

Released on October 3, 1995, Daydream combined the pop sensibilities of Music Box with downbeat R&B and hip hop influences.^[71] 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.^[72] The song remained atop the Hot 100 for a record-breaking sixteen weeks, and became the longest running number one song in history.^[73] Daydream became her biggest-selling album in the United States,^[74] and became her second album to be certified Diamond by the RIAA, following Music Box.^[44] The album again was the best-seller by an international artist in Japan, shifting over 2.2 million copies,^[75] and eventually reaching global sales of over 25 million units.^[29] 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."^[76] 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.^[77] 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.^[77] 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.^[78] Daydream and its singles were respectively nominated in six categories at the 38th Grammy Awards.^[79] Carey, along with Boyz II Men, opened the event with a performance of "One Sweet Day".^[80] 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."^[80] In 1995, due to Daydream's enormous Japanese sales, Billboard declared Carey the "Overseas Artist of the Year" in Japan.^[81]

[edit] 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.^[83] 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.^[83] 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.^[84] During mid-1997, Carey was well underway, writing and recording material for her next album, Butterfly (1997).^[85] 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.^[85] 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.^[86] Aside from the album's different approach, critics took notice of Carey's altered style of singing, which she describe as breathy vocals.^[87] 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,^[88] while others felt it was a sign of her weakening and waning voice.^[89][90] 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.^[91] Carey stated that Butterfly marked the point when she attained full creative control over her music.^[92] 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."^[91] Growing creative differences with producer Afanasieff continued, and eventually ended their working relationship, after collaborating on most of Carey's material.^[93] 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",^[94] 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."^[95] The album was a commercial success, although not to the degree of her previous three albums.^[93]

Carey at Edwards Air Force Base during the making of the "I Still Believe"

Toward the turn of the millennium, Carey began developing other projects, many of which she wasn't able to during her marriage.^[96] 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.^[97] Carey had begun developing a film project All That Glitters, later re-titled to simply Glitter,^[98] and intended her songwriting to other projects, such as Men in Black (1997) and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000).^[96] After Glitter fell into developmental hell, Carey postponed the project, and began writing material for a new album.^[96] 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.^[99] However, they disagreed as to what content and singles should constitute the album.^[100] 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.^[100] She felt that not including any new material would result in cheating her fans, therefore including four new songs that she had recorded.^[100] While compromised, Carey often expressed distaste towards the album's song selection, expressing her disappointment in the omission of her "favorite songs".^[101] 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).^[100] 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.^[102] 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."^[103] #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.^[104] When describing Carey's popularity in Japan throughout the 1990s, author Chris Nickson compared it to Beatlemania in the 1960s.^[77] 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,^[104] while amassing global sales of over 17 million copies.^[105]

During the spring of 1999, Carey began working on the final album of her record contract with Sony, her ex-husband's label.^[106] 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.^[106] She felt Mottola was trying to separate her from Afanasieff, in hopes of keeping their relationship permanently strained.^[107] 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.^[48] 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.^[108] Carey also wrote two ballads with David Foster and Diane Warren, whom she seemingly used to replace Afanasieff.^[108] 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.^[109] Throughout early-2000, Carey's troubled relationship with Columbia grew, as they halted promotion after the album's first two singles.^[109] They felt Rainbow didn't have any strong single to be released, whereas Carey wanted a ballad regarding personal and inner strength released.^[109] 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.^[110] 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."^[111] Fearing to lose their label's highest seller, Sony chose to release the song.^[111] 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.^[111] 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."^[112] Vibe magazine expressed similar sentiments, writing, "She pulls out all stops [...] Rainbow will garner even more adoration".^[113] Though a commercial success, Rainbow became Carey's lowest selling album to that point in her career.^[92]

[edit] 2001–04: Glitter, Charmbracelet; personal and professional struggles

Carey, pictured with former Island Records head L.A. Reid in 2005, signed a recording contract with Island following her separation with Virgin.

After she received Billboard's Artist of the Decade Award and the World Music Award for Best-Selling Female Artist of the Millennium,^[114] 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.^[115] 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.^[116] 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,^[117] and her relationship with the Latin icon Luis Miguel ended.^[118] 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."^[119] 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.^[120] On July 19, 2001, Carey made a surprise appearance on the MTV program Total Request Live (TRL).^[121] 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.^[121] 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.^[120] 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."^[121] Following the quick removal of the messages, Berger commented that Carey had been "obviously exhausted and not thinking clearly" when she posted the letters.^[122]