Mariah Carey

There are very few female singers that my ears like. While I’m sure she’s a lovely person, Mariah Carey does not make my list. To be fair, only Gladys Knight and Aretha Franklin are on that list. Maybe some Whitney once in a while. Oh yeah, Anne Murray and Karen Carpenter too. I love Diana Ross. Almost forgot about her. I just don’t like high notes. They hurt my ears and make me want to bark. I have a degree in trumpet performance so you’d think I’d like high notes, but I just don’t. (And I only started playing trumpet to sit by a cute boy. I actually prefer the sound of the trombone.)

Mariah Carey was born on March 27, 1970 in Huntington, New York. I guess Guinness World Records calls her the Songbird Supreme. Umm, okay. I guess I don’t like birds anymore either. She has a five octave range which is pretty impressive, but my ears only want to hear the lower two octaves. Wikipedia claims she has the ability to reach notes beyond the 7th octave so, umm….wouldn’t that be into the 8th octave? Ruff!

Music critic G. Brown said, “For better or worse, Mariah Carey’s five octave range and melismatic style have influenced a generation of pop singers.” Yeah, I hate that melisma crap. A melisma is basically when you get all warbly over a note and can’t pick a pitch. There are some people who can pull it off and do it well. Mariah might be one of those, but I don’t want to hear it. Just sing the damn note. Don’t get all diarrhea about it.

Influences

Mariah Carey says that from childhood she has been influenced by Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, and Aretha Franklin. Hey! Those are my top peeps too!

She was also influenced by Minnie Riperton, which explains a lot. Lovin’ You by Riperton was one of my favorite songs as a kid but even back then, I didn’t enjoy the squeaky notes. (Did you all see the Southpark episode with John Stamos’ brother Richard? He was singing Lovin’ You at half time and a bomb had been set to explode when he hit the high F note in the song.)

Trivia

• Mariah Carey has sold more than 200 million records worldwide, but who’s counting.
• She is the third best-selling female artist in the U.S., behind only Barbra Streisand and Madonna.
• Ranked #2 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Women in Music.
• Mariah has won 5 Grammy awards and 15 Billboard Music awards.
• She became the first artist since The Jackson Five to have her first four singles reach number one.
• Mariah was a judge on American Idol. She described that job as “It was like going to work every day in hell with Satan” (with Satan being played by Nicki Minaj).
• Carey married Tommy Mottola in 1993 and was divorced in 1997.
• She then married Nick Cannon in 2008. She has fraternal twins with Nick. They divorced in 2016.
• Mariah Carey spoke in April 2018 about her bipolar disorder. It was diagnosed several years ago (2001) but she chose to keep quiet. I don’t blame her, but she’ll be able to help a lot of people now with going public.
• Mariah suffered a physical and emotional breakdown and spent a few weeks recovering in a mental hospital. This was in June 2001, so maybe the same time as when she found out about her bipolar disorder.
• Had the nickname “Mirage” in high school, because she never showed up for class. I love this!
• Mariah Carey is the only act to have had a number one single in the United States every year of the 1990s.
• She is in second place among all artists with the most number one hits. She surpassed Elvis. What?! The Beatles have 20 #1 hits, Mariah has 18, and Elvis has 17. (Touch My Body in 2008 was Mariah’s last number one which knocked Elvis down a peg.)
• Mariah Carey’s godmother is Patti LaBelle. Oh yeah, I like her too. And Anita Baker. Maybe my list of female singers is bigger than I thought…..but Mariah Carey still doesn’t make the list.  Sorry.