Songoftheday 2/11/19 - There's an answer if you reach into your soul, and the sorrow that you know will melt away...

"Hero" - Mariah Carey
from the album Music Box (1993)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (four weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 25

Today's song of the day comes from Mariah Carey, who started off the promotion of her third album Music Box with a single that spent two months at #1, "Dreamlover". The second release from the record would be the album's big power-ballad, "Hero". Written by Mariah with producer Walter Afanasieff, the inspirational nod to self-empowerment struck a chord with fans and radio programmers everywhere...

"Hero" became Mariah's eighth #1 pop hit in the U.S. in December of 1993, spending a month at the summit. The song spent five weeks at #2 on Billboard magazine's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart, while also peaking at #5 on their R&B genre tally. Internationally, the single reached the top ten in New Zealand (#2), Norway (#2), Canada (#3), France (#5), Ireland (#5), the UK (#7), and Australia (#7). "Hero" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1995, which she lost to Sheryl Crow for "All I Wanna Do"...

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Here's Mariah appearing on Arsenio Hall to promote the song...

...and on Leno...

Next up is her special behind the album...

...and then again on her Fantasy tour in 1996...

Mariah went "around the world" with the song in 1998...

In 2001, after the terrorist attacks in America, Mariah recorded a medley of her Glitter track "Never Too Far" with "Hero" as a benefit for the victims and responders of 9/11. The resulting single went to #81 on the pop chart at #66 on the R&B list...

In 2008, the finalists of the fifth season of the X Factor, including winner Alexandra Burke and runner-ups JLS, also covered "Hero" for a charity single, and their version was one of the biggest-selling singles of all time in the UK, topping the British chart for three weeks...

And finally, Mariah at the Live 8 concert in 2005...

Up tomorrow: Canadian is confessing.