Chart entered : 4 August 1990
Chart peak : 9
Number of hits : 41
I saw an ad in Q for this before I heard the record with a picture of Mariah fully living up to the song's title so I really wanted to like her work. We all have disappointments in life don't we ?
Mariah was born in New York in 1969 to an African-American father and Irish mother. She started writing songs at school and demonstrating the use of the whistle register ( the highest humanly possible ). After leaving school she began working as a waitress while compiling a demo tape. She came to the attention of moderately successful ( in the US ) R & B singer Brenda K Starr who in December 1988 introduced her to the head of Columbia Records Tommy Mottola. He liked her demo tape and signed her straight away.
"Vision of Love" was her debut release. It was composed with her long time writing partner Ben Marguiles ( who plays drums on the recording ) and produced by Rhett Lawrence and Narada Michael Walden who changed the song from a doo wop number to a Whitney-esque gospel-tinged power ballad. It's not clear if the song is addressed to God or a secular lover. Mariah sets out her stall straight away with a barnstorming vocal performance using melisma and notes from the whistle register , the style that has made her the Godmother of reality show contestants. Lawrence and Walden use her vocals from the demo to make Mariah her own backing singer and build the intensity to the song's climax. It got to number one in the US and Mariah won Grammys for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. I hate it.
I guess it's interesting that the label were pitching here at the Q audience, at least initially. I started reading the magazine around 1996, and the idea of Mariah Carey being advertised in it by that point would, I imagine, be far-fetched.
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