Background
As a child, Carey lived with her mother Patricia in a small apartment on Long Island, New York. They were poor and had to move several times as Patricia found different jobs. As a result, Carey frequently transferred into different schools, and at the age of seventeen, she moved into a small Manhattan studio with other young women to pursue a career in music. She had already begun working on her demo tape with Ben Margulies, a classmate at her school in Huntington, Long Island. During this period, she lived a lifestyle of poverty, often sharing a box of spaghetti with her five roommates and wearing torn shoes. She held several jobs, while juggling school, writing, and recording music.
After graduating from high school, Carey invested more time into her music while working sporadically at different jobs. She began working for Puerto Rican singer Brenda K. Starr as a background singer, hoping to find new opportunities and meet important record executives along the way. At a gala for Sony executives, Starr gave a copy of Carey's demo tape to Tommy Mottola, CEO of Columbia Records. Mottola was sufficiently impressed with the tape to sign Carey to the label. Two years later in 1991, Carey was well under way writing and recording material for her second studio album, Emotions (1991). During the months spent conceptualizing the album, Carey decided to write a song that would illustrate her lifestyle prior to her success. She felt listeners' hearing her rags-to-riches story might inspire them to pursue their dreams. As a result, Carey wrote what was described by author Chris Nickson as her "most inspirational song" (up until "Hero"), titled "Make It Happen".
Read more about this topic: Make It Happen (Mariah Carey Song)
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