For Mariah Carey, Walk of Fame star ‘a childhood dream come true’

Mariah Carey, who has sold more than 200 million albums to become the best-selling female artist of all time, received the 2,556th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Wednesday in front of hundreds of cheering fans.

“I just want to thank all the fans for coming here today, thank you so much,” Carey said, drawing screams of support from the crowd. “I can’t thank you enough for being here with me, really. You’re melting my heart. You’re making me cry, and that’s why I’m keeping on my sunglasses, but I cannot thank you enough.

“This is a huge honor. It’s a childhood dream come true. It’s been a long time coming, so they say, and I’m very, very, very honored and very humbled and just so thankful to be here.”

Joining Carey in speaking in the ceremony in front of the W Hollywood Hotel were L.A. Reid, chairman and CEO of Epic Records; Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels, who directed Carey in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” and “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”; filmmaker Brett Ratner; and Stephen Hill, president of programming for BET.

Carey was selected in 2007 to receive a star and “just recently set the date,” Ana Martinez, producer of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, said Friday.

The ceremony was set for Wednesday “because her team wanted a date after (she) finished her sold-out Las Vegas residency,” Martinez told City News Service. The residency concluded July 26.

Carey has won five Grammys, 21 American Music Awards and was selected as Billboard’s Artist of the Decade for the 1990s. She has had 18 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles, including 17 she wrote.

Carey released her first album, “Mariah Carey” on June 12, 1990. Its first song, “Vision of Love,” brought Carey a Grammy for best female pop vocal performance of 1990. She also won the Grammy as 1990’s best new artist.

Carey’s other three Grammys came from her 2005 album “The Emancipation of Mimi.” “We Belong Together” won for best rhythm and blues female vocal performance and best R&B song. The album was honored as best contemporary R&B album.

Carey released her most recent album, “#1 to Infinity” on May 18. It consists of her 18 No. 1 songs and the new song “Infinity.”

—City News Service