MARIAH'S BIOGRAPHY

Mariah Carey was born on March 27, 1970 near Long Island, NY, to Alfred and Patricia Carey. She has both an older brother and sister, Morgan and Alison respectively. When she was around three years old, her parents divorced due in part to racial prejudice against them (Alfred is Venezuelan and African-American, Patricia is Irish). She subsequently raised her mother, a voice coach and opera singer, and was forced to move often because of difficult finances. It was also around the time she was three that she began to sing, often singing to her brother's radio or to spite her parents.

Mariah attended Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, NY, where she claims she was not much of a student. During this time, she sang for her brother's band  and recorded her first demo in a studio her friend worked for. Because they were borrowing the studio, they were forced to record into the early hours of the morning. As a result Mariah often missed school, bringing her the nickname "Mirage". Just days after graduating from high school, Mariah moved to New York City with a friend, where they shared a mattress on the floor of a dingy apartment.

During her time in the city, Mariah worked a variety of odd jobs to support herself, including hat/coat-checking, hostess, and sweeping hair salons. Before long, she won a job-singing backup for pop star Brenda K. Starr, which eventually became her road to success. At a party with Starr in the late eighties, Mariah met with record execs and attempted to give one her demo. Instead Tommy Mottola of then CBS Records snatched it up. He listened to it in the limo and shortly after signed her to his label.

(Bio was supplied from Mariah's Official Fan Site