Mariah Carey - Hero - Live, Capitol Hill, Washington, May 1996

Front-on footage, Peace Officer's Memorial Servce, May 15th, 1996

Apologies for the watermark and resolution, this all that is publicly available. I don't think any distraction will last for long because of quality of the performance ;-) As far as I understand this video is in the public domain.

This is Mariah at her peak singing at a time where Hero had taken on a whole new wonderful form. This was a passing period that I feel was a special part of her career. Despite being at her peak and giving a very emotional performance, I believe her vocal cords were suffering an allergic-type response to one or more factors, nervousness being surely one. You can hear the difference, for example two months later in the London concert of her tour - there is not a drop of vocal tension and her performance of there is, I believe, her very best of this song and perhaps of all her songs.

This, however is also a blinding and equally uniquely special performance.