10 INteresting Things About Mariah Carey

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• Even before Mariah Carey released her smash hit "All I Want For Christmas Is You" in 1994, the singer was in the public eye.

 

• Her parents named her after the song "They Call The Wind Maria" from the 1951 Broadway musical "Paint Your Wagon."

 

• She is obsessed with Marilyn Monroe and bought the actress' baby grand piano at auction for over $600,000. 

 

• After she was born on March 27, 1970, Mariah Carey's parents named her after a song from a Broadway musical. Alfred Roy Carey and Patricia Hickey named their daughter after the song "They Call The Wind Maria" — which is pronounced "Mariah," despite its different spelling — from the 1951 Broadway musical "Paint Your Wagon."

 

• Carey takes after her mother, who is a Juilliard-trained opera singer and a vocal coach. Carey reportedly wowed her mom by imitating her operatic singing at just 2 years old. She started vocal lessons when she was 4 and quickly honed her skills so that after graduating high school she could move to New York City and pursue her dreams.

 

• Before hitting it big Carey attended cosmetology school in Manhattan. After moving to New York City, Carey enrolled in beauty school to keep her busy while she figured out how to turn her musical dreams into reality. She and Stephen Colbert talked in September about the impressive 500 hours worth of studying she did and why she thought learning how to do her hair and makeup would be beneficial to her musical career. 

 

• She also worked as a waitress, but the gig didn't last long. In the same September interview with Stephen Colbert, Carey admitted that she hated the job and could never work the cash register properly. Failing remedial math, despite the fact her father was an aeronautical engineer, didn't help her efforts either. 

 

• Her role as Brenda K. Starr's backup singer led to her landing a record deal. After working odd jobs, Carey finally got her first break and began singing backup vocals for Brenda K. Starr in the late 1980s, according to New Jersey 105.1. Eventually, Starr handed Carey's demo to then-chairman and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment Tommy Mottola (who would become Carey's first husband) and the young singer's fate as a pop superstar was sealed. 

 

• Carey has an impressive five-octave vocal range. In 2019, Classic FM determined that she had the greatest range of all iconic singers.

 

• The Fresh Air Fund named its Career Awareness Program "Camp Mariah" in honor of the singer joining the fund's board of directors in 1994. The organization provides thousands of children in New York City with the opportunity to attend sleepaway camps throughout New York's mid-Hudson Valley, according to its website.