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February 11, 2006

Vote Now!
Access Hollywood is asking its online visitors to vote for their favourite Grammy performance. Obviously Mariah is listed! You know what to do:
[Vote Now]

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Grammy Postlude
Ten minutes away, at Sony BMG’s party, first-time winner Kelly Clarksonwas clearly the night’s "It" girl. The former American Idol champ beat out favorite Mariah Carey to snag the coveted Best Female Pop Performance award.
But Carey, who won three awards including Best R&B song, R&B album and R&B performance, was philosophical.
"We have to go through certain things in order to appreciate life and learn lessons," Carey told the TV show Extra. Asked how she doing, Carey replied, "I’m just in a really good, comfortable, happy place."

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Mariah - Finally Emancipated At The Grammys
Sixteen years after winning a Grammy as a newcomer on the music scene, Mariah Carey ended her ‘drought’ when she walked away with three gongs at this year’s edition on Wednesday night at the Staple Centre in Los Angeles.
Although she was upstaged by Irish rockers, U2, who got five awards, Mariah was no doubt the comeback star of the night.
In less than 12 months, Mariah Carey has managed to escape pop’s most dreaded fate - that of the faded superstar - to become its reigning queen.
She has ruled the US record charts with the year’s most popular single and its best-selling album.
The big win is especially sweet for Carey, one of the best-selling artists of all time, who fell into a slump a few years ago after dealing with an emotional breakdown, a flop movie with Glitter and its poorly received soundtrack.
In 2005, she was redeemed - The Emancipation of Mimi sold more than five million copies and her ballad, We Belong Together, was the year’s most popular song.
"I think Mariah is going to have a great night," said Carey fan Alicia Keys, who shares the most-Grammys-in-one-haul record with Beyonce and Lauryn Hill. "It’s very nice to see people not give up."
"I’m just so happy for her," said Mary J. Blige. "I watched them count her out. I watched them not believe her. I watched them say she was done. And she’s back! So I’m going there just to see that, clap for her, and just be happy for her, and yes - I want her to get all of them. I want her to clean up."
Ten years ago, Carey was also in a position to sweep the Grammy awards, when she was nominated for six of them, including record of the year for the tear-jerker ballad One Sweet Day with Boyz II Men.
But she went home empty-handed as edgy newcomer Alanis Morissette became the belle of the ball, winning four for Jagged Little Pill.
The most successful US female solo artist of the 1990s, she sold 110 million records in a decade.
But at the start of the new millennium, she suffered a painful fall from grace as her records sales plummeted and her attempts at acting were ridiculed.
Most artists who suffer such a steep reversal of fortune never fully recover.
But Carey has fought her way back to the very top, leading the Grammy nominations and scoring last year’s best-selling album in the US with The Emancipation of Mimi.
The Mariah Carey story started when a demo cassette by the New York-born daughter of an opera singer was heard by Sony Music’s US president, Tommy Mottola.
He signed her - and Carey’s debut single, Vision of Love, was an immediate smash hit in 1990 when she was 20.
That started a record run of five consecutive US number one singles and she won her first and only Grammy awards for best new artist and best female pop vocal performance at the start of 1991.
Her distinctive soaring voice and powerful pop ballads helped the seven albums she released in the 1990s all become huge hits.
The peaks came when 1993’s Music Box and 1995’s Daydream sold more than 10 million copies each in the US.
She had married Mottola in 1993, but the couple separated five years later, complicating relations with her label.
"I was trying to get away from a label which I had been very successful with, but was very difficult because of the personal relationship that I had with the head of the label," she later said.
Her last album for Sony, 1999’s Rainbow, saw her sales start to dip for the first time - but EMI lured her with a reported $80m (£45m) four-album deal in 2001.
The decision was a disaster for both sides.
Carey has said the ensuing period was "just a complete and total stress-fest".
"I made a total snap decision which was based on money, and I never make decisions based on money. I learned a big lesson from that."
Her one and only album for EMI, the Glitter soundtrack, was a flop, selling a million copies in the US.
Worse was the accompanying movie, in which Carey played a budding singer seeking fame. Her role in the film earned her the Golden Raspberry award for worst actress of 2001.
The lowest point came in mid-2001, when the star was admitted to hospital after suffering an emotional and physical breakdown. Reports of a suicide attempt surfaced in the press, but these were denied by the singer’s publicist.
Carey’s last album is her most successful release for a decade.
In January 2002, EMI offloaded its star signing by paying Carey $28m (£19m) to end her contract.
But it took just four months for the singer to begin rebuilding her career, signing a new deal with Island/Def Jam, which also gave Carey her own label.
Her next album Charmbracelet came later that year and got a lukewarm reception.
But the 2005 follow-up, The Emancipation of Mimi, took her straight back to the top of the A-List.
It updated her sound to compete with younger R&B divas and she recruited urban superstars Nelly and Snoop Dogg for collaborations.
The first single, We Belong Together, spent 14 weeks at the top of the US singles chart and she has now amassed 17 US number one hits - the same as Elvis Presley.
Carey says that the secret to her renewed success is the fact she no longer feels the need to please critics or label executives.
"I think as long as you hang on to who you know you are inside and don’t allow other people’s negativity to get to you, you can persevere and really just never lose faith."
With a career back on fast track and three Grammy this is one emancipation Mariah’s fans are grateful for. The wish is that nobody will once more sing ‘The Freefall of Mimi.’

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Mariah Stars In Ad Debut
Mariah Carey has had an extra boost to her sparkling comeback after starring in the ad breaks during the Grammys.
Although the songstress won three awards, they were given out prior to the televised ceremony - but the ads still gave her maximum exposure on the night.
The spot showed Mariah sitting on the lap of a man who is working on his laptop.
After appearing on his lap, she asks: "Making a playlist for your girl?"
He explains he’s making a list of his favourite songs, before Mariah launches into her song Mine Again from her Grammy-nominated album The Emancipation of Mimi.
The ad is part of Intel’s Centrino "Entertainment in your Lap" campaign, which has featured celebrities like Tony Hawk, John Cleese, Lucy Liu and Seal.
[Download It Here]

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Grammys 2006
We beat A-listers into Mariah Carey’s party
AN A-list crowd including Beyonce and Jay-Z tried and failed to get in to Mariah Carey’s lavish post-Grammys bash - but the 3am girls are made of stronger stuff.
While celebs were left waiting outside the £4.5million Beverly Hills mansion on Wednesday night, our Caroline and Kiki were sipping Cristal champagne with the award-winning hostess who looked stunning in a Azzedine Alaia dress.
The debacle occurred when Kanye West’s party was closed down due to overcrowding. VIP guests went in search of another stylish do - with many heading for Mariah’s soiree.
Their Hummer limos flooded the narrow residential street. And as the stars were still queuing to get in, the emergency services deemed it a fire hazard and closed Mariah’s party down just an hour after it started.
One guest said: "It was mayhem, but fire marshals decided it was too busy and closed the party down. People were told to sit in their cars for two hours before being turned away.
"Even Beyonce was sent on her way after her car pulled up at the end of a 100-car queue."
Guests who made it in to the £200,000 bash included Kirsten Dunst, Mischa Barton and Playboy boss Hugh Hefner. But some close pals of Mariah - who won three Grammys at the ceremony in LA’s Staples Center - were left out in the cold.
And a guest said: "Mariah was devastasted, She pleaded with the fire depart-ment to let her closest friends and colleagues in, but there was no relenting. It ruined her night, but at 2am, 10 of the 300 or so people who were still outside were allowed up."
And among them were Caroline and Kiki. Mariah told us: "I’m so glad you got in. I’m so disappointed for all the people that waited, though."
And when her do ended at 3.30am, she declared: "I’m off to find Prince’s party - want to come?"
Well, it would be rude not to...

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#1's UK Sale Stats
Last year, the "#1’s" shifted an impressive 23,825 units in the UK.
Presently UK sales stand at 608,296 units.
If "The Greatest Hits" continues to sell constantly, its is expected to outsell the "#1’s" sometime next week.

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Stroppy Carey
Mariah Carey reportedly refused to leave her dressing room at the Grammys because she didn’t win Best Album.
The pop diva allegedly sulked in her private room after the show because Irish rockers U2 had scooped the accolade for their hit LP, "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb".
A source told America’s New York Post newspaper: "She ended up back at her hotel with a small group of friends."
Earlier this week, it was claimed the songstress - who won three awards, including Contemporary R&B Album for "The Emancipation of Mimi" - was angry pop rival Madonna was chosen to open the ceremony.
Mariah was said to be desperate to headline the star-studded bash.
An insider told the New York Daily News newspaper she "really wanted to open the show with her choir-backed rendition of `We Belong Together’."
But Madonna, who performed a duet with animated group the Gorillaz, also wanted to open the event - and allegedly threatened to boycott the ceremony if she didn’t get top billing.
A source revealed: "The war between Madonna and Mariah has been going on for years.
"Mariah was also steaming last summer when Madonna stole the show at Live 8."

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Rolling Stone Interview: "Mariah After Midnight"
"People ask me, "Isn't this really the vindication of Mariah Carey?" Not really. My whole life has been about obstacles."
"Let's drink from festive glasses," announces Mariah Carey, a bejeweled champagne flute in each hand as she tiptoes barefoot into "the Moroccan Lounge" - a sitting room on the top floor of her three-story New York apartment that is decorated like a Marrakesh hash parlor, minus the hash. She sets the flutes down on a table alongside the less festive glasses from which we'd already been drinking and then reassumes her position curled up in the corner of the couch. Her personal assistant brings in a tray that carries a large bottle of water for Mariah and a can of Diet Coke for me, and she hands each of us a small linen napkin. It's past midnight, and Mariah doesn't usually allow herself caffeine at this hour, because she's an insomniac and has a very low tolerance for "things that make you speedy." Still, she asks if I mind sharing a splash of my Diet Coke, reasoning that she's in an "awake moment" anyway.

Among her assorted Mariah-isms, the concept of "moments" looms large. In the course of the evening, she refers to precisely forty-nine different kinds: analytical moments, schmaltz moments, fairy-tale moments, complete-truth moments, celebratory moments, Biblical moments and, yes, diva moments. In 2001, following an embarrassing "TRL moment," Mariah says she had her share of "bleak moments" and even a couple of "woe-is-me moments." Her favorite canary-colored bathing suit from when she was nine, she says, was a "clingy-to-the-body moment." As is her current ensemble: painted-on jeans and itty-bitty white tank top with the number seventeen ironed on the front in bold black digits. Seventeen, no doubt, as in how many Number One singles Mariah has amassed in the past decade and a half. In December, when "Don't Forget About Us," the latest cut from her five-times-platinum The Emancipation of Mimi, reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Mariah tied Elvis Presley's record for Number Ones; four more top singles and she'll outpace the Beatles.

The thirty-five-year-old singer has had a momentous year and one that is all the sweeter because it came on the heels of a momentary - though devastating - slump. Released last spring, The Emancipation of Mimi, surpassed the low expectations with which it was greeted to become the best-selling album of 2005. Mariah says that Mimi, her tenth studio album, is a product of her newfound creative freedom. "In the past, I knew people wanted certain formulaic things from me," she says. "By 'people,' I mean executives."

But Mimi incorporates Mariah's cherished hip-hop influences in greater proportion than ever. She brought the Neptunes and her old friend Snoop Dogg in for Say Somethin'," traded verses with Twista on "So Lonely," duetted with long-time producer Jermaine Dupri on "Get Your Number" and teamed with Nelly on "To The Floor." Though there are still the belt-it-out ballads, they're R&B slow jams with a bangin' bottom end that often rivals Mariah's own bangin' bottom end. "The funny thing is, I"ve always known that what I really loved would be commercially successful," she says. Her instincts proved correct: The record has already spawned three hits - "Don't Forget About Us," "Shake It Off" and "We Belong Together" - and has earned her eight Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year. When we met just a few weeks before the awards, it was clear that - no matter how many Grammys she would or would not collect - Mariah had safely reassumed her pop-diva throne.

"People ask me, 'Isn't this really the vindication of Mariah Carey?' she says. "Not really. My whole life has been a series of overcoming obstacles. Since I've always had to struggle, I've always expected that I will have to struggle."

"She's on the third chapter of her career," says Island Def Jam chairman Antonio 'LA" Reid. "The first chapter had major successes. The second chapter had some major disappointments. Now, she's at the point where she has the wherewithal to stay in the game for as long as it takes, to withstand the ups and downs. It's like Muhammad Ali or Frank Sinatra. And I think her fans have a real love for her because she has had those ups and downs and she's still here.

Mariah arrived characteristically late for dinner at a Brazilian restaurant around the corner from her apartment, but she is also characteristically apologetic about it. Affecting exaggerated fabulosity, she purrs, " Sorry darling. The pedicurist fell on her orange stick. Stitches were required." And then, without missing a beat: "What are we drinking? Wine? Vodka has fewer calories. All right, you twisted my arm. I'll have a glass of wine."

Tonight is the singer's last night of indulgence before her personal trainer Patricia comes back on duty to whip her into shape for the Grammys. She's especially concerned about looking her best because of the jabs she took about the low-cut black number she wore a week earlier at the Golden Globes, custom-designed for her by Karl Lagerfeld. "The winner for the too-tight dress... goes to Mariah Carey," wrote one critic. "She takes the cake, and eats it too." Said another, "Carey, according to my seven-year-old, "blew up like a truck tire." "Satin is a very unforgiving fabric," Mariah notes. "And what was I gonna do? Call frickin' Karl Lagerfeld and say, 'Can you please make it out of matte jersey instead?' " Of course, Mariah is used to having her outfits panned: She made Mr. Blackwell's worst-dressed list last year ("The world applauds your musical emancipation... but please - leave that body to our imagination") and she often - let's face it - wears clothes tighter, tinier and generally more hooched-out than most thirty-five-old women. Still, though not a Zellwegerian stick figure by any stretch of the matte jersey, the five-foot-eight Mariah is considerably leaner than you might expect: not so much full-figured as sturdy. She says she has always tended to be muscular and notes that, in seventh grade, she beat every boy in her class at arm wrestling.

"I can't try to compete with people that weigh eighty pounds soaking wet when, look, I'm ethnic," she says. "I've got a butt, and I want to keep it because I like it. That's what it goes! I'm gonna pull it together and be as thin as I can be for the Grammys, but there's only a certain amount of weight that I wanna lose. The weight-obsessed workout monger is not my role model as a singer. They might be pop stars and icons, but they're not necessarily what I like to call a saaaanger. They ain't saaangin'."

Mariah's big voice may be her greatest source of pride - it is, in her words, her "instrument" - but she is equally keen to be known as one of the few pop stars who has had a hand in the writing and/or production of nearly every song she's ever recorded. "Even from the beginning, I said, "'If you want to put me with people to write with and collaborate, that's fine, but don't try to force me to record someone else's song.' I'm not saying I'm friggin' William Shakespeare. But even writing a melody, it's a release. And I really have a need to express myself."

Of course, there was a time when expressing herself was an uphill battle for Mariah. "They laughed at me at the label when I played them my 'Fantasy' remix with Ol' Dirty Bastard," she says. "They - one person - was like, 'What the hell is this? I could do that." But you can't explain to someone who didn't grow up on hip-hop and who's wanting to listen to the Good-Fellas soundtrack exclusively that this is hot and it will be a classic."

It's not Mariah's style to name names, whether she's dishing about a certain female artist who got skinny with the help of illegal pharmaceuticals or whether she's referring less than obliquely to her ex-husband, former Sony Music chief Tommy Mottola. It was Mottola who discovered Mariah and signed her to Columbia Records after a friend of Mariah's passed him a demo tape at a party in 1988. Mottola and Mariah became romantically involved shortly thereafter, and - once he had divorced his wife - the pair married in 1993. But, as is well-known by now, Mariah was miserable in the relationship, which she calls "abusive" and one that "purposely preyed on every insecurity I have." The couple divorced five years later, when Mariah still had a couple of albums remaining in her contract with Sony.

"It was real struggle being there while still having a certain person in power and being divorced from him," she says. "Things get a little awkward when you're dealing with someone who's obsessed, and angry, and powerful. Leaving him was one of the toughest things I've ever done. It's very easy to manipulate someone when you're twenty-plus years older than them. Whatever. I'm not placing blame. Nobody held a gun to my head." She pauses and smiles. "At least I don't think anybody held a gun to my head."

When Patricia Carey gave birth to a seven-pound baby girl at 7:27 A.M. on March 27th, 1970, the nurse turned to her and said, "That's gonna be one lucky baby." Patricia, an opera singer, even gave her daughter a moniker that she knew would work as a stage name: Mariah Carey. From the time Mariah was old enough to remember, Patricia told her, "You’re gonna be a star."

"My mother was never like, 'Get out there and sing,' " Mariah says. "But her attitude was very much 'Don't say if I make it, say when I make it.' I don't know if that was pressure, but whatever it was, it sold me. I believed it and also had a need to make music, and I had a need to elevate myself from where I was, and I knew I didn't want to grow up and be in that - dare I say? tax bracket. I was like, 'I wanna grow up and have this glamorous life.' "

Her father, Alfred Roy Carey, was the pragmatic one. "He was always saying, 'I think you should do your math homework,' " she says. "He was an aeronautical engineer, whereas I'm not a left-brain queen at all. He had been in the military, and he was very rigid and strict."

Mariah's parents met in the late Fifties in New York, Patricia, a bohemian Irish girl from Springfield, Illinois, had come to Manhattan, according to Mariah, in hopes of meeting Broadway star Yul Brynner. Alfred, who was part Venezuelan and part African-American, was living in Brooklyn, where he was "the lone black man driving around in a Porsche with his shaven head." says Mariah. "He was the hot tamale of the moment, and I guess he kind of resembled Yul Brynner. My mom saw him and said, 'There he is!' And her friend was like, 'That ain't nobody but Roy Carey,' My mom said, "Well, I want to meet him."

After they married, the Careys moved to the North Shore of Long Island to raise their three children: Mariah, her brother, Morgan, and her sister, Alison, both of whom are close to a decade older than her. The community did not respond well to the interracial family, and they endured not only sneers and nasty comments but also having their car set on fire and their pets poisoned. By the time Mariah was three, her parents had split up. In the ensuing years, Patricia and the children moved at least thirteen times, and getting settled in at a new school was always a challenge for Mariah, who says she never quite fit in with either the white kids or the black kids. Additionally, Alison reportedly was involved with drugs and prostitution, and at fifteen she had given birth to a son, Shawn, with whom Mariah is still extremely close.

Though Mariah says she is legally constrained from providing specifics (she and her sister are rumored to have signed a non-disclosure agreement preventing each from talking about the other), she makes it clear that her home life was fraught with peril and that she was often in very scary situations. Her mother spent a lot of time away from home, working two or three jobs to keep the family afloat, and Mariah often had to fend for herself. "I was six years old," she remembers, "and something happened in my house where I had to call some friends of my mother's to come and get things together. There was no adult, there was no teenager, the person left in charge had run out of the house, and I was there alone. My mom's friends came over, and you know people tend to talk over children and think that their kids don't hear? Well, I was very sensitive then, and I still am. I had very good hearing then, and I still do. I heard these words, and I'll never forget it. They said, 'If this kid makes it, it'll be a miracle.' It was a defining moment for me. Because, you know what? I believe in miracles. I think I must have been having spiritual arnica injections to get through all the mess I've been through and not be a completely bitter, angry human being."

Another frequent Mariah-ism: She's always saying how she's "eternally twelve." Which could explain why she sometimes dresses like a preteen who happened upon a Frederick's of Hollywood catalog. There is even something vaguely adolescent about her diva-ish-ness: When she requests that the waiter not place her meat on the same plate as her hearts of palm, it's almost like something she imagines a pretty, pretty princess would have done. With the exception of the dark and masculine Moroccan Lounge - inspired by a trip Mariah took to Morocco with her ex-boyfriend, Latin singer Luis Miguel - her apartment, too, looks like it was decorated by a teenager run amok at Laura Ashley, with flowery prints and crystal sconces. Her Jack Russell terrier, Jack, even has his own miniature velvet sofa to sleep on. She loves Hello Kitty just as much t thirty-five as she did at twelve. Only difference is, now she's got one of four bathrooms in her luxe home decked out with an overwhelming array of Hello Kitty merchandise. (There's also the Marilyn Monroe bathroom, the butterfly room and her own personal bathroom, where she soaks in a giant tub as part of her pre-bedtime "wind-down" routine.) Occasionally, on her rare nights off, she'll hit the clubs with Shawn or Dupri or DJ Clue or her girlfriends Rachel and Jasmine. But since the smoke bothers her, she's more likely to invite friends over to watch her favorite DVDs - Mean Girls, Zoolander, 13 Going On 30 - in her mermaid-theme living room.

"I love sleigh rides and Christmas and the Tower of Terror at Disney and silly movies, she says. Twelve is significant for another reason. "I think it also has a lot to do with the fact that I'm not sixteen," she continues, lowering her voice the way she tends to do whenever the subject of sex comes up. "Because sixteen-year-olds are sexually active and promiscuous. I guess because I have a family member who had a baby at fifteen, like, I definitely see myself as younger than that. In my mind, I thought fifteen was old. When I was that age, most of my friends were having sex. But even if I had boyfriends, it was like, 'I'm going on to bigger and better things, and I'm not going to potentially screw my life up.' At twelve, I was also like a grown-up too, because I've been a caretaker since a very early age."

Taking care of others, Mariah's friends will tell you, ranks first in her mind ahead of taking care of herself. And that, ultimately, is what she says led to her infamous breakdown in 2001. The story is notorious: As part of a torrent of promotion for her movie Glitter, and the album of the same name, Mariah made an impromptu appearance on MTV's Total Request Live, where her behavior seemed erratic and she performed some kind of ill-conceived striptease. She insists the reaction was, and continues to be, overblown. "I had three freakin' layers of clothes on!" she says.

Shortly thereafter, she posted two recorded messages on her Web site that seemed to point at some kind of emotional collapse. "I just can't trust anybody anymore right now because I don't understand what's going on," Mariah said, according to transcripts that have since been purged from that site. "Because I'm desperately trying to get out of this room. And I don't know if that makes sense to anybody, but the truth is that I'm calling to say that I love you to my fans... and I'm gonna be taking some time off." On August 1st, Mariah's publicist at the time confirmed media inquiries that the singer had checked herself into a psychiatric facility and attributed the hospitalization to an "emotional and physical breakdown."

Mariah refutes the idea that she was ever that bad off: "Honestly, even my therapist - who's a genius and knows when he's talking about - was like, 'You did not have a breakdown. You had a diva moment of exhaustion and a physical moment when your body couldn't take it and it got you pissed off.' "

The Glitter soundtrack was Mariah's first album for Virgin Records, the company she joined after she finally extricated herself from Columbia. It was also her last. Following the momentous failure of Glitter, the label paid Mariah $28 million just to get rid of her.

A few years ago, before her father succumbed to cancer, Mariah says she tried to explain to him just how difficult that time had been for her. "I was blessed to be able to have moments with him prior to him getting sick where I got a better understanding of him as a person and didn't feel like, 'Oh, he abandoned me.' I realized we have a lot more in common than I knew. We were having this telephone conversation and I was like, 'I feel like I've gone through the worst thing I could've ever gone through, with the exception of dying.' And I said, 'So I'm not scared of dying.' I don't think he really knew how bad it was for me then, because he's not the kind of guy to read the tabloids. I only wish he had lived to see this, because I think this would have given him another kind of faith. And this business requires faith. I don't care what anyone says."

Though we have our festive glasses in hand, Mariah disappears and her chin starts to quiver. "I have so much gratitude about where I'm at personally and professionally that I don't think I've even expressed it to anybody fully, because it's teardrop moment," she says shakily. "It's not even a teardrop moment, it's a well-of-tears moment. You think I don't get down on my knees and thank God for every single thing I have? I could have been somewhere in a gutter the way my life was going, at twelve. I could have been dead; I could have had a disease. I was in some very dangerous situations, and it's only by the grace of God that I survived. People can say whatever they want, but ultimately I'm the same person I was before I became famous. I'm still the girl in the pictures on the wall downstairs in the yellow bikini. I wasn't anybody in the world back then. I was a little interracial child with a dysfunctional family, and I still am. Except I have money now," She lets out a low, husky giggle. "And that helps."

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Screaming Mimi
Everybody knows the Grammy telecast is about as spontaneous as Mariah Carey lying motionless on a four-post bed with her hair extensions placed strategically across her body in a softly-lit music video. Usually the producers of the show shrewdly cherry-pick categories to be presented so that every big artist has the opportunity to take to the podium and thank Jesus or their manager. So what was up with Mariah's three wins—Best Contemporary R&B Album, Best R&B Song, and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance—not being televised? Sure, they've switched things up in recent years, keeping us on our toes for three-and-a-half hours by no longer presenting trophies to artists immediately following their live performances, but not letting Mariah accept an award on stage is a blatant slap in the face to the female artist with the most nominations this year and whose last CD was the biggest selling album of 2005. Hell, even Kanye West—whose massive ego is clearly an obstacle in the way of a major win—got to go up there once. Is it confirmation that Mariah isn't respected in the industry? Did they think the meds dried up her tear ducts? Maybe that's just how the chips fell…but probably not.

Mariah did eventually take to the stage for her performance of the Grammy-winning "We Belong Together" and the rousing "Fly Like A Bird." Her voice, though not what it once was, sounded better than it has in a long time, and the electric medley—complete with sermonizing pastor and gospel choir—would have stolen the show if performances by successors like Kelly Clarkson and Christina Aguilera hadn't proven that Mimi isn't the only one who can blow.

Mariah was also upstaged by a few surprise wins. For a while the singer seemed poised to snag at least one of the top prizes she was up for after winning three before the show even started, but emerging frontrunners Green Day won the trophy for Record Of The Year for their ballad "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" (as we predicted last month), and U2, the biggest winners of the night with five awards, added Song and Album Of The Year—one of two times I gasped last night—to their tally, upsetting no one and Kanye West, respectively.

All in all, our predictions were pretty lousy this year: We got less than half right, but we did predict Mariah would lose out on the night's biggest awards. In the end, it's probably for the best, though; if she gets one more #1 single or one more award for The Emancipation Of Mimi, I'm seriously concerned that her clothes might fall off completely.

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Mariah: She Was Almost On Fi-ya!
Mariah Carey’s Grammy after party last night was one of several around Hollywood that was shut down by the Los Angeles Fire Marshal and the police department.

Yes, this is a town quite unlike New York, and the marshal is always waiting to shut something down early. Call it retribution from the unions to the celebrities who run wild all over the place here. It’s as regular as the smog.

Mariah’s party was a private one at the unbelievably magnificent Beverly Hills mansion/estate of grocery magnate Ron Burkle. High in the hills above the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Burkle castle once belonged to legendary comic actor Harold Lloyd.

Last night, Mariah and Jermaine Dupri, her co-host, overbooked. The result was over 600 people trying to go up a long and winding driveway. Some went by foot, others by fancy golf cart. Shuttle buses brought people to the foot of the drive from a gathering place near the Beverly Hills Civic Center. One hundred or so private cars went directly to the house, even though only the permit was only for 50. And so on.

Who got in? Well, Rob Thomas and his wife Marisol made it, and they got to meet Joaquin Phoenix. Quincy Jones was turned away initially, but eventually found a way past increasingly agitated cops who’d gotten irate calls from Burkle’s neighbors to shut off the loud music and untangle the traffic in front of their homes.

When one of the party’s planners came down the drive to rescue Kelly Clarkson from the melee, he himself was barred from returning by the police.

Mariah’s back-up singers waited an hour before they were rescued. You get the picture. Part of Stevie Wonder’s 30-member entourage got sidelined, but Tyra Banks was smart enough to arrive on the early side.

Producer David Foster got in and out without any trouble, as did musicians Alex Orbison, Roy Orbison Jr., Cisco Adler and his girlfriend Mischa Barton.

And yet Mariah looked lovely, and was excited about her three Grammy wins. Medina, her manager, was over the moon about her performance at the show, especially “Fly Like a Bird,” the number that sent the audience into a frenzy.

“Three Grammys and that performance?” Benny said to me backstage. “We don’t have anything to complain about.”

That and the fact that Mariah’s voice and fashion were as good as you can get. Believe me, she sold more copies of her “Mimi” album last night to put it back in next week’s top 5.

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February 8, 2006

The Fall & Rise Of Mariah Carey
Pop diva Mariah Carey’s eight nominations for Wednesday’s prestigious Grammy music awards cap a remarkable comeback, four years after her career appeared to be in tatters.
Mariah Carey is nominated for eight Grammy awards this year
Rarely has a music star experienced such extreme highs and lows as Mariah Carey.
The most successful US female solo artist of the 1990s, she sold 110 million records in a decade.
But at the start of the new millennium, she suffered a painful fall from grace as her records sales plummeted and her attempts at acting were ridiculed.
Most artists who suffer such a steep reversal of fortune never fully recover.
But Carey has fought her way back to the very top, leading the Grammy nominations and scoring last year’s best-selling album in the US with The Emancipation of Mimi.

Hit debut
The Mariah Carey story started when a demo cassette by the New York-born daughter of an opera singer was heard by Sony Music’s US president, Tommy Mottola.
He signed her - and Carey’s debut single, Vision of Love, was an immediate smash hit in 1990 when she was 20.
That started a record run of five consecutive US number one singles and she won her first and only Grammy awards for best new artist and best female pop vocal performance at the start of 1991.
Her distinctive soaring voice and powerful pop ballads helped the seven albums she released in the 1990s all become huge hits.
The peaks came when 1993’s Music Box and 1995’s Daydream sold more than 10 million copies each in the US.
She had married Mottola in 1993, but the couple separated five years later, complicating relations with her label.
"I was trying to get away from a label which I had been very successful with, but was very difficult because of the personal relationship that I had with the head of the label," she later said.
Her last album for Sony, 1999’s Rainbow, saw her sales start to dip for the first time - but EMI lured her with a reported $80m (£45m) four-album deal in 2001.
The decision was a disaster for both sides.

"Snap decision"
Carey has said the ensuing period was "just a complete and total stress-fest".
"I made a total snap decision which was based on money, and I never make decisions based on money. I learned a big lesson from that."
Her one and only album for EMI, the Glitter soundtrack, was a flop, selling a million copies in the US.
Worse was the accompanying movie, in which Carey played a budding singer seeking fame. Her role in the film earned her the Golden Raspberry award for worst actress of 2001.
The lowest point came in mid-2001, when the star was admitted to hospital after suffering an emotional and physical breakdown. Reports of a suicide attempt surfaced in the press, but these were denied by the singer’s publicist.
In January 2002, EMI offloaded its star signing by paying Carey $28m (£19m) to end her contract.
But it took just four months for the singer to begin rebuilding her career, signing a new deal with Island/Def Jam, which also gave Carey her own label.
Her next album Charmbracelet came later that year and got a lukewarm reception.
But the 2005 follow-up, The Emancipation of Mimi, took her straight back to the top of the A-List.
It updated her sound to compete with younger R&B divas and she recruited urban superstars Nelly and Snoop Dogg for collaborations.
The first single, We Belong Together, spent 14 weeks at the top of the US singles chart and she has now amassed 17 US number one hits - the same as Elvis Presley.
Carey says that the secret to her renewed success is the fact she no longer feels the need to please critics or label executives.
"I think as long as you hang on to who you know you are inside and don’t allow other people’s negativity to get to you, you can persevere and really just never lose faith."

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Weekly Soundscan Numbers For Mariah

# The Emancipation of Mimi
Billboard 200: #14 (Last Week #16, 43 Weeks)
Sales this week: 53,166 (+37%)
Total sales: 5,224,673

# Don't Forget About Us
Hot Digital Songs: #75 (Last Week #66)
Sales this week: 10,320 (-14%)
Total sales: 261,759

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Worldwide Grammy Awards Telecast Times
The 48th Grammy Awards will broadcast live from The Staples Center in Los Angeles tonight at 8:00pm ET on CBS. Fans outside the U.S. can catch Mariah's appearance on their local networks. Below is a list of airing times and networks for countries around the world. Be sure to watch!
Pre-Telecast
Some of Mariah's categories will be presented in the Pre-Telecast Awards ceremony. Tune in to XM Radio for Live coverage from the 48th Annual GRAMMY "Pre-Tel" Awards ceremony at the LA Convention Center on February 8 from 4:00 to 7:30pm ET.

Grammy Awards Ceremony - LIVE
Argentina - February 8, Sony Entertainment, 10:00pm
Austria - February 9, ProSieben, 2:00am
Belgium - February 9, JimTV, 2:00am
Brazil - February 8, SBT/Sony, 11:00pm
Brunei - February 9, Star World/Astro, 9:00am
Canada - February 8, Global TV, 8:00pm ET
Chile - February 8, Sony Entertainment, 10:00pm
Colombia - February 8, Sony Entertainment, 8:00pm
France - February 9, W9, 2:00am
Germany - February 9, ProSieben, 2:00am
India - February 9, Star World, 6:30am
Israel - February 9, Channel 10/Star World, 3:00am
Italy - February 9, Jimmy Sky, 2:00am
Malaysia - February 9, Star World/Astro, 9:00am
Peru - February 8, Sony Entertainment, 8:00pm
Philippines - February 9, Star World/Studio 23, 8:00am
South Africa - February 9, Channel O (86), 3:00am
Sweden - February 9, STAR!, 2:00am
Switzerland - February 9, ProSieben, 2:00am
Turkey - February 9, NTV/Dream TV, 3:00am
Venezuela - February 8, Sony Entertainment

Primetime Airing (Not Live)
Australia - February 10, Channel 10, 8:30pm
Croatia - February 9, HRT2, 11:40pm
New Zealand - February 10, TV2, 10:30pm
Serbia & Montenegro - February 9, HRT2, 11:40pm
UK - February 9, ITV2, 9:00pm

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Mariah Carey's HS classmates rooting for her at Grammy's
It was spring 1987. Mariah Carey and her Harborfields High School classmates were gathered for a graduation party at a friend's house. A student band, Squid, was playing in the background. And between sets, Carey nervously asked if she could sing a song.
Mark Brummer, one of the band members, recalled how he had written out the lyrics to the U2 song "With or Without You" and held them beside her for reference. "She was very eager and energetic to be given a chance like that," Brummer wrote in an e-mail interview. "We struggled through it a bit, but she did quite well considering that none of us rehearsed it."
That performance marked the first time many of her classmates would become aware that Carey had her eyes set on the stars. Now those former classmates say they will be rooting tonight for the eight Grammy nominee -- even if they haven't kept in touch.
"I want her to win every single Grammy," said Jeanmarie Sarro, a high school friend who lives in East Rockaway. "I listen to her music. My kids listen to her music. My 7-year-old thinks she's the diva to end all divas."
Sarro described Carey as a popular, pretty student who never boasted about her talents. "Did she ever break out in song? Never," she said. "She would go to a party and did not dance. It was the '80s. There was no way she was going to funk out to Duran Duran."
Raised by a single mother, Carey reportedly moved 14 times before finishing high school, and was one of the school's few minority students.
"Now that I'm an adult looking back, I don't think that she had all the financial advantages that we all had," Sarro said. "I think she had a nice high school experience because she had friends and we all loved each other. I wish her nothing but the best."
Former teacher .Edward Hartling recalled when some faculty members first heard Carey on the radio. "We were shocked," he said. "No one in the high school even knew she had that interest."
Neither Sarro nor Brummer have kept in touch with Carey. "We've been trying to get in touch with her for some professional pointers and suggestions in the realm of the music world," Brummer wrote. "We've even tried sending her some of our band's CDs, but as one might imagine, it's .extremely difficult .contacting her.
"I can but only hope that someday she returns the favor and allows my current band a chance to perform at one of her shows," he added. "Tongue in cheek but a man can dream can't he?"

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Mariah Carries the Momentum Into Grammys
In less than a year's time, Mariah Carey managed to escape pop's most dreaded fate - faded superstar - to become its reigning queen, ruling the record charts with the year's most popular single and its best-selling album.
Carey could also become queen of the Grammys if her momentum carries in to Wednesday night. The diva, who won her only two Grammys 16 years ago as a multiplatinum newcomer, has the opportunity to win a record-setting eight trophies, including in the coveted categories of record, song, and album of the year. No woman has won more than five Grammys in one evening.
A big win would be especially sweet for Carey, one of the best-selling artists of all time, who fell into a slump a few years ago after dealing with an emotional breakdown, a flop movie with "Glitter" and its poorly received soundtrack. In 2005, she was redeemed - "The Emancipation of Mimi" sold more than 5 million copies and her torch ballad "We Belong Together" was the year's most popular song.
"I think Mariah is going to have a great night," said Carey fan Alicia Keys, who shares the most-Grammys-in-one-haul record with Beyonce and Lauryn Hill. "It's very nice to see people not give up."
"I'm just so happy for her," said Mary J. Blige. "I watched them count her out; I watched them not believe her; I watched them say she was done. And she's back! So I'm going there just to see that, clap for her, and just be happy for her, and yes - I want her to get all of them. I want her to clean up."
Ten years ago, Carey was also in a position to sweep the Grammy awards, up for six of them, including record of the year for the tear-jerker ballad "One Sweet Day" with Boyz II Men. But she went home empty-handed as edgy newcomer Alanis Morissette became the belle of the ball, winning four for "Jagged Little Pill."
This time, Carey again has tough competition in many of the categories in which she's nominated. With a diverse field of nominees that includes U2, Paul McCartney, Green Day and Gwen Stefani, he said, it's possible no artist - even Carey - will dominate the Grammys this year.

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February 7, 2006

Carey Cuttings
Most stars have minions to sort through press clippings, but Mariah Carey tries to read as many as possible.
The singer once spent seven-and-a-half hours reading stories about her alleged nervous breakdown as she "wanted to be prepared". Exclusive! Download: "The Greatest Hits" Valentines Day TV Ad
Click here to download

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TEOM UK Sales
Total sales of "The Emancipation of Mimi" as at the close of play on 04 February, 2006 is estimated to be over 549,000 units. Exact figures will not been known until "The Emancipation of Mimi" re-enters the Official UK Albums Chart Top 75.

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Sony BMG UK To Promote "The Greatest Hits"
Sony BMG UK will relaunch their promotional campaign of "The Greatest Hits" during Valentine’s Day (Tuesday 14th February) through to Mothers Day (Sunday 26th March) to capitalise on the "Grammy" & "Brit" nominations.
This time advertising is going to focus solely on ballad based TV commercials.

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'Belong Together' drives Mariah, Madge apart
There better be plenty of distance between the dressing rooms of Madonna and Mariah Carey at tomorrow's Grammys.
We told you three weeks ago that Madonna would perform at the awards. We didn't know then how much she'd rankle Miss Carey.
Mariah, who is nominated for eight Grammys, "really wanted to open the show with her choir-backed rendition of 'We Belong Together,'" an insider tells us. Unfortunately, Madonna also wanted to kick off the broadcast — or else she wasn't coming, she's said to have told Grammy producers.
Even though Madonna's smash "Confessions on a Dancefloor" wasn't nominated for any Grammys, the producers gave in. They're said to be betting that her dance extravaganza, featuring the British group Gorillaz, will hook viewers early and hard.
"The producers noted that Madge is a five-time winner," reported a source. But Carey, the comeback queen who has picked up only two Grammys to date, is reportedly vexed.
"The war between Madonna and Mariah has been going on for years," says a source. "Mariah was also steaming last summer when Madonna stole the show at Live 8."

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Sweet Deal
MARIAH CAREY is planning to team up with designer Karl Lagerfeld for a line of perfume. (Hey, I hear she got a sweet deal!) . . .

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Mariah Flexes Her Muscles
Music icon Mariah Carey has slammed fashion critics who feel that she has put on too much weight to carry off skimpy outfits, by saying that they have mistaken her muscular frame for fat.
The multiple Grammy Award winning singer, said that though people often mistook her fit muscular figure for fat, she was not going to lose eight for she didn’t want to look like a `skinny twig’.
“I’m really bad with the weight thing. I go up and down really quickly because I am a muscular person. People don’t realise. I don’t want to be a skinny twig,” Contactmusic quoted her, as saying.

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Play Games & Win Prizes
Mimi has recently teamed up with ikoncity, an exciting online gaming website.
Ikoncity is free to use and features many new and different online games for all user levels.
Users have the opportunity to visit their favorite artist’s game page to compete with other fans to win exclusive autographed prizes! You can also create a profile and chat with other Mariah fans.
Click here to play

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February 6, 2006

Mariah Has Visions Of Love At The Grammys
The last time Mariah Carey received a batch of Grammy nominations, she endured one of the most humiliating experiences of her career as she was shut out all six times while a worldwide television audience watched her mood darken throughout the ceremony.

Ten years on, and with eight Grammy nominations this year, the comeback queen of 2005 should have a more enjoyable time at the music industry's biggest night of the year on Wednesday, music industry experts say. She has collected only two Grammys to date, winning in 1991 for best new artist and her breakthrough single "Vision of Love."

Carey, 35, shares the lead with rapper Kanye West and soul singer John Legend, and is the only person nominated in all three key categories of record, album and song of the year.

Just Due For Mariah
Carey fits many of the bills for Grammy success. Four years ago, the New Yorker was music industry poison. She suffered a breakdown, released a flop album and was dumped by her label with a $28 million payoff. It was a disastrous turn of events for a singer with more No. 1 hits than anyone but Elvis Presley and the Beatles.

Fast-forward to 2005: Carey's eighth studio album, "The Emancipation of Mimi," was the biggest release of the year, with U.S. sales to date of 5.2 million copies. Grammy voters will be hard-pressed to ignore the resurgence.

"In an age of music where there are just so few real singers, people who not only sing well but have this amazing passion and range and raw emotion, I feel they're going to give her her just due," said Mimi Valdes, editor in chief at hip-hop magazine Vibe.

West's "Gold Digger" will offer stiff competition for record of the year -- which goes to the artist and producers -- but Carey should have the edge with "We Belong Together," which topped the U.S. singles chart for 14 weeks

"The production is very contemporary and feels right at home for a lot of people in the R&B world now," said Dave Tozer, a producer and songwriter who worked on both West's and Legend's albums. "And then you bring Mariah in. She really nailed that one." Valdes said pop star Gwen Stefani could be a dark-horse contender with "Hollaback Girl," which she termed "a nice beautiful blend of rock and hip-hop and it didn't sound like anything else on the radio."

Album of the Year Up For Grabs
Carey would appear to be the front-runner for album of the year, but Paul McCartney could score the biggest upset in this category since Steely Dan beat Eminem in 2001. Also nominated are Stefani, U2 and West.

Carey's "We Belong Together" should win song of the year, a songwriter's award, unless best-new-artist favorite Legend sneaks up from behind with "Ordinary People," experts say.

Where does that leave West, the outspoken rapper who won three Grammys last year but was very annoyed to lose best new artist? The experts say he will sweep the rap categories, to the detriment of 50 Cent.

But Valdes said West's new album, "Late Registration" was not as good as his previous effort, "The College Dropout," while Levy said West had a "remarkable ability ... to turn people off with his attitude every bit as much as his music turns them on."

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Don't Forget About Us Retires!
Congratulations go to Mariah, the video for "Don’t Forget About Us" retired at #2 today.
The video has had an amazing run on the TRL countdown because of all your hardwork.

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UK News: "Greatest Hits" Sales Break 600,00 Barrier
Last week "The Greatest Hits" managed to sell 3,028 units (up 18%) by close of play on 04 February, 2006.
Sales to date stand at 602,468 units.

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Karen Clark-Sheard Talks About Meeting Mariah
GOSPELflava.com: In two very recent interviews, both Beyoncé and Mariah Carey listed you as major vocal influences, and sang your praises. How important is it that Gospel artists be visible and recognizable forces in the secular music industry.
Karen Clark-Sheard: Wow, you know, it is so encouraging and exciting to know that information. Especially from Beyoncé and Mariah, because those two ladies are some REAL singers. These are just reminders that my light is shining. About a month ago, I was asked to be a part of a tribute to Mariah Carey, and not just to sing but to have a one-on-one session with her. As we were backstage talking she just began to cry and she said to me, "Sis Karen, you changed my life". While we were talking I could literally feel the yearning inside of her to know Christ and we talked for a while. Yes they are mega-stars, but we have no clue what they have to go through on a personal level sometimes. I know I am often criticized for it, but God can trust me not to compromise, and he has really been using me to bring them in, so let the criticism keep coming. Leave my Judas alone, ok? Y'all ain't doin nothing but taking me to another level.
Pictured: Mariah and Karen Clark-Sheard during the ceremony in which The Recording Academy honored Mariah (December 7, 2005). Karen performed "Fly Like A Bird" at the tribute for Mariah.

Source | Picture Source

LG Presents the Mariah Carey and Jermaine Dupri Post Grammy Celebration
On Wednesday, February 8th, LG Mobile Phones Presents the Mariah Carey and Jermaine Dupri Post Grammy Celebration, hosted by two of the favorites to win multiple awards at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards. All of Hollywood's finest including Jessica Simpson, Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson, Ashton Kutcher, Hugh Hefner, Usher, Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, Queen Latifah, Pharell and many more will be on hand for a night of celebration and glamour with a star-studded guest list at a luxurious and exclusive location in Beverly Hills.
"I'm very excited to be able to celebrate the things I hold dear -- life, art, music -- on the most important night in music," said Jermaine Dupri, "I'd like to thank LG Mobile Phones for the opportunity to show all my friends what's sure to be a great time!"
Mariah Carey and Jermaine Dupri plan to share with their guests a celebration of life with an old-Hollywood setting reminiscent of the days of the Rat Pack. The fun begins with the totally unique invitation: a video message from the two hosts, displayed on the ultra-cool, incredibly functional 'V' by LG. This exclusive event will have the myriad of luxuries that have come to be associated will LG Mobile Phones events, everything from an incredibly unique setting to ultra swanky celebrity goodie bags. This chic gift bag will include a personal massage chair, stylish co-branded Red Engine
Jeans and a scratch-to-win gift card with high end prizes not limited to 60" plasma screen televisions and portable DVD players!

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New Mariah Voice Message!
Click here to listen to Mimi's special message to her fans!

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Download: Australian Video Music Awards: Best Female
Over the next week, MTV Australia will be airing a "Meet the Nominees" show with short segments about each artist daily. You may want to check it out if you live in Australia. Here, is the Best Female Artist available for you to download.

Australian Video Music Awards: Best Female
Format: mpg
Size: 87,02 mb
Download | RapidShare link



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Download: Mariah's Road To The Grammys On "The Early Show"
Mariah Carey has enjoyed an amazing comeback year with her album, The Emancipation of Mimi, nominated for eight Grammys. She sits down with "The Early Show" National Correspondent Hattie Kauffman to talk about her comeback and to preview this year's Grammys.

Mariah's Road To The Grammys On "The Early Show"
Format: mpg
Size: 38592344 Bytes
Download | RapidShare link
Thanks to Mariah Daily

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Jackie Collins Mentions Mariah In New Book
Author Jackie Collins mentions Mariah in her new book, "Love & Players" that is about power, money and sex in New York City and how the lives of the rich intertwine in the city that never sleeps.
"Once Mariah Carey had come into the coffee shop with full entourage in attendance and two massive black bodyguards who’d never left her side. People had freaked. Paparazzi had gathered outside, and within ten minutes a huge crowd had formed - almost breaking the plate-glass windows.
The owner of the shop, Manny Goldberg, had begun to panic, until his wife, Golda, decided it would be prudent to escort Miss Carey and her group into the kitchen, where the star graciously sipped a cup of green tea, signed autographs, and chatted amicably with the two Hispanic chefs."

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Top 10 Sporting "Entertainers"
9 Mariah Carey’s NBA All-Star show In 2003 it probably seemed like a good idea for Mariah Carey to sing at half-time during the NBA All-Star game in Atlanta. It was meant to be a tribute to Michael Jordan, although some saw it more as a tribute to Carey’s new album. Predictably, she warbled for a while and shook her "booty". Less predictable were her two outfits, one red and one blue, which redefined tight Lycra as the diva’s choice. She resembled a giant beach towel with an inflatable bosom.

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Mariah Triumphs In Blues & Soul Magazine Poll
Rounding off a highly successful 2005, one of the biggest urban music magazine in the UK, Blues and Soul highlights Mariah in their year end readers` poll:
In Blues and Soul`s readers voted "We Belong Together" as the "Best Single", third "Best Slow Jam" (behind Bobby Valentine`s "Slow Down", and Mario`s "Let Me Love You")and third best video (behind "gold Digger" and "Locked Up").
"The Emancipation of Mimi" is voted second best album (Behind John legend`s "Get Lifted") and "Shake It Off" is third "Best Club Anthem".
Mariah is also selected as "Best International Group or Artist"
Mariah is quoted in the magazine saying "We Belong Together is one of the most real songs that I`ve ever written. Working with Jermaine Dupri is always a great experience for me `cause we`re friends as well as collaborators. I never dreamed that this would be the biggest song of my career and I just want to thank the readers of Blues and Soul and everyone who voted for me in these categories for showing so much love"

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Chart News From Around The World
Australia
Official Singles Chart: Don’t Forget About Us - #27 (down 4)

UK
Official Albums Chart: The Greatest Hits - #69 (up 25)
Official Albums Chart: The Emancipation of Mimi - #83(Up 4)
This week saw "The Greatest Hits" rebound twenty-five places, as Sony BMG capitalises on Mariah’s Brit nomination, to #69.
Official UK Singles Chart:

81. Don’t Forget About Us (down 12)

86. We Belong Together (down 9)

175. Get Your Number | Shake It Off

181. It’s Like That
Official UK Albums Chart

83. The Emancipation of Mimi (up 4)
Official UK R&B Album Chart

* The Greatest Hits - #17 (down 2)

* The Emancipation of Mimi - #20(down 8)
Official UK R&B Singles Chart

* Don’t Forget About Us - #11 (down 1)

* Get Your Number | Shake It Off - #38 (re-entry)

As there are no Official Charts in Brazil, we are using charts published by Brazilian Hot 100 as an indicator on how Mariah is performing in Brazil:

Brazil
Brazilian Hot 100
Don’t Forget About Us
This Week: #19
Last Week: #34
Peak: #19
Weeks on Chart: 6

Top 40 Dance Traxx
Don’t Forget About Us
This Week: #36
Last Week: #28
Peak: #15
Weeks on Chart: 7

United World Chart
In week forty-three, "The Emancipation Of Mimi" slips one to #21 on the United World Album Chart. The album increased sales to 67,000 units last week around the world. The United World Album Chart is compiled on Global Sales Data and National Album Charts.
Meanwhile "Don‘t Forget About Us" slide seven to #21 on the United Global Track Chart. The United World Global Track Chart is compiled on Global Sales Data & Airplay.

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Last Chance!
Mariah’s Don’t Forget About Us has only one day left to retire off MTV TRL’s countdown. Lets keep Don’t Forget About Us at # 1, when it happens

MTV’s Total Request Live - Monday-Friday at 3:30pm ET/PT

Be sure to cast you VOTE ONLINE or CALL 1-800-DIAL-MTV (1-800-342-5688) during the following hours:
2:55pm - 3:30pm Eastern Time
1:55pm - 2:30pm Central Time
12:55pm - 1:30pm Mountain Time
11:55pm - 12:30pm Pacific Time

Insider Tip: Phone calls count the most so make sure you call as many times as you can everyday!

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Comeback Kid
Mariah Carey is one of the most successful singers in history. So what’s the big deal if she’s currently on top of the pop market with a platinum-selling album, The Emancipation of Mimi, and eight Grammy nominations?

The big deal isn’t that she’s on top; it’s that she’s back on top after spending the last few years on the bottom. Below the bottom, actually. More like a subchamber beneath the bottom reserved for superstars turned punch lines. The rise and fall and rise again of Mariah Carey is one of the great comeback tales in pop culture’s ongoing mythology of gods and goddesses. (You know, celebrities.) "In a way, you’re never really a star in America until you§ve made a comeback," says Sally Stewart, a Los Angeles-based PR veteran and author of Media Training 101. "Rags to riches is one of the great American myths. But what really fascinates us are stories in which someone gets it all, loses it all and then gets it back again."

Four years ago, she was considered so commercially radioactive that her record label (EMI/Virgin) paid her $49 million just to get out its contract with her. Meanwhile, her bizarre behavior was routinely highlighted in tabloids and spoofed on late-night talk shows. One more thing: her feature-film debut debacle, the misleadingly titled Glitter.

Sure she put out Charm Bracelet. But she was, literally, a joke.

And then, last April, she released a new album. It received little media fanfare; it got some approving reviews, a few interviews. But in terms of today’s overblown era, when the slightest hot-celebrity event receives carpet-bombing coverage, the moment came and went – pffft.

But out in the real world, which these days means on the Internet, real people were listening to the album, and downloading, and e-mailing as a radioactive lump of lead named Mariah Carey turned back into commercial gold. In this way, her comeback was a homemade phenomenon. Usually blockbusters are dropped on the public; this time the public pushed the album up into blockbuster territory.

"Her comeback has been fan-driven," says Jay Frank, head of label relations for Yahoo! Music. "That’s why her success represents the new paradigm of music popularity.

"Everybody is so used to accepting what the hype machine tells us that they miss out on what the reality machine is telling us. With computers and mp3 players and cellphones, people have the power to choose."

Today, record labels and radio stations don’t choose what’s a hit on Yahoo or iTunes or Myspace.com; people do.

"That’s the new reality," says Mr. Frank.

Ms. Carey’s comeback strikes another anti-hype note: Awash as we are in substance-free celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson, talent still counts. It is such a rare commodity in the entertainment industry these days that it’s almost treated as a problem in need of a solution. And that solution is to eliminate it as a requisite to stardom.

Most of today’s celebrities are of the disposable, microwave variety. Throw them in, zap them to a boil, slurp them down and move on to the next meal. There’s no predicting the future, but it’s hard to imagine someone such as Ashlee Simpson mounting a comeback. She’s never really recovered from her lip-syncing humiliation because there was no way to get around the truth it revealed: She can’t sing very well.

But all you have to do is cue up any song on The Emancipation of Mimi and – pow – there it is. That voice. From breathy murmur to booming exultation to a whale-call trill, Ms. Carey’s voice is a miracle of genetics and technique. It’s got Big Bang power and butterfly-wing delicacy. You can love it; you can hate it; but you can§t deny it.

What’s more, as The Emancipation of Mimi demonstrates, she has grown, she has changed and not in some cynical act of image-altering desperation. As the title indicates, she has been busy freeing herself from the cynical image she was first packaged in, that Celine-esque fabrication of the sweet girl who sings sweet songs. Surrounded by some big names in hip-hop (rappers such as Snoop Dogg and Nelly, producers such as the Neptunes), it turns out Mariah’s music is a sophisticated blend of soul, R&B and pop, with an attention to irrepressible melody and slinky-cool arrangements. She has one foot in today’s hip-hop and the other in the big-band pop that was the hot sound half a century ago.

Now she’s the woman who freed herself from a bad marriage and a life she didn’t want to re-invent herself and succeed on her own terms. She’s also the little girl with the big voice who, on song after song, sings about the love she has, the love she has lost, the love she runs to, the love she runs away from.

"She appeals to females of every age," says Mr. Frank. "Obviously, she has male fans, too, but our numbers reflect an overwhelming majority of the people listening to her new album are female. And while a lot of them are 25-44, who have been fans all along or come back to her, there are also a lot of 14-year-old girls out there who love this album and didn’t even know who Mariah Carey was."

That’s the power of Mariah Carey at work, the power of her voice, the power of talent.

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Carey Prepared For Breakdown Reports
Pop star MARIAH CAREY sat down for seven-and-a-half hours straight and read every press clipping regarding her alleged nervous breakdown, so she knew exactly what was being written about her.

The DON’T FORGET ABOUT US singer took a few days off in 2001 after a gruelling promotional schedule and the media subsequently reported that she’d suffered a nervous breakdown.

The star says she read the mountain of clippings because she "wanted to be prepared."

Carey says, "They all said I’d had a nervous breakdown, but people don’t recover from a nervous breakdown three days later!

"Anytime you say "breakdown" people are going to think you went crazy. I was physically exhausted - I was physically depleted to the point of collapsing."

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February 5, 2006

Mariah To Attend James Blunt Showcase
The singer James Blunt will this week attempt to overcome sharp attacks from American critics and win the hearts of US music industry executives and celebrities.

With the help of the most expensive marketing campaign for a British pop singer in the US since Robbie Williams, Blunt will perform a “showcase” concert before celebrities and record executives in Los Angeles for the Grammys, the Oscars of the music world.

Industry insiders estimate that Custard, Blunt’s record company, has spent up to £1m preparing the way for the show at the House of Blues on Sunset Strip. They believe it is make or break time in the US for the former Household Cavalry officer turned troubadour.

Though the floppy-haired singer has been selling steadily in America, some critics have savaged his high voice and sugary teen appeal. Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times, the city’s most influential rock critic, is likely to be at the concert. He has dismissed Blunt’s music as “empty romantic devotion . . . meant to be unabashedly heartfelt (but) unbearably saccharine”.

Blunt’s notices elsewhere have been mixed: Rolling Stone magazine said he was for people who find Coldplay abrasive, but “possessed of a beautiful voice that bleeds sincerity at haemophiliac levels”.

Yet many people have ignored such barbs. Blunt already has devoted fans in the US, many of them teenagers like the two girls who wept in Tower Records in west Los Angeles last week upon learning that his next album, The Bedlam Sessions, will not be released until next week.

“We could not get tickets for the House of Blues, and now we cannot get the album until after St Valentine’s Day. It’s not fair,” wailed one.

At his concert he is expected to be introduced by the actress Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy. She was an early fan: he recorded a version of Goodbye My Lover on a piano in the bathroom of her Hollywood Hills home. Fisher has written his official website biography under the pseudonym The Landlady.

The concert sold out in seconds, and its guest list is stuffed with celebrities, including Mariah Carey and Joss Stone, who are both due to perform at the Grammys. The actor Tom Hanks, who is said to have been introduced to Blunt’s music by his children, is also expected.

But it will be the radio programmers and concert organisers who Blunt will have to impress if he is to become Britain’s biggest musical export since Coldplay broke through four years ago.

“Blunt sings a good song but what marks him out is his story,” said a record company talent scout last week.

It is a saga familiar in Britain but still fresh in the US: how the scion of a military family served as a British officer during the Kosovo civil war, driving around in a tank with his guitar strapped to the back of it.

And how he grew sick of violence, and channelled his anguish into pain-filled songs such as No Bravery, as well as more standard romantic ballads such as last summer’s hit You’re Beautiful.

Having become a star across Europe Blunt is daunted neither by the critics nor the House of Blues audience. “It’s not about money or fame,” he said. “It’s about enjoying it; so if it takes me a couple of months or a couple of years (to make it in the US), that’ll be as it is.”

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Exclusive: The Emancipation Of Mimi "Target" Scans



Catalogue: B0006214-72 This exclusive edition is priced between $10 & $14 at most Target stores.

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Women First
If you’d told any pop-music maven three years ago that Mariah Carey, Gwen Stefani and Kelly Clarkson would be three of the biggest contenders at this year’s Grammys, they would have laughed.

Carey had all but been written off. Stefani was the successful but lightweight singer for No Doubt, and Clarkson was locked into the fluffy straitjacket of an "American Idol" winner.

But Carey’s "The Emancipation of Mimi," which sold nearly 5 million copies, edged out 50 Cent to became the 2005’s top-selling album. She scored eight Grammy nominations, including Record of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year (a writer’s award, but Carey co-wrote every one of her songs). Only John Legend and Kanye West matched the diva’s eight nods.

Stefani broke form by making a pop solo disc, "Love. Angel. Music. Baby," which was unlike anything from ska-rockers No Doubt. It sold 2.5 million copies in 2005 - the No. 8 best seller - and scored five Grammys nominations, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for "Hollaback Girl."

With her single "Since U Been Gone," Clarkson, with a whole lotta love from RCA label head and confirmed hitmaker Clive Davis, emerged from her "American Idol" status to become a bona fide star. Her album was the third best seller of the year and the Texas-born singer garnered for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album.

"You really saw three women who took some risks this year and succeeded," says Tamara Conniff, Billboard’s executive editor and associate publisher.

Fans were already rooting the performers, who just needed a song to make listeners pay attention.

Carey, 35, had the songs in abundance. Her latest single, "Don’t Forget About Us," recently hit the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, tying her 17 hits with Elvis Presley for second place among artists with the most No. 1 singles. (Only The Beatles have more, with 20.)

"Emancipation’s" first single, "We Belong Together" spent 14 weeks on the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, longer than any other song last year.

And Carey’s comeback tale was simply irresistible.

"God bless Mariah. She’s been through some sh- -, " says Conniff.

That’s putting it mildly.

In 2001, Carey recorded bizarre notes to fans on her Web site, which Howard Stern gleefully aired. Soon after, she fell to pieces emotionally and was hospitalized. She recovered enough to see "Glitter," the film and the soundtrack (released on 9/11/2001), tank.

Carey’s year hit rock bottom when EMI§s Virgin Records fired her (and paid her a reported $28 million to break her contract).

After signing with Island Records, she worked with label head L.A. Reid and a team that abetted her break from being strictly a multi-octave warbler.

"She made a better, more confident record than she had in her career," says Rolling Stone deputy managing editor Joe Levy. "It’s a commercial record but it doesn’t beat you over the head."

Her success surprised the industry and her fans, who were ready to embrace her.

"I didn’t know she could do it because she’d been on a cold streak," says Paul "Cubby" Bryant, Z100 DJ and music director. "It goes to show you it doesn’t matter who you are if you have the right song."

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Carey, On! - Mariah To Sing "Fly Like A Bird" at the Grammies Confirmed!
This week's Grammys may cap Mariah's stunning comeback
By Joan Anderman

When Mariah Carey performs at the Grammy Awards on Wednesday, she'll be accompanied by Brooklyn's Love Fellowship Tabernacle Choir. Yes indeed, Carey will be singing praise to the Lord: for her eight nominations, for the 5 million albums she sold last year, for the stream of singles that made her the top-selling artist of 2005. The folks at Island Def Jam Records are giving thanks, too. In a year that Island president Steve Bartels described in Rolling Stone magazine as ''arguably the worst in the music business's history," Carey's ''The Emancipation of Mimi" gave the industry one of its few reasons to smile.
But this isn't just the story of a hit album. Kanye West, 50 Cent, and Green Day made shareholders happy, too. Carey's is a comeback of Biblical proportions. And prerequisite to any astonishing reversal of fortune is a proportionate fall from grace.

To refresh: Mariah Carey owned the 1990s. She was the best-selling female performer of the decade, bigger than Celine, bigger than Whitney. Nothing about Carey, from her Amazon bod to her five-octave range, was small. Even her lucky break smacked of the mythic: the pop music equivalent of Lana Turner being discovered at a Hollywood soda fountain. According to lore, dance-pop singer Brenda K. Starr handed a copy of her teenage backup singer's demo tape to then-Columbia Records chief Tommy Mottola at a party. Mottola listened to it in his limo later that night and was so struck by Carey's talent he hightailed it back to the party to track her down.

In short order Mottola signed and -- in one of those proverbially creepy fairy tale twists -- later married Mariah Carey. Her self-titled 1990 debut spawned four number one hits, and the following year she won a pair of Grammys, for best new artist and best pop female vocalist. As the decade progressed, dazzling melismas and smash singles stacked up like so many cases of Cristal. Carey was a commercial juggernaut: the only artist to have a chart-topping song in each year of the 1990s and the first artist to top the Beatles' record for cumulative weeks on the Hot 100 singles charts.

The 2000s weren't as kind to Carey. Or maybe it's the other way around. Free from her ties to both Mottola (the marriage lasted four years) and Sony, Carey kicked off the millennium by signing a whopping contract with EMI's Virgin label worth somewhere between $80 and $120 million -- after which the superstar's personal and professional life nose-dived.

Here's what happened in 2001: Carey's big-budget film ''Glitter" and its soundtrack CD both bombed. So, in turn, did her promotional gigs. During one memorable television appearance, she handed out popsicles on MTV's ''TRL" seemingly clad only in a T-shirt. Carey began posting troubled ramblings on her own website that led many to believe she was suicidal, and ultimately checked into a discreet Connecticut hospital. Of course, no crash-and-burn is complete without salt poured publicly and painfully into the wound. For that we can thank Eminem, with whom Carey had had a brief fling. He started blaring snippets of her tearful voice messages, begging him to call her, as a sort of twisted overture at his arena concerts. Then, in 2002, mere months after it had scooped her up with much fanfare and a record-setting paycheck, Virgin paid Carey a reported $28 million to go away. When Carey released ''Charmbracelet" later that year on her own boutique label, an imprint of Island, the album was panned and sold poorly.

Tumbling in satin gym shorts down the slippery slope of self-parody, Carey and her bizarre persona had become -- in time-honored fashion -- more engaging than her music. (See: Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson.) To feed our insatiable appetite for a good cautionary tale, not to mention divas-gone-awry, we ate it up. Carey-watching was bigger and, frankly, better than Carey-listening -- although that calculus posed a chicken and egg dilemma. Which came first, the personal meltdown or the musical meltdown? At her 2003 Boston concert in support of ''Charmbracelet," Carey staged a red-carpet entrance, sweeping down the aisles of the Wang Theatre surrounded by a throng of mock paparazzi, flashbulbs popping. There's nothing quite as depressing as a fallen diva announcing her divaness. Still worse, her voice was in tatters -- a thin vestige of the elastic belter who had once executed gravity-defying vocal gymnastics with a flip of her golden curls. Even her superhuman high note was weird, sounding as if Carey was whistling through her ear.
She had nothing left to lose. And the truth is, hitting bottom was the best thing that could have happened to Mariah Carey. Where mediocrity breeds desperation, total burnout invites reinvention. And if re-visioning one's place in the world turns out to be more a matter of branding than self-discovery, so be it. The only thing consumers like better than a cautionary tale is a redemption story (see: James Frey), and if anyone was ripe for expiation, it was Carey.

Despite the perverted collective glee with which many followed Carey's fall, other people believed it was the ideal moment to take a chance on the singer -- not unlike a savvy investor might buy a stock while it's down. People like Antonio ''L.A." Reid, the CEO of Island Def Jam, who was himself recruited by the Universal Music Group at a career low point after being forced out as president of Arista Records. And Benny Medina, an artist manager who had previously worked (and publicly fallen out) with Jennifer Lopez and Brandy. And Jermaine Dupri, an A-list record producer and -- awkwardly -- an urban music executive at Virgin Records, the label that paid handsomely for Carey's exit.

New team in place, Carey proceeded to craft ''The Emancipation of Mimi," the conceptual presentation of which screams liberation from oppression and a return to the true self. As she explains in the liner notes, that's Mimi (Carey's childhood nickname). But it's really just a return to the midtempo R&B tunes and powerhouse ballads that served her so well in her glory days, freshened up with club grooves and big-name guest rappers.

Let's not confuse Carey's triumphant return with a great artistic achievement. Let's do acknowledge the slim chances of anyone bouncing back from the all-points debacle Carey had become, because that's at the heart of her renaissance.

To be sure, her mixed-race market identity helps. On ''The Emancipation of Mimi," Carey, whose mother is white and father is black, fully embraces both mainstream pop and urban influences; ''We Belong Together," one of four singles to be released so far, accomplished the rare feat of remaining number one on both the pop and hip-hop charts (it also spent time on the adult contemporary, digital download, and ringtone charts) for more than three months. The track is nominated for four Grammys: record of the year, song of the year, best female R&B vocal performance, and best R&B song.

The song is a standout: an urbane dance-floor hookup infused -- thanks to Dupri's deft sampling of Bobby Womack's ''If You Think You're Lonely Now" -- with a dose of old-school pop-soul. Elsewhere Kanye West, another of the album's producers, updated the '70s staple ''Betcha by Golly Wow" for ''Stay the Night."

Pretty much everywhere else on the album you can hear Carey dropping product placements for Bacardi and cooing about her sick hot tub, to excellent effect. It's no coincidence that Carey's downward spiral began with the cheesy true-life remembrances of 1999's ''Rainbow," gained velocity when she investigated early '80s funk on ''Glitter," and achieved warp speed with the demure schlock of ''Charmbracelet."

On ''The Emancipation of Mimi," Carey has indeed returned to her true self: bronzed, blinged, limo-loving superstar.

Frankly, it's more of a relief than a revelation, which begs the question: Would the public have embraced the album so enthusiastically if it hadn't arrived on the heels of what looked for all the world to be her ruin? I don't think so. We love Carey's resurrection like we love her fashion sense: It's undeniably real. No stylist would allow her star client to be seen in the disastrous dresses and hairdos Carey wears, and few industry experts would have dreamed that, at 35, she would return to rule the pop culture that had dismissed her as damaged goods. Carey beat the odds, bucked the trend, showed the naysayers. We'd like to do that too, which is why Carey's comeback feels so sweet.

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Sing & Win
If Mariah Carey is heading west from New York to California at 60 mph to perform at the 48th annual Grammy Awards, and Paul McCartney is jetting east at 400 mph to take a Swiss ski trip, who’s going to win Album of the Year?
You don’t have to be Clive Davis to figure Mariah will grab the title, because at music’s biggest night a live performance and an acceptance speech almost always go hand in hand.
Nobody shows up at a shindig like the Grammys just to get skunked. The additional invitation to perform on the telecast is the Recording Academy’s...

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Mariah Vs. Kanye
Even the Vegas bookies are torn when it comes to this heavyweight bout: the hot comeback queen vs. the king of the icy comebacks.

There are hundreds of artists lined up to compete Wednesday for Grammy Awards at Los Angeles’ Staples Center, vying for statuettes honoring the best in American Indian music, children§s songs, polka and 105 other categories.

But get past the preliminary rounds of this 48th annual Grammy show, to be aired live at 8 p.m. by CBS (WWJ-TV, Channel 62), and it’s clear that the real action comes down to a contest between two formidable pop potentates: Mariah Carey and Kanye West.

She’s the former girl-next-door who dominated sales tallies in the `90s -- enough to threaten ancient chart records held by the Beatles -- then smacked into a personal and professional wall that abruptly squashed her successful run. But that was before last year’s "The Emancipation of Mimi," a critically acclaimed, best-selling album that launched one of popular music’s most impressive career rallies.

He’s the rapper-producer who rose two years ago from Chicago -- with tight Detroit connections -- to inject hip-hop with a fresh lyrical and musical lifeblood. He was brainy, cool but unguarded, and easy to like.

But that was before his refreshing knack for candor mutated into an obnoxious bluntness, including derisive responses to interviewers’ questions and haughty digs at his music peers during last year’s awards ceremonies.

Carey and West go into Wednesday night with a leading eight nominations apiece, and the outcome is anybody’s guess. Among professional oddsmakers, who in recent years have devoted increasing attention to the Grammy and Oscar races, the only real consensus is that the night’s big winner will be one of the two.

The good news for showbiz junkies is that this Grammy show, unlike so many of its predecessors, arrives with its drama built in. Whether it’s a night of happy Mariah tears or smug Kanye speeches -- or a bit of both -- the one safe wager is that Wednesday will produce a compelling storyline by the time the red carpet is rolled up.

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Carey Tale
When the Grammy nominations were announced in December, it was all about the incredible comeback story of Mariah Carey.

After a couple of horrific career years, the R&B-pop diva scored a leading eight nominations alongside outspoken rapper Kanye West and R&B newcomer John Legend.

To be exact, 2001 saw Carey star in the movie stinker Glitter, release its equally bad soundtrack, suffer a nervous breakdown, and be let go from her Virgin Records contract.

But that series of seismic events all became a faint memory with the uber-success of Carey’s latest album, The Emancipation of Mimi, which edged out 50 Cent’s The Massacre to become the best-selling music collection of 2005 and is now vying for album of the year at the Grammys on Wednesday night in Los Angeles.

The collection also produced the uber-hit We Belong Together, which is up for song and record of the year.

However, Carey’s comeback story -- she hasn’t been the belle of the Grammy ball since she won best new artist and best female vocalist way back in 1991 -- has since lost some of its steam with the West P.R. machine back in high gear.

West’s handsome mug currently stares out from the covers of both Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly, most provocatively on the former as he appears as Jesus with the headline, "The Passion Of Kanye West."

The same artist who berated the U.S. president during the Hurricane Katrina telethon with the words, "George Bush doesn’t care about black people," sure knows how to get people talking about him.

Last year at the Grammys, where he had a leading 10 nominations, West performed his breakthrough hit Jesus Walks wearing a pair of white wings over a white suit so it wouldn’t be the first time he’s used religious imagery to get his point across.

But in the same Rolling Stone issue, West also admits to being addicted to pornography so perhaps the mix of religion and sex is what all the current fuss is about.

Anybody who doesn’t know when West is playing with them clearly hasn’t been paying attention to the rapper, who had a hissy fit at the 2004 American Music Awards when Gretchen Wilson won best new artist over him.

West admitted to rollingstone.com that Carey will be a tough act to beat this year as they go up against each other in the top categories of album and record of the year with his disc Late Registration and single Gold Digger, respectively, in the running.

"I think a lot of people are gonna get behind Mariah because of the comeback story," he told rollingstone.com. "Not to discredit her at all, but I think I deserve it over her, because Gold Digger sounds like nothing you’ve heard before. Diamonds (From Sierra Leone) doesn’t sound like something you’ve heard before. And I stand by that statement, and I’m gonna say that to the end. And statements like that could be the very reason why she possibly could win over me."

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Voice of America Mention Mariah
Five years ago, Mariah Carey’s career was hanging by a thread. Public breakdowns and the failure of her much-hyped Glitter project threatened to eclipse the legacy of the biggest-selling female artist of the 1990s.

Last year, in a turnaround worthy of Hollywood, Mariah enjoyed the Number One album of 2005 with The Emancipation of Mimi. Mariah received her two previous Grammy Awards in 1990, taking Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal. This year, she’s in line for eight awards. You just heard "We Belong Together," competing for Record and Song Of The Year honors; The Emancipation Of Mimi fights for the Album Of The Year title.

[Listen to radio feed - McDonald Report]

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2006 Brit Awards Magazine: "Carey On Singing"
As I told you a few weeks ago, Mariah features in this years "Brit Magazine". Below are the scans and text of that feature.

Nomination, 2006 Brit Awards:
International Female Solo Artist




2005 saw a return to form for one of the all-time great female performers, putting Mariah Carey right back where she belongs - at the top.

Mariah has been thrilling audiences with her acrobatic, five-octave voice for more than 15 years. The Long Island native broke free of a troubled family life to burst onto the world music stage for the first time back in 1990. Her self-titled debut LP sold more than nine million copies and delivered a string of timeless pop hits - including the trademark Carey ballad, Vision of Love.

A decade and a half later, 2005 saw the release of Mariah's tenth studio album, The Emancipation of Mimi. Critically acclaimed - and another multi-million seller - the Def Jam release began yet another new chapter in Mariah's amazing career.

The album's title is a play on the star's childhood nickname, the tracks inside designed, says Mariah, to give fans a candid look into, "the free side of who I am."

In between those two releases, a succession of big ballads brought worldwide fame and fortune before circumstances threatened to derail Mariah's hitherto unstoppable rise. Perhaps her world record $80 million move from Sony to Virgin put too much pressure on the singer, perhaps the many years of global success had simply taken its toll. But a period of exhaustion, coupled with a lukewarm reception for the star's film debut Glitter and album Charmbracelet meant Mariah's future, for the first time, looked less than certain.

Mimi, however, has changed all that, and the singer has bloomed once more. Already one of the biggest selling female artists of all time, Mariah's new, self-penned album's urban feel has won her a whole new generation of fans and produced four UK hit singles for the 35 year old star, It's Like That, We Belong Together, Get Your Number/Shake It Off and Don't Forget About Us.

Mariah has - surprisingly - never won a BRIT award, but with a nomination in the International Female category, she's hoping to end that record this year. And there's another record she's got her eye on, too. Right now Mariah Carey is the runner-up for the most weeks spent at US number one.

Elvis currently holds the record, but for how long? Mariah Carey is still going strong...

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Scans: Lyrics Booklet of "The Emancipation of Mimi" Platinum Edition, Japanese Release
Click on the thumbnails below to find the lyrics to:
1. Sprung, Secret Love, Don't Forget About Us; and
2. Makin' It Last All Night (What It Do), and So Lonely (One & Only Part II).



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Mariah & Jermaine's Grammy Party Invitation
A sneak peek at the invitation to Mariah Carey and Jermaine Dupri's Grammy party on February 8th at the house of California billionaire Ron Burkle. It is a black pouch with a metal box with Mariah and Jermaine's name. In the box is a phone. You push a button and a message from Mariah and Jermaine appears. You text back a message if you are going to attend.

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Does Grammy love Mariah?
Mariah Carey stands in the middle of Manhattan's Gotham Hall practically motionless.

A whirlwind of makeup artists, stylists, publicists and assistants orbit her, touching up her eye shadow, hydrating her throat with a spray bottle and prepping her for her next interview.

horde of reporters, photographers and cameramen orbits her entourage, looking to get a piece of her, a sliver of reaction to her eight Grammy nominations.

"When they told me it was eight, I was like, 'Are you serious?'" Carey said in December with a smile and a slight flip of her perfectly feathered hair.

Of course they were serious. Grammy voters are very serious about comebacks -- from Tina Turner and Bonnie Raitt to Ray Charles and Tony Bennett. And few comebacks in pop-music history have been as spectacular as Carey's rise-fall-and-return in the past five years.

There was no way the Grammys wouldn't want a piece of that story, especially when it is a true one built on extraordinary sales and fan support. Given the Huntington native's incredible 2005, it's no surprise that Carey, along with rapper Kanye West and his neo-soul protege John Legend, comes into Wednesday night's Grammy ceremonies in Los Angeles with a leading eight nominations, including all three major categories.

Her long-running No. 1 hit "We Belong Together" is up for record of the year, song of the year, best female R&B vocal performance and best R&B song. Her album "The Emancipation of Mimi" (Island) is nominated for album of the year and best R&B album. Her single "It's Like That" is nominated for best female pop vocal performance. And the album track "Mine Again" is up for best traditional R&B vocal performance.

"I'm a big believer in sort of the perfect storm where you have to have everything aligned," says Rick Krim, VH1's executive vice president of music and talent relations. "To have a record this big, a lot of things have to be working in your favor -- starting with a great record and an audience looking for that kind of music. You can't make people buy a record. You can't manufacture a comeback."

Breakdown before success
Carey knows that firsthand. Island Records worked her previous album, "Charmbracelet," just as hard in 2002. It featured appearances from Jay-Z and Cam'ron and songs co-written and produced by Jermaine Dupri, who had a hand in all four of Carey's singles from "The Emancipation of Mimi."

But "Charmbracelet" had disappointing sales and failed to yield any major hits. It began to appear that EMI -- which wanted her to leave the label so badly after the disastrous "Glitter" soundtrack in 2001 and her erratic behavior during the album's promotion that it paid her a reported $28 million to go away -- may have been right.

It looked like Carey's support was wide, but not deep, something that her Grammy track record reflected. Her decisions to limit touring and interviews -- the way most musicians keep in touch with their fan base -- had hurt her, especially as her music moved more toward hip-hop and away from her pop audience.

She became the punch line to any number of jokes, both on late-night talk shows and in the industry. But Carey wasn't ready to give up.

When she began work on "Mimi," which is her family and friends' nickname for her, Carey hired Benny Medina, best known for guiding Jennifer Lopez to superstardom, as her manager and took a hands-on approach for completing the album.

Fat Man Scoop, the Hot 97 DJ up for two Grammys himself for his work on Missy Elliott's "Lose Control," says Carey called to ask him to be on her album. But he didn't believe it was her.

"I was doing overnights at the time and I get this call, 'Hi, it's Mariah and I want to talk to Scoop,'" says Scoop, who ended up on the first single, "It's Like That."

"It's 2:30 in the morning so that's like saying, 'Hi, this is George Bush and I want to talk to Osama bin Laden.' I hung up on her. So she calls back and I say I don't have time to play ---- games over here and I hung up on her again. So then DJ Clue calls and says Mariah's been trying to call you for the last 15 minutes. Then, Jermaine Dupri calls and says, 'Will you accept this call from Mariah? Because she's thinking you're dissing her.'"

Scoop says Carey was open to collaborating with him, letting him take the lead on his part of the song and following his rhymes with her vocals. "She did it her way," he says. "She went and did what she wanted to do."

Returning to her roots
Kid Kelly, senior director of pop programming for Sirius Satellite Radio, says the first time he heard "Mimi," he could tell something major had changed.

"She had the right people around her this time," says Kelly, who calls Carey's comeback "the resurgence of the century." "She went back to her roots to that rhythmic ballad-y thing that she started. It's like she said, 'Here's what I can do really well' and went back to that. Before, she was exploring the fringes. She's not a rap artist. There's no credibility there. She is a mainstream mass-appeal artist. A lot of people wanted to get behind her if she went back to that."

Kelly says Carey has now found some collaborators that she listens to. "She knows her limitations and she's getting good advice from people who are part of the effort," he says. "She was probably not getting that before."

What surprised most people about the overwhelming success of "The Emancipation of Mimi" is how it brought Carey a new generation of fans, as well as energizing her older fans who have dropped off over the years.

"If you're a teenager today, you haven't been around for a big Mariah Carey hit before," says VH1's Krim. "It's been awhile. For us; it's fantastic. She's a superstar and there aren't many of those around that we can show our audience. The label did a great job, they set it up great, marketed it great and ultimately people responded. But a label can only do so much. She had great songs that connected with the audience."

Awards not always forthcoming
It remains to be seen how much goodwill Carey has cultivated with Grammy voters. To win in the top categories Wednesday, she will have to surpass Grammy favorites such as U2 in the album and song of the year categories and Kanye West, who is seen as music's strongest artistic force.

Even though the Recording Academy's love of comebacks is strong, it has not always embraced Carey in the past. Despite having more No. 1 hits than any artist except The Beatles and Elvis Presley and selling more than 150 million albums worldwide, Carey has only managed to convert two of her previous 38 nominations into Grammys -- both in 1991, one for best new artist and one for best female pop vocal performance for "Vision of Love."

For Carey's part, the nominations and the recognition of her work are enough. "I'm really blessed to be making the music I love," she says. "My year has already been validated, but all these nominations really are incredible."

Fat Man Scoop says that all those people who had slammed Carey over the past five years need to see her resurgence as a lesson.

"Never count out somebody who has that much talent," Scoop says. "It's over when she says it is."

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Thanks to Mariah Daily

Mariah Said No To Kelly Osbourne
Neil Sean of Sky News reports that Kelly Osbourne was to cover Mariah Carey’s #1 hit "Dream Lover"... until Kelly dissed Mariah’s voice. "I stand by what I say, but if she wants to block my recording she loses out on lots of money," Osbourne said.

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February 4, 2006

Gallery Update


Click here to see the full update.

Randy Jackson Elated Over Mariah's Comeback
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, record producer and Idol judge Randy Jackson, was asked his thoughts on the incredible comeback success of his close friend, Mariah Carey:
"I'm so happy for her. I was fortunate enough to work on the Emancipation of Mimi record with her. I'm performing on the Grammys with her on Wednesday. She's still one of my best friends in the world - and one of the greatest talents the world has ever seen. As a writer, she's unbelievable - seventeen Number One hits that she's co-written - and as a singer, probably one of the five best singers in the known world. After selling 160 million albums, she's the bomb. I love her. She deserves all of it."

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Mariah Guests On Monday's "The Early Show"
The Early Show - Monday, February 6th, 7am-9am EST on CBS.
Mariah Carey has enjoyed an amazing comeback year with her album, The Emancipation of Mimi, nominated for eight Grammys. She sits down with "The Early Show" National Correspondent Hattie Kauffman to talk about her comeback and to preview this year's Grammys.
Be sure to tune in!

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Marie Claire - The Interview!
Mariah Carey is tired of keeping secrets. Here, she talks about growing up poor, her so-called "breakdown," the only unconditional love she's ever known (his name is Jack), the truth about "sleeping around," and what could be the record-breaking year of her life.

Mariah Carey may have to tattoo it on her forehead: "I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth." In fact, she recounts an early memory, sitting in the back of a "putrid green" car that her mother called "the Dodge Dent": "I was looking out the window at the supermarkets and people driving normal cars - forget Mercedes - I was like, when I grow up, I want to not have a Dodge Dent. I want to evolve from this," she says. "But more than that, I wanted to express myself through music, because that was what made me happiest."

The 36-year-old Carey has evolved, to say the least: As a performer as well as writer or cowriter of her songs, she has amassed a wealth estimated in the hundreds of millions. She has "expressed herself through music" to the tune of 150 million albums sold worldwide since her debut in 1990, with more