Mariah Carey: “My Lawyer Got Into The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Before Me”
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Mariah Carey has broken so many records, it’s difficult to sum them up in one opening statement. This woman has 19 total #1 singles (second only to the Beatles); five Grammy wins; and a deserved title as the Queen Of Christmas for the enduring popularity of “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” So, what does Carey have to do to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame?
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Carey was asked for her “thoughts” on being nominated this year for the Rock Hall, to which she replied: “My thoughts are: I didn’t get in… Everybody was calling me going, ‘I think you’re getting in!’ and so I was excited about it. But then it didn’t happen. My lawyer [Allen Grubman] got into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame before me.”
Even Jann Wenner, who co-founded the Rock Hall, pushed back against the idea of Grubman being inducted in 2022, saying at the time: “Allen Grubman has made no contribution of any kind, by any definition, to the creative development or the history of rock & roll. He has been chosen because of his clout as entertainment super lawyer. This decision is about money and bending to the ego of a music business power broker.”
In Wenner’s memoir Like A Rolling Stone, he also alluded to the politics behind Grubman’s induction: “After I resigned, I was told that music business power-brokers on the board were going to be inducted. These individuals had made not one iota of difference to the history, present or future of the creation of music, which was the explicit criterion. But they had accumulated influence and wealth. It was an inside job.”
(Wenner, who has his own name-droppy history of prioritizing certain friendships, was removed from the board of directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in September 2023 following the racist, sexist comments he made while promoting his book The Masters.)
But back to Mariah. Also in her Times interview, Carey was asked about the status of the unreleased alt-rock album she recorded as Chick in 1995 called Someone’s Ugly Daughter, which she tracked down in 2022. “I want to release it — I just have to figure out how,” she said. “To me, it’s like one of the best things I’ve done.”
Meanwhile, in keeping with the singer’s post-Halloween tradition of posting a Christmas season launch video, today we get a funny transitional clip with Carey looking very Morticia Addams before pivoting to holiday garb. Sponsored by Kay Jewelers, of course.
