"Hero" is a song by Mariah Carey. It was taken from her third album, "Music Box". The song was released on October 19, 1993. It became Carey's eighth number-one song in America and was the fifth best-performing song of 1994 there. "Hero" is a pop and R&B ballad; although Carey explained that she was unhappy with the song, she realizes how important the song is to her fans and performs it live at her concerts because of its uplifting message.