I wanted to be like Mariah: RiRi

The artist Rihanna during her visit to Norwegian Broadcasting to record the talk show "Skavlan" in Oslo Thursday evening, Jan. 21, 2010. The show will be broadcast on Friday. Rihanna says she will perform a new song called "Stranded" with rapper Jay-Z and U2's The Edge and Bono at Friday's "Hope for Haiti" telethon in London. During the taping of the talk show in Oslo on Thursday, the R&B superstar said she feels drawn to the cause because of Haiti's proximity to her home country of Barbados. (AP Photo/Scanpix, Christian Thomassen) ** NORWAY OUT **

The artist Rihanna during her visit to Norwegian Broadcasting to record the talk show "Skavlan" in Oslo Thursday evening, Jan. 21, 2010. The show will be broadcast on Friday. Rihanna says she will perform a new song called "Stranded" with rapper Jay-Z and U2's The Edge and Bono at Friday's "Hope for Haiti" telethon in London. During the taping of the talk show in Oslo on Thursday, the R&B superstar said she feels drawn to the cause because of Haiti's proximity to her home country of Barbados. (AP Photo/Scanpix, Christian Thomassen) ** NORWAY OUT **

Published Mar 22, 2015

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Rihanna used to copy Mariah Carey.

The 'Diamonds' hitmaker knew from a young age that she wanted to be a singer so honed her craft by mimicking her favourite artists, such as the 'Hero' hitmaker, Canadian songstress Celine Dion and reggae legend Bob Marley.

She said: “I was always drawn to music and singing. Bu the time I was eight, I knew I wanted to sing.

“I loved Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Bob Marley. I would watch their videos all day long on TV because that's what they would play in the Caribbean.

“I would start mimicking everything I heard, everything Mariah did, I would try to do.”

Rihanna - who grew up in Barbados - was determined to make music that would be popular all over the world, even in places she had never seen, and eventually stopped copying her idols and found her own style.

She added to Grazia magazine: “I wanted to make music that could be heard in parts of the world that I'd never been to.

“I tried to make my own tone. Then you hear your own voice and when you eventually find your voice, that's when you get really serious about it.”

Bang Showbiz

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