All About Mariah Carey's Parents, Alfred Roy Carey and Patricia Carey

Mariah Carey has had a lot of ups and downs with her parents, Alfred Roy Carey and Patricia Carey.

The Grammy winner opened up about her complicated relationship with her family in her candid 2020 memoir. Meaning of Mariah Carey. The book delved into her upbringing, her memories of what she called “significant neglect” and her struggle to come to terms with her biracial identity.

In August 2024, Mariah confirmed to PEOPLE that her mother and sister died on the same day.

“I am heartbroken because I lost my mother last weekend. Unfortunately, in a tragic turn of events, my sister lost her life on the same day,” she said in an exclusive statement to PEOPLE.

The youngest of three children, the “Obsessed” singer was born to Alfredo, an Afro-Venezuelan aeronautical engineer, and Patricia, a white opera singer, on March 27, 1969, in Huntington, NY.

The couple’s interracial marriage was a source of great rift between Patricia and her mother. It also caused trouble for the family in their neighborhood; in an interview from 1999 The Oprah Winfrey ShowPatricia shared that they were targets of racial discrimination and violent attacks.

Mariah Carey’s life in pictures

After meeting Alfredo, Patricia put her career aside to start a family, welcoming daughter Alison Carey and son Morgan Carey before giving birth to Mariah.

When the singer was 3 years old, her parents divorced and she moved in with her mother, who retained primary custody of her. In her memoir, the “We Belong Together” singer recalled her childhood with Patricia, writing that their relationship “caused me so much pain and confusion.”

While working through family trauma in therapy, Mariah found peace in redefining her relationships with them.

“For my sanity and peace of mind, my therapist encouraged me to literally rename and reshape my family,” she wrote. “My mother became my Pat, Morgan my ex-brother, and Alison my ex-sister… I had to stop expecting them to one day miraculously become the mom, big brother, and big sister I dreamed of.”

Throughout her childhood, Mariah only saw her father on weekends and their relationship became increasingly strained as her career took a backseat. On July 4, 2002, Alfred died of a rare form of cancer — the father-daughter pair mended their relationship before his death.

Here’s everything you need to know about Mariah Carey’s parents, Alfred Roy Carey and Patricia Carey.

Mariah had a “complicated” relationship with her mother

Mariah’s relationship with her mom, Patricia, was strained from a young age — their tumultuous relationship was the source of a “cloud of sadness” throughout Mariah’s life, she wrote in her book.

“Our story is about betrayal and beauty. Love and abandonment. Of sacrifices and survival,” wrote Mariah. “I have broken free from slavery several times, but there is a cloud of sadness that I suspect will always hang over me, not only because of my mother, but because of our complicated journey together.”

Mariah didn’t shy away from writing candidly about their ups and downs in her 2020 book. emotion,” she wrote.

The Billboard Music Award winner described their relationship as multifaceted: “Our relationship is a barbed wire of pride, pain, shame, gratitude, jealousy, admiration and disappointment. Complicated love binds my heart to my mother’s.”

Alfred was in the army

Mariah Carey’s father, Alfred Roy Carey.

Mariah Carey’s Instagram

Alfred was born on October 23, 1929 in New York. Growing up in a difficult environment, he aspired to opportunities and freedoms that were denied to his own parents, Mariah wrote in her memoir.

When he came of age, he enlisted in the army. “My father yearned for discipline, culture and freedom, so he joined the army — a logical choice for a man unaffected by the time or the skin he was born into,” she explained.

The family disowned Patricia because she married Alfredo

To understand her relationship with her mother, Mariah examined Patricia’s complicated dynamic with her own mother, Ann Hickey, in her memoir. In 1960, Patricia married Alfred, and Ann gave her up because of a relationship with a black man.

On the rare occasions when Patricia visited her mother and extended family, Ann instructed Patricia to lie about her marriage, she said The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1999. During her relationship with Alfredo, the couple often faced discrimination. After moving to a “more affluent area,” tensions were worse than ever, Patricia recalled.

“One of our dogs was poisoned,” Winfrey said, adding that their family has been targeted multiple times — on one occasion, Patricia said, someone fired a bullet through their living room window.

Mariah grew up spending weekends with Alfredo

Mariah Carey’s father, Alfred Roy Carey.

Mariah Carey’s Twitter

After spending time in the military and divorcing Patricia, Alfred moved to Brooklyn Heights, where he was something of a “hipster,” Mariah wrote in her memoir. At the time, he was driving a classic Porsche Speedster, his greatest luxury. She looked forward to their weekly Sunday visits, which always revolved around a big Italian feast for which he would prepare all day.

However, as Mariah’s career took off, her weekly visits to her father became less and less frequent. “Music, as a career, was not logical for him,” she wrote. Their weekly dates became more “sporadic” as she focused her energies on her budding career at just 12 years old.

“Gradually ‘next Sunday’ turned into a month of Sundays. I had to let go of our Sunday so I could express my own day in the sun,” she said.

Alfred died of cancer in 2002

On July 4, 2002, Alfred died after suffering from a rare form of bile duct cancer. In the months leading up to his death, he and the “Hero” singer mended their relationship, she said in her memoir.

In the years since, Mariah has honored his legacy in various ways; not long after he died, she wrote an emotional tribute to him for her album Bracelet with pendant.

In “Sunflowers for Alfred Roy,” Mariah sings about finding forgiveness and peace in their relationship: “Please be at peace father / I’m at peace with you / Bitterness ain’t worth holding / After all the anguish we’ve all been through.”

All about Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon’s twins, Moroccan and Monroe

Two decades later, the pop star restored her late father’s vintage sports car in honor of his birthday.

“The car you never got around to finishing lovingly restored, complete with your spirit and my kids.. Sorry I never told you, everything I wanted to say🌻👐🏾❤️,” she wrote on Instagram alongside photos of herself and her twins, Monroe and a Moroccan, posing in a newly renovated car.

Mariah inherited her mother’s musical talent

Mariah Carey performs on stage during Global Citizen Festival 2022: New York in Central Park on September 24, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Global Citizen). Kevin Mazur/Getty

When it came to Mariah’s perfectly played flutes, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree: her mother, Patricia, was an opera singer and vocal singer who studied at Juilliard.

Mariah focused on singing and songwriting at a young age, using music as a distraction from her difficult family life. While the “Butterfly” singer was honing her talents, she noticed that her mother seemed jealous, so she wrote: “Having people you love be jealous of you professionally comes from the realm of success, but when the person is your mother and the jealousy comes out on a tender age in such a place is especially painful.”

In her memoirs, Mariah also described a touching memory of singing with her mother in the car. “You just have to hope that one day you’ll be half the singer that I am,” Patricia allegedly told the teenager.

“However, to this day, what she said haunts me and hurts me,” Mariah recalled.

Mariah and Patricia performed a duet on the holiday album

Mariah Carey and her mother, Patricia Carey, perform during the 2010 ABC Mariah Carey Christmas Special.

ABC

Years later, the pair sang together on a momentous occasion: In 2010, Patricia joined the “Queen of Christmas” on stage for a festive mother-daughter duet during Mariah’s ABC special Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas.

Accompanied by a gospel choir, they sang “O Come All Ye Faithful/Hallelujah Chorus,” a song they recorded for Mariah’s holiday album. Patricia showed off her operatic range and the pop star hit the high notes.

Mariah and Patricia maintained “boundaries” in their relationship

Despite all their ups and downs, Mariah maintained a relationship with her mother, for whom she “reserved a little place in my heart.”

The winner of the BRIT award dedicated her memoirs to her children, her ancestors and her mother. “And to Pat, my mother, who, I believe, gave the best she could through it all,” she wrote. “I will love you the best I can, always.”

Mariah’s childhood inspired her children’s book 2022 Christmas princess

Mariah Carey performs in 2024.

Denise Truscello/Getty

In 2022, Mariah published her first children’s book, Christmas princess. At the center of the picture book is 12-year-old Little Mariah, “who doesn’t have much and doesn’t want much” except for “peaceful and joyful holidays,” according to the book’s description.

While Christmas princess it’s not biographical — “It’s a fairy tale,” Mariah told PEOPLE — it parallels the life of a chart-topping singer. Like the main character, Mariah was 12 years old when she learned some difficult but valuable life lessons. Little Mariah’s mom is also called La Diva.

“I learned at that age that I was definitely ‘the other,'” she told PEOPLE in 2022. “It would have been great to actually be a chameleon, but I didn’t have the tools to do that. Which means we didn’t have the money.”

“Writing saved me,” Mariah said of composing music and songs to process her feelings.

As for little Mariah, “her music saves her,” Mariah added. “It’s not Prince Charming who walks in. She’s saving the day for herself.”

Mariah’s mother died in August 2024

Mariah revealed in August 2024 that her mother and sister had died on the same day. At the time, details about the causes of their deaths were not known.

“I feel blessed to have been able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed away,” Mariah said in her statement. “I appreciate everyone’s love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time.”

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Source: HIS Education