page_title: Hero (Mariah Carey song)
section_title: Live performances
hierarchical_section_title: Hero (Mariah Carey song) / Live performances
caption_attribution_description: English: Mariah Carey sings at the Neighborhood Ball in downtown Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2009.
context_page_description: "Hero" is a song by American singer and songwriter Mariah Carey. It was released on October 19, 1993, via Columbia Records as the second single from Carey's third studio album, Music Box. Originally intended for Gloria Estefan, the song was written and produced by Mariah and Walter Afanasieff. While writing the song, Carey did not connect to its style or sound, therefore forfeiting it over to the soundtrack of the film of the same name. However, after being convinced to keep it, she changed some of the lyrics to more precisely fit her personality. Lyrically, the song is regarded as one of Carey's most inspirational and personal ballads, with its protagonist declaring that even though people may feel discouraged or down at times, in reality, they are "heroes" if they look inside themselves and see their own inner strength; in time, it will help them "find the way".
  The song received mixed reviews from contemporary music critics for its lyrical content, while Carey's vocal performance was praised. Aside from its lyrics, "Hero" derived its hook and sound from several musical instruments such as the guitar, piano, and organ.
context_section_description: Due to fan requests and its personal lyrical content, Carey has performed "Hero" on several occasions throughout her career. She first performed the song in July 1993 at the Proctor's Theater, later to be released as Here Is Mariah Carey. Later, she performed the song live on The Arsenio Hall Show in November 1993, appearing on stage after a short interview wearing a mid-length black gown and sporting long brown locks. She was joined by three back-up vocalists, Trey Lorenz, Cindi Mizelle and Melodie Daniels. Carey continued stateside promotion of the song with a performance on The Jay Leno Show the following week. Throughout Europe and Australasia, Carey made appearances on Sacrée Soirée in France, Platendaagse in the Netherlands, Sale El Dia in Spain, Sontagsoppet in Sweden, and Hey Hey It's Saturday in Australia. On May 15, 1996, at the Annual National Peace Officers Memorial Service, held in the grounds of the US Capitol Building, Carey performed Hero in tribute to police officers killed in the line of duty. In attendance was the US president at the time, Bill Clinton. Following the release of her sixth studio album Butterfly, Carey performed it alongside "Butterfly" on The Oprah Winfrey Show on September 22, 1997. In between both performances, Winfrey interviewed Carey over her failed marriage to Mottola, as well as the several negative rumors that followed their divorce. Two years later, she performed "Hero" together with Luciano Pavarotti in Modena, Italy during the summer of 1999. Carey appeared on stage alongside him, wearing a long pink evening gown and sporting a long straightened hairstyle. The performance was filmed and released on VHS as Pavarotti and Friends.
  Carey sang "Hero" in Seoul, South Korea in June 1999 during the Michael Jackson & Friends benefit concert, which raised money for several charitable organizations. On September 21, 2001, following the September 11 attacks, Carey sang "Hero" as part of the America: A Tribute to Heroes telethon. Her appearance on the telethon was her first public appearance since her publicized breakdown and hospitalization, prior to the release of Glitter. In 2003, Carey performed a medley of songs from her album, Charmbracelet (2002), during Michael Jordan's final NBA All-Star Game in 2003 Following the medley, she included "Hero" onto the short set-list, followed by Jordan's final game. On July 2, 2005, a benefit concert was held in Hyde Park, London titled Live 8. The televised event was watched by over 9.6 million British citizens, and held a live audience of over 200,000. Carey performed a three-song set-list, opening with "Make It Happen" and "Hero", which featured a live choir of African children, and followed by "We Belong Together", accompanied by actors Chris Barrie, Judy Flynn, Mike Burns and Julia St. John. During a promotional tour for her eleventh studio effort E=MC2 in 2008, the song was re-recorded by the 2008 UK X Factor finalists and released as a single. Prior to its release, Carey appeared on the program, where she performed her single at the time "I Stay in Love", followed by a duet of "Hero" in between her and the finalists. In 2009, during the inaugural ball for Barack Obama, Carey opened the televised event with a live rendition of "Hero", wearing a long black evening gown while sporting a long wavy hairstyle. On June 5, 2010, Carey performed the song alongside "We Belong Together" at the Walmart shareholders meeting. Following the performance, Carey gained heavy media coverage for her apparent weight gain, leading many to suspect her pregnancy with husband Nick Cannon.
  Aside from the several live televised performances, Carey included "Hero" on the set-lists on all of her tours, usually serving as one of the closing numbers. In an interview, Carey said that although it is not one of her favorite songs, she tries to perform it on each of her shows due to its powerful message, fearing that if she doesn't, she might miss out on the opportunity to help someone. She first performed the song in concert during her stateside Music Box Tour. During the s
caption: Carey performing "Hero" live during The Neighborhood Inaugural Ball for President Obama in Washington, D.C.
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D3", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Software": "Ver.2.00", "Image DateTime": "2009:01:20 21:25:25", "Image WhitePoint": "[313/1000, 329/1000]", "Image PrimaryChromaticities": "[16/25, 33/100, 21/100, 71/100, 3/20, 3/50]", "Image YCbCrCoefficients": "[299/1000, 587/1000, 57/500]", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Rating": "0", "Image Tag 0x4749": "0", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "2516", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "38556", "Image XPTitle": "[48, 0, 57, 0, 48, 0, 49, 0, 50, 0, 48, 0, 45, 0, 70, 0, 45, 0, 57, 0, 54, 0, 50, 0, 57, 0, 68, 0, 45, 0, 53, 0, 55, 0, 57, 0, 46, 0, 74, 0, 80, 0, 71, 0, 0, 0]", "Image XPComment": "[77, 0, 97, 0, 114, 0, 105, 0, 97, 0, 104, 0, 32, 0, 67, 0, 97, 0, 114, 0, ... ]", "Image XPAuthor": "TSgt Suzanne M. Day", "Image XPSubject": "[77, 0, 97, 0, 114, 0, 105, 0, 97, 0, 104, 0, 32, 0, 67, 0, 97, 0, 114, 0, ... ]", "Image Gamma": "11/5", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1000", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:01:20 21:25:25", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:01:20 21:25:25", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "32", "EXIF SubSecTime": "66", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "66", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "66", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4256", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2832", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "32", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Hard", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4182"}