Mariah Carey (born March 27, 1970) is an American pop and R&B singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, music video director and occasional actress. Her debut was in 1990 under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, and she became the first recording artist to have her first five singles top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Following her marriage to Mottola in 1993, a series of hit records established her position as the most successful and best-selling artist of the coming decade according to Billboard magazine and the World Music Awards. In 2000, the World Music Awards show named her the best-selling female recording artist of the millennium. She has won five Grammy awards.

She has recorded the most number-one singles for a female solo artist (eighteen) in the United States, where she is the best-selling female recording artist during the soundscan era starting in 1991, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In addition to her commercial accomplishments, she has earned five Grammy Awards, and is well-known for her vocal range, power, melismatic style, and use of the whistle register. However, some critics have said Carey's efforts to showcase her vocal talents have been at the expense of communicating true emotion through song.