Mariah Carey

‘When I Look Back and Think About My Career, It’s So Unbelievable. I Mean, It Really Is Like Cinderella’

- Michelle Davies

Despite a career of highs and lows, she’s one of the most successful performers of all time. Now she’s back with a hotly tipped movie based on her festive hit

One night in November 1988, aspiring singer Mariah Carey was her friend’s plus one at a record-label party in New York. In her hand was a treasured demo tape she hoped to give to a music scout due to be there, but a stranger snatched it from her before she could hand it over and she left, disappointed that her chance at fame was dashed. Luckily for her, that stranger was Tommy Mottola, head of Sony Music. He played the tape in his limo on the way home and was transfixed. Mottola later admitted that he knew he’d discovered a superstar. ‘[I started] screaming, “Turn the car around! That may be the best voice you’ve ever heard in your life!”’ he said. But when he returned to the party, Carey had – like a modern day Cinderella – vanished. What’s more, she’d forgotten to put her name on the tape. And, like Prince Charming, Mottola scoured the city until he tracked her down. Now, as she releases her first animated children’s film based on her hit All I Want For Christmas Is You, Carey is one of the most successful recording artists ever, with a net worth estimated at £394 million and a rare five-octave vocal range that can hit the whistle register – the highest note a human voice can reach.