Mariah Carey was born March 27, 1970. She 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.

Carey left Columbia in 2000, and signed a record-breaking $100 million recording contract with Virgin Records. In 2001, Carey went into film with the movie Glitter . 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 made her career drop. After an unsuccessful period, she signed a multi-million dollar contract deal with Island Records in 2002, and in 2005 returned to the top of music charts with The Emancipation of Mimi . Its second single "We Belong Together" became her most successful single of the 2000s, and was later named "Song of the Decade" by Billboard.

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. In 2008 with the release of "Touch My Body" , 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.

On April 30, 2008, Carey married Cannon at her private estate on Windermere Island in The Bahamas. On April 30, 2011, the couple's third wedding anniversary, Carey gave birth to fraternal twins via C-section.