Mariah Carey

The best-selling female performer of the 1990s, Mariah Carey rose to superstardom on the strength of her stunning five-octave voice; an elastic talent who moved easily from glossy ballads to hip-hop-inspired dance-pop, she earned frequent comparison to rivals Whitney Houston and Celine Dion, but did them both one better by composing all of her own material. Born in Long Island, NY, on March 27, 1970, Carey moved to New York City at the age of 17 -- just one day after graduating high school -- to pursue a music career; there she befriended keyboardist Ben Margulies, with whom she began writing songs. Her big break came as a backing vocalist on a studio session with dance-pop singer Brenda K. Starr, who handed Carey's demo tape to Columbia Records head Tommy Mottola at a party. According to legend, Mottola listened to the tape in his limo while driving home that same evening, and was so immediately struck by Carey's talent that he doubled back to the party to track her down.

After signing to Columbia, Carey entered the studio to begin work on her 1990 self-titled debut LP; the heavily promoted album was a chart-topping smash, launching no less than four number one singles: "Vision of Love," "Love Takes Time," "Someday," and "I Don't Wanna Cry." Her overnight success earned Grammy awards as Best New Artist and Best Female Vocalist, and expectations were high for Carey's follow-up, 1991's Emotions. The album did not disappoint, as the title track reached number one -- a record fifth consecutive chart-topper -- while both "Can't Let Go" and "Make It Happen" landed in the Top Five. Carey's next release was 1992's MTV Unplugged EP, which generated a number one cover of the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There"; featured on the track was backup singer Trey Lorenz, whose appearance immediately helped him land a recording contract of his own.

In June 1993, Carey wed Mottola -- some two decades her senior -- in a headline-grabbing ceremony; months later she released her third full-length effort, Music Box, her best-selling record to date. Two more singles, "Dreamlover" and "Hero," reached the top spot on the charts. Carey's first tour followed and was widely panned by critics; undaunted, she resurfaced in 1994 with a holiday release titled Merry Christmas, scoring a seasonal smash with "All I Want for Christmas Is You." 1995's Daydream reflected a new artistic maturity; the first single, "Fantasy," debuted at number one, making Carey the first female artist and just the second performer ever to accomplish the feat. The follow-up, "One Sweet Day" -- a collaboration with Boyz II Men -- repeated the trick, and remained lodged at the top of the charts for a record 16 weeks.

After separating from Mottola, Carey returned in 1997 with Butterfly, another staggering success and her most hip-hop-flavored recording to date. #1's -- a collection featuring her 13 previous chart-topping singles as well as "The Prince of Egypt (When You Believe)," a duet with Whitney Houston effectively pairing the two most successful female recording artists in pop history -- followed late the next year. With "Heartbreaker," the first single from her 1999 album Rainbow, Carey became the first artist to top the charts in each year of the 1990s; the record also pushed her ahead of the Beatles as the artist with the most cumulative weeks spent atop the Hot 100 singles chart.

However, the 2000s weren't as kind to Carey. After signing an 80-million-dollar deal with Virgin -- the biggest record contract ever -- in 2001 she experienced a very public personal and professional meltdown that included rambling, suicidal messages on her website; an appearance on TRL where, clad only in a T-shirt, she handed out Popsicles to the audience; and last but not least, the poorly received movie Glitter and its attendant soundtrack (which was also her Virgin Records debut). Both the film and the album did poorly critically as well as commercially, with Glitter making just under four million dollars in its total U.S. gross and the soundtrack struggling to make gold sales. Following these setbacks, Virgin and Carey parted ways early in 2002, with the label paying her 28 million dollars. That spring, she found a new home with Island/Def Jam, where she set up her own label, MonarC Music. In December, she released her ninth album, Charmbracelet, which failed to become a success. Although she took nearly three years for a follow-up, Carey found a hit with 2005's chart-topping The Emancipation of Mimi, her most successful record in years. ~ Jason Ankeny.

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Celine Dion

Rising from humble beginnings in the small town of Charlemagne, Quebec, Celine Dion became one of the biggest international stars in pop music history, selling more than 100 million albums worldwide. The youngest in Adhemar and Therese Dion's family of 14 children, Dion grew up in an environment full of the inherent chaos and material austerity that comes with such a large working-class family. However, the Dion household was also one filled with love for children and music, and her parents and siblings were important figures in the early development of her singing career. Celine Dion began singing in her parents' piano bar when she was just five years old. By the age of 12 she had written one of her first songs, "Ce N'etait Qu'un Rêve" ("It Was Only a Dream"), which she recorded with the help of her mother and brother and shipped off to a manager named Rene Angelil, whose name they found on the back of an album by Ginette Reno, a popular Francophone singer. After weeks with no response from Angelil, Celine's brother Michel phoned him and said, "I know you haven't listened to the tape, because if you had, you would've called right away." Angelil dug up the tape and called the family back the same day to set up a meeting with Celine. When the 12-year-old performed in his office in Montreal, Angelil cried and set in motion the process of making her a Quebecois, and later international star. He mortgaged his house to pay for her first two albums, producing a local number one single. In 1983 she became the first Canadian to have a gold record in France and she won a gold medal at the Yamaha songwriting competition in Japan. Her worldwide reputation was in the making, but success in the United States was not yet forthcoming.

When she was 18, Dion saw Michael Jackson performing on television and told Angelil that she wanted to be a star like him. Angelil's response was to order her to take 18 months off to remake her image. Dion underwent a physical transformation, cutting her hair, plucking her eyebrows, and having her teeth capped to cover up the incisors that had caused a Quebec humor magazine to dub her "Canine Dion." She was also sent off to English school to polish the language that would help her to break into the American market. When she emerged from this process, she had made an amazing transformation from teen star to adult chanteuse.

The payoff came almost immediately. Her 1990 breakthrough album, Unison, was released in the U.S. by Epic Records and produced several hit songs, but it was her duet with Peabo Bryson on the theme song of Disney's Beauty and the Beast that was her true breakthrough. The song reached number one on the pop charts and won both a Grammy and an Academy award. "Beauty and the Beast" was also featured on her second English album, 1992's Celine Dion, which launched another Top Ten American hit with "If You Asked Me To," while spawning two additional Top 40 singles, "Nothing Broken But My Heart" and "Love Can Move Mountains."

During this time there were also important developments in Dion's personal life. In 1988 Angelil crossed the line from manager to romantic partner when he kissed Dion one night after a show in Dublin. Fearful that fans would find the 26-year difference in their ages unsettling, the couple kept their relationship a secret for several years. But their 1994 wedding in Montreal's Notre Dame Basilica was celebrated not only by the 250 invited guests, but by millions of fans worldwide.

One of the hardest working stars in show business, Dion continued to record and perform on a schedule that would kill most people. She recorded six albums between 1992 and 1996, when her album Falling Into You took her to a new level of stardom. The recording was a runaway hit, winning Grammys for both Album of the Year and Best Pop Album. 1996 also brought her another honor; she was asked to perform at the opening ceremonies of the Atlanta Olympics. Dion's longest tenure on the pop charts would come the following year, however, when she recorded "My Heart Will Go On," the theme song for James Cameron's blockbuster movie Titanic. "My Heart Will Go On" became omnipresent on the radio as Titanic fever swept the world and when it was featured on her album Let's Talk About Love it helped propel that recording to the top of the charts. By then, Dion had the power to gather a supporting cast of stars and the album contained an amazing collection of artists, including Barbra Streisand, Luciano Pavarotti, and the Bee Gees. The album would win a host of awards and bring Dion a whole new world of fans.

Her appearance on VH1's Divas Live special with Aretha Franklin, Gloria Estefan, Mariah Carey, and Shania Twain proved popular as well and helped solidify Dion's position amongst not only current female pop singers but historical greats like Franklin. The continuing popularity of her recordings and live performances made her 1999 sabbatical seem like a tragedy to her fans, but Dion needed a break after more than a decade and a half of breakneck pace. In 1999, her husband Angelil was diagnosed with throat cancer. While the disease responded well to treatment and went into remission, the illness was a wake-up call for Dion, who decided to put a new emphasis on her family life and announced a temporary retirement so that she could spend more time at home and have a child. After undergoing fertility treatments, she gave birth to a son in January2001. The Collector's Series…Volume One was released during Dion's hiatus; it featured many of her best-loved songs, as well as a Spanish-language version of "All By Myself".

Dion returned to the public eye in a big way in March 2002 with A New Day Has Come. The album debuted at number one in over 17 countries, and was accompanied by a full-scale media blitz. But Dion's greatest challenge was yet to come.

Despite millions of albums sold, the adoration of fans worldwide, and the validation of her peers, Dion's success was still hampered by image problems that had dogged her since the days of "Canine Dion." While many Americans adored her, just as many snickered at her Quebecois heritage and the relative the unorthodoxy of her marriage. There was also the issue of her relevancy to lucrative audiences existing outside of her pop vocal constituency. To combat these issues, Dion and her management made a series of bold moves that attempted to solidify her career, and ensure its continuity as the singer entered her middle 30s.

In early 2002, Dion announced a three-year, 600-show contract to appear five nights a week in an entertainment extravaganza at Caesers Palace, Las Vegas called A New Day. The production would take place in a custom-built, 4000-seat theatre and would feature Dion as the centerpiece of a multimedia program designed and orchestrated by Franco Dragone, the Belgian theatre impresario behind the modern circus phenomenon Cirque Du Soleil. The project united Dion, her label Sony Music, Drangone's production company Creations du Dragon, Caesars parent Park Place Entertainment, and promoter Concerts West in a landmark, multi-million dollar alliance that hinged on Dion's ability to put fans in seats five nights a week for three years. In conjunction with the rollout of A New Day was an endorsement deal with German automaker DaimlerChryslter AG worth additional millions. The campaign placed Dion in a series of stylish, black-and-white advertisements promoting the stylish allure of Chrysler's line of upscale automobiles. The performer also recorded a brand-new song to accompany the spots. Debuting in early 2003, the campaign dovetailed into the March release of One Heart, Dion's first album since 2001's A New Day Has Come, which in turn heralded the opening of A New Day on March 25, 2003. That live Las Vegas show was documented on the summer 2004 release New Day: Live in Las Vegas, which was followed a few months later by Miracle, a collection of family songs designed as a tandem book/CD project between Dion and photographer Anne Geddes. ~ Stacia Proefrock.

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Celine Dion (Bahasa)

Celine Marie Claudette Dion atau yang kemudian populer dengan nama Celine Dion / adalah seorang penyanyi berkebangsaan Kanada / yang lahir di Charlemagne / Quebec / Kanada / 30 Maret 1968 // Dalam karier bermusiknya / ia pernah meraih Canadian Grammy dan The Juno Awards (award artis dan band Kanada) pada awal berkarir // Posisinya semakin mantap saat dinikahi seorang manajer rekaman / René Angelil / yang kemudian membiayai dan turut meng-explore bakat bermusiknya // Atas jasa suaminya itu / hingga kemudian ia berhasil memenangkan Yamaha World Popular Song Festival pada tahun 1982 dan the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest //

Pelantun soundtrack film sukses TITANIC ‘My Heart Will Go On’ di tahun 1998 ini / pada 1999 pernah istirahat dari keartisannya / karena diduga menderita kanker dan ingin konsentrasi sebagai ibu rumah tangga // Namun bakat bermusiknya pada 2002 telah mendorong dirinya kembali untuk berkarir // Ia kembali disambut penggemarnya hingga mendapatkan the Chopard Diamond Award dari World Music Awards yang kemudian mengantarkannya sebagai the Best-selling Female Artist in the World //

Anggun C. Sasmi (Bahasa)

Sedari kecil, bakat musik putri pasangan Darto Singo dan Dien Herdina yang dilahirkan di Jakarta, 29 April 1974 ini sudah terlihat jelas. Ia sering menyanyikan lagu-lagu milik The Beatles. Bahkan ketika usianya belum lagi menginjak 15 tahun, Anggun sudah punya sekitar 50 lagu ciptaan sendiri! Setelah memutuskan jadi penyanyi dan merilis album Dunia Aku Punya (1986), Anggun dilirik oleh Teddy Sudjaja, drumer grup rock legendaris Indonesia, God Bless. Kehadiran Anggun di pentas musik rock Indonesia makin diperhitungkan. Ia menyusul jejak rocker cewek lainnya dan sempat meraih gelar "Artis Indonesia Terpopuler 1990-1991". Namanya kian menjulang, apalagi setelah single Tua-tua Keladi, karya Teddy Sudjaja menuai sukses.

Merasa mantap di jalur musik, Anggun memilih untuk meninggalkan bangku sekolah dan serius menggarap album rekaman. Bahkan, bersama manajer pribadinya, ia mendirikan perusahaan rekaman sendiri bernama Bali Cipta Record. Dengan dukungan musisi tenar, antara lain Baron (gitar), Thomas Ramdhan (basis GIGI), Ronald (dramer dr.pm) dan Andy Ayunir (kibor), Anggun merilis album "Anggun C. Sasmi-Lah!!!" yang mengandalkan lagu Kembalilah Kasih (Kita Harus Bicara).

Terobosan besar dilakukan Anggun pada 1994. Setelah merilis album kompilasi berjudul "Yang Hilang", Anggun sampai pada keputusannya untuk meningkatkan karir bermusik. Ia meninggalkan Indonesia dan pindah ke London mengikuti manajer sekaligus suaminya yang berwarga negara Prancis, sebuah keputusan yang tak banyak dilakoni musisi lain.

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Sekitar dua tahun kemudian, setelah pindah ke Paris, Perancis, demo Anggun sampai ke tangan produser Erick Benzi. Album Anggun (Sony Music) pun dirilis. Dengan modal album ini, nama Anggun pun mulai dikenal luas. Bukan cuma di Indonesia, tapi juga di seluruh dunia. Khusus di Asia, kiprah Anggun bahkan menarik perhatian MTV Asia. September 1998, ia langsung terpilih sebagai artis baru pilihan MTV lewat program "The Hot Seat Artist". Dan selama beberapa pekan, video klip lagu Snow on the Sahara terus ditayangkan dan masuk 10 besar jenjang "Asia Hit List".

Anggun tidak menyia-nyiakan kesempatan dengan menggelar tur promo di beberapa negara di Eropa dan Amerika. Di negara Paman Sam, Anggun sempat melakukan konser di beberapa kota, yakni di Boston, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, dan San Fransico. Dan tepat 26 Mei 1998, untuk pertama kalinya album Anggun beredar di Amerika. Album ini berhasil menembus posisi ke-9 di "Billboard The Border Breaker Chart". Di tahun yang sama pula, Anggun ikutan tur Lilith Fair (festival khusus untuk penyanyi wanita) barengan dengan beberapa penyanyi top macam Sarah McLachlan dan Erykah Badu.