Mariah: true glitter
She's won Grammys and sold more than 120 million albums and singles. This songbird simply amazes audiences with her awesome voice. But, that's not enough for Mariah Carey. After recording chart-topping albums for more than a decade, Carey's ready for bigger and brighter things as she transitions her way onto the silver screen. While she hasn't distinguished herself as a successful multimedia artist yet, no one doubts that Carey will shine when Glitter, her first starring feature film, hits the box office this month.
Glitter isn't Carey's first foray into films. Back in 1998, she'd been desperately trying to get a toehold in Hollywood when she landed "an extended cameo" in the Chris O'Donnell movie The Bachelor. Carey played Ilana, an opera singer and potential bride for an ex-boyfriend (O'Donnell) who must marry within 24 hours or lose a $100 million inheritance. The movie sunk at the box office and didn't exactly propel Carey into big-screen stardom as many thought it would.
Carey's undergone other disappointments during her young lifetime, and her rise to Divadom hasn't exactly been a stroll through the park. Her struggle to be discovered and the demise of her seemingly fairytale marriage to Sony Music president and CEO Tommy Mottola left Carey disoriented, although she continues to crank out hit albums as pop's reigning queen. In fact, in April she signed a monster multi-album deal at $23.5 million per album with Virgin Records. The first project under the new contract is the soundtrack for Glitter.
The film itself is set in 1982, and while not meant to be autobiographical, the story was developed by Carey. The diva plays Billie Frank, an up-and-coming singer who falls in love with an influential DJ in the New York City club scene. Originally titled All That Glitters, the film features appearances by singer Eric Benét and rapper Da Brat, and the songs were produced by '80s pop recording legends Jimmy Jam, Rick James and Prince.
Carey grew up in humble surroundings in Huntington, NY, where her mother worked several jobs to make ends meet. When she was 3, parents Patricia (Irish-American) and Alfred (African-American and Venezuelan) divorced, and Carey stayed with her mother. Patricia, a one-time opera singer and vocal coach, recognized early on that her daughter could sing with "true pitch", so she helped cultivate Carey's talent. Eventually, the soon-to-be star could perfectly mimic any sound and sing in an eight-octave range.
While Carey's mother never pushed her child into the limelight, she did encourage a talent that would empower her daughter later in life. As a result, Carey moved to New York City, a place she was already familiar with, having studied music with a variety of vocal professionals there during her high school years. After a series of part-time jobs that included working as a studio backup singer, sweeping up hair in a salon, waitressing and checking coats, Carey got her big break with Columbia Records. There, she found recording success as well as future husband, Mottola.
In 1988, Carey presented her demo tape to a dark, handsome man at a party. The man turned out to be Mottola, who, after playing the tape, was convinced he could make this unknown songbird into a star. Mottola sought out the girl behind the voice, cut her a record deal and, as in fairytales, fell in love with the beauty.
Carey's star began its meteoric rise the following year with her hit song "Vision of Love", and hasn't fallen back to Earth yet. She won two Grammy's in 1990 for best new artist and best pop vocal female and married Mottola (who is 20 years her senior) in 1993. Then, Carey released Daydream in 1995, which earned her six Grammy nominations.
Carey's career had reached epic proportions. (She is the only female artist to have earned 14 No. 1 hits on the Billboard music charts, putting her in the same bracket as The Beatles.) But her personal life didn't achieve the same level of success. Some industry insiders suggested that Carey was more like Rapunzel than Cinderella during the early years of her career - sequestered in a 56-acre Hudson River Valley, NY, mansion while she spun sweet ballads into platinum. Rumors circulated that Carey was a prisoner in a nine-bedroom gilded cage that featured, according to visitors and partygoers, two swimming pools (indoor and outdoor), a recording studio, two pizza ovens and a shooting range, and ultimately sold for $20.5 million after she and Mottola divorced in 1998.
Adding to the public interest in the diva's personal affairs, rumors spread like wildfire that the 29-year-old pop princess had fallen for a younger hunk, 23-year-old New York Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter, while she and Mottola were separated. In fact, those rumors seemed substantiated when Carey winged over to Tampa, FL, to watch Jeter play in an exhibition game immediately following her Dominican Republic divorce from Mottola.
Openly enamored with the jock, Carey told In Style about her romance. "His mom is Irish, and his father's black - same thing as me," she said. "I had never met anybody like that, and that's always been a big part of who I am." Speculation spiraled unabated about the couple, who continuously shot down rumors that they were about to tie the knot. "There is no engagement; there is no ring," a fed-up Carey told the New York Post. "This seems to be turning into a three-ring circus."Carey was even blamed for Jeter's lackluster performance on the field. "I'm just a singer, not some magical baseball genie who can make or break someone's game," she also told the New York Post. Sports insiders say that Yankee owner George Steinbrenner lectured Jeter about how his high-profile personal life was interfering with his game.
Inevitibly, the media's fixation and lack of privacy tore them apart. Carey told reporters, "It's bad enough when just one public person is involved, but with two, it's really hard to have something to yourself." She apparently continued to carry a torch for Jeter even after they split, and those close to her say she was obsessed with him. According to bouncers at numerous New York City nightclubs, Carey would call to find out if Jeter was going to be there that evening and make a surprise appearance if the answer was "yes".
Carey's current international love affair with singer Luis Miguel has seemed to mellow her out. She is still fodder for gossip columnists as he lavishes her with diamonds aboard his fabulous yacht. (Insiders say he named it The Mariah.) Still, not all glitters in Carey's life as she has been plagued by plagiarism lawsuits in recent years. One in particular involves limo driver Chris Selletti who claimed (until the case settled in 1997) Carey did not write the song "Hero" for the Dustin Hoffman movie of the same name. Selletti said it couldn't have been: The film Hero was released on October 6, 1992, and Carey's notebooks indicate she started writing the song in November. Plus, the soundtrack did not include a Carey song.
Back in 1990, Selletti had worked as a bodyguard for '70s funk star Sly Stone, while simultaneously cruising recording studios, working with Earth, Wind & Fire's Maurice White and selling songs and guitar riffs for cash. Selletti maintains that he wrote the lyrics to "Hero" and mailed them to himself to make a "poor man's copyright", but Carey insists that she and producer Walter Afanasieff co-wrote the hit song.
There have been other accusations of plagiarism brought against the singer, and though she has always denied stealing songs, Carey has been involved in several lawsuit settlements totaling millions of dollars. According to an insider, one case was so contentious that Carey's then-manager, Randy Hoffman, the former partner of Carey's then-husband Mottola, actually went to see the key witness in the case wearing a "wire" provided by a private investigator.
Through it all, Carey has survived constant attacks on her belly-baring fashions, rumored breast enhancements, busted romances and marriage gone sour. In fact, she has not only survived, but she has shone through it all like a glittering star. (Bold Online) Many thanks to MCWNO.
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