A Long Island born and raised singer and songwriter who dominated the 1990s with several successful releases and numerous Number One hits, Mariah Carey quickly became a pop music legend with a seemingly limitless vocal range and talent for writing catchy tunes and sweet ballads that were at home in the Top 10. Starting out as a backup singer for freestyle singer Brenda K. Starr, (whose hit “I Still Believe” Carey would remake in 1999), the young singer passed her demo along to then Columbia Records head Tommy Mottola in 1988. Blown away by the singer’s talent and vocal range, Mottola signed the up and coming artist and in 1990, her self-titled debut album tore up the charts on the strength of the hit singles “Vision of Love”, “Love Takes Time”, “I Don’t Wanna Cry”, “Someday” and “Love Takes Time”. Scoring Grammy wins in the Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal categories in early 1991, Carey followed up the success of her debut with that year’s “Emotions”, a similarly skillful sophomore effort that launched the title hit as well as the chart-topping tracks “Make it Happen” and “Can’t Let Go”,
