I didn't grow up with a musical family. My mom had a lot of CDs in the house, particularly Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, ABBA, all the sort of like diva icons. She's Swedish, so she loves pop music.
People have been kind enough to compare me to Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. I think it's amazing that they even put my name in the same sentence.
I was working with a great actress - a superior artist in every way - and she really liked Celine Dion. I tried very hard, but I couldn't understand it. I just can't listen to Celine Dion! So I guess music is a deal breaker.
The thing is, I've gotten massages to Enya. I like Enya. If you ate fantastic steaks to Celine Dion, you'd like Celine Dion.
My closet CD that I don't admit that I really listen to is Celine Dion. My husband's sister passed away in a car accident, and she was a huge Celine Dion fan. 'It's All Coming Back to Me Now' was her favorite song, so that's kind of my guilty pleasure.
I'm a huge fan of Mariah Carey. I admired her music for so long. It's hard to follow on her footstep. She's so successful. Mariah's Mariah. To be compared to her is a huge compliment.
In Malaysia, we have a lot of divas, like Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey singers. And they were all so so talented, just very talented. For example, there's this one jazz singer, her name is Sheila Majid, and I was always singing her songs.
I wanted to bring back that big, ballad type of music that we used to love so much. Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, when they first came out, that's what I grew up singing.
A lot of Canadians don't like Celine Dion, but I love her.
It was a chance meeting with a lady at Mariah Carey's record company who was here in our office, actually. And I pulled her in here to this very office that we're sitting in now, and I played her the clip of me and George Michael singing. And I was like, it's joyful. And that's what people want.
I never thought I would meet Mariah Carey, but I really never thought I'd be introduced to her by Whitney Houston. She's like, "Hey, baby, this is Mariah." I'm like, "I know. I'm Darren. I don't know what I'm doing here."
But Stacie Orrico was my childhood hero. I was about 12 when I found her music. She is a contemporary Christian artist, and I can honestly tell you that I don't think I'd have a soulful voice if I didn't listen to Stacie. I wanted to sound just like her growing up, and to this day I STILL think I sound a little bit like her. But she is AMAZING!
I love me some Mariah Carey. I grew up on that because of my mother.
I was really into R&B and stuff like that, so I really wanted to sing like Faith Evans or Mariah Carey. But I definitely don't have the skills to sing like that.
I found my own voice slowly. I don't do big tricks like Mariah Carey, so I've found this weird way of singing that works for me.
For me, my favorite Mariah Carey songs were never the singles, ever. My favorite Mariah song of all time is 'Sent From Up Above' from her first album, or 'Vanishing,' songs no one talks about.