Saturday 28 February 2004

Never a dull moment

It's never easy being labelled a diva. Or having to live the ups and downs of your life in the public eye. But singer-actress Mariah Carey wouldn't have it any other way. Life in the fast lane isn't all it's made out to be. One day you are the media darling, the next, you are a has-been. After enjoying an incredible decade of popularity, today, Mariah Carey's struggling to get her career back on track.

Sure, she was big in the Nineties, but now, save her outfits, there isn't very much Mariah gets applauded for when she goes on stage. Without doubt then, many-a-tongues are wagging about whether following Mariah's Malaysia disaster, Dubai will be yet another on a fast-growing list of obstacles in the singer's path.

However, due to the sensitivities of this region, the diva has promised to tone down her act. Let's hope her performance rises along with her necklines. Contrary to what it looks like right now, life wasn't always a downer for the singer. There was once a time when Mariah could do no wrong. I mean, this is an artiste who's had at least one No 1 hit in every year of the Nineties. Mariah has spent more weeks at the top than the Beatles. She has seen more singles debut at Number 1 than any artiste in chart history. Furthermore, she has more gold and platinum singles than any artiste during the 1990s and more platinum singles than any female artiste in history.

So, what went wrong? Like any story, we need to start at the beginning. Born March 27, 1970, little Mariah always stood out. At first, it was because of her heritage. Born to a Irish mother and African-American and Venezuelan father, Mariah, the youngest of three, had already made up her mind, while still a child, that one day, her star would shine bright. Although the early years were rough, destiny had big plans for Mariah. Fame knocked on her door in the form of a chance meeting with Tommy Mottola, Columbia (CBS) Records president and a man with a track record in music longer than your arm.

The end result was Vision of Love, the singer's debut single and first number one. Mariah described the song as not so much a love song, but a celebration of her life at the time. But deny it as she might, love seemed to be a central theme for most of her music. And why not? Mariah struck gold in her personal life, too. Four years into being Mariah Carey the star, the singer married her real-life hero, Mottola. Six albums of musical genius and wedded bliss later, Mariah and Mottola called it quits.

Could that have been the reason behind Mariah's downfall? Butterfly, which Mariah released soon after, had none of the impact on fans that the previous albums did. Rainbow and Glitter too, were not extremely well-received. Then came addiction problems, tabloid rumours of all Mariah's relationships, stories of diva-trantrums. With Charmbracelet, Mariah was determined to make a difference. Having overcome her "complete emotional breakdown", the singer put her seven octave vocals to good use, and it is this Charmbracelet tour that Mariah brings to Dubai. Let's hope that the trantrum-throwing, heart-breaking, plate-smashing Mariah was just a phase. A short-lived memory. And with fans waiting with bated breath for Mariah's Dubai concert, there's no doubt that if the queen of pop wants to reclaim her crown, there's many a fan applauding her on.

(Gulf News)



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