Hero (Mariah Carey song)
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"Hero" is a pop song written and produced by American singer Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff for Carey's fourth album, Music Box. Its protagonist declares that even though we may feel stupid or down at times, in reality we are all "heroes" if we look inside ourselves and see our own inner strength. It was released as the album's second single in the fourth quarter of 1993 (see 1993 in music) and was a commercial success both inside and outside the U.S. "Hero" is considered to be one of Carey's signature songs, and she regularly performs it when invited to charity events and closes most concerts with it. The song was nominated for the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, losing to "All I Wanna Do" by Sheryl Crow. [Audio sample] .
Writing and recording
"Hero" was not originally intended to have been recorded by Carey. She and Afanasieff had been asked by producers of the Dustin Hoffman film Hero (1992) to write a song for its soundtrack to be recorded by Gloria Estefan. During the studio recording of "Hero", Sony executive Tommy Mottola (who was also Carey's husband) heard the track and encouraged Carey to save it for herself. Carey was initially reluctant, as she had written the lyrics of the song for someone else and made them, in her words, "schmaltzy". She later said she was proud of the song as she often receives letters from her fans who tell her that it saved them from suicide.[[Citing sources citation needed]]"Hero" also faced one of the most infamous copyright plagiarism cases of all time. Christopher Selletti, a former limo driver for Sly Stone, said that the lyrics were based on a poem that he showed Stone in 1991 (and that he believed Stone had shown to Carey). Carey defended herself with entries from her personal lyrics notebook, but the lyrics from the notebook were dated six weeks after the film Hero had come out. The $20 million lawsuit was eventually dismissed, and Selletti was forced to pay a fine to Carey. Years later Selleti launched a second lawsuit, which was also dismissed, but he has stated that he will try a third time.[[Citing sources citation needed]]
Chart performance
"Hero" became Carey's eighth number-one single on the U.S Billboard Hot 100, and it was her first Christmas number-one on the chart. It reached number one in its tenth week and spent four weeks at the top, from December 19 1993 to January 15 1994. It replaced "Again" by Janet Jackson, and was replaced by Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting's "All for Love". It remained in the top forty for twenty-five weeks with fourteen of those in the top ten, the second-longest top ten stay by a Carey single after "We Belong Together" (2005). It received heavy radio airplay and was certified platinum by the RIAA. It one of the year's biggest hits, being ranked fifth on the Hot 100 1994 year-end charts."Hero" became a major hit outside the U.S., reaching the top ten in the UK (where it peaked higher than "Dreamlover", the previous single from Music Box) and Australia. It became Carey's first Brazilian number-one since her debut single "Vision of Love" (1990), and was a radio hit there. It was more successful across Continental Europe than "Dreamlover" by reaching the top ten in most markets, but performed moderately in Canada compared to Carey's previous singles.
Music video and other versions
The single's video, directed by Larry Jordan, is derived from Carey's 1993 concert at Proctor Theatre, which became a television special and was later released on the home video Here Is Mariah Carey (1994). The live performance of the song at Proctor Theatre was officially released. Carey also re-recorded the track in Spanish from a translation by Jorge Luis Piloto, and the Spanish language version was included as a B-side on various Carey singles released outside the U.S. between 1994 and 1997. Parts of "Hero" were incorporated into Carey's charity single "Never Too Far/Hero Medley" (2001).
Track listings
- U.S. CD single (cassette single/7" single)
- "Hero" (album version)
- "Everything Fades Away" (album version)
- U.S. CD maxi single
- UK cassette single
Charts
| Chart (1993) | Peak position | No. of chart-topper |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1 (4 weeks) | 8th |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales | 2 | — |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay | 1 (10 weeks) | 8th |
| U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks | 5 | — |
| U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream | 1 (5 weeks) | 2nd |
| U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 | 2 | — |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary | 2 | — |
| U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40 | 1 (5 weeks) | 9th |
| Brazil Singles Chart | 1 (4 weeks) | 2nd |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 2 | — |
| French Singles Chart | 5 | — |
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart | 7 | — |
| UK Singles Chart | 7 | — |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 10 | — |
| German Singles Chart | 58 | — |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart trajectory | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| Position | 71 | 45 | 21 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 26 | 34 | 36 | 45 | 49 | 49 | |||||||||||||||
|- style="text-align: center;"
See also
External links
- [Lyrics for the album version]
- [FOXNews article on the "Hero" lawsuit]
- [}}}] at YouTube
- [}}}] at YouTube - on The Oprah Winfrey Show
| Mariah Carey |
|---|
| Albums | Singles | Awards | |
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