Shot at for being interracial, gone before they saw her become a legend — Mariah Carey's parents
Mariah Carey's parents are Alfred Roy and Patricia Hickey Carey. Before divorcing in 1973, Alfred and Patricia Carey welcomed three children, including American songstress, producer, and actress Mariah Carey. In 2002, Alfred passed away from a rare form of bile cancer; his ex-wife, Patricia, died in 2024.
Source: Twitter
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Key takeaways
- Mariah Carey's parents, Alfred Roy Carey and Patricia Hickey, married in 1960.
- Because of their inter-racial marriage, Mariah Carey's parents faced relentless racist violence.
- Alfred Roy Carey was of African-American and Venezuelan heritage.
- Patricia Carey was of Irish-American descent.
- Maria Carey's father, Alfred Roy Carey, died on 4 July 2002, from a rare form of bile duct cancer.
- Patricia, Mariah Carey's mother, died on 24 August 2024.
Meet Mariah Carey's parents, Patricia Hickey and Alfred Roy Carey
Mariah Carey's parents, Patricia Hickey and Alfred Roy Carey, got married in 1960. Their interracial marriage caused an enormous rift in Patricia's family and the white neighbourhood they lived in.
The couple divorced in 1973 when Mariah Carey was only 3 years old. They shared three children: two daughters, Mariah and Alison Carey, and a son named Morgan Carey. Here is everything you need to know about the Carey family.
Patricia Hickey
Source: Instagram
- Full name: Patricia Hickey Carey
- Date of birth: 17 February 1937
- Place of birth: Springfield, Illinois, United States
- Date of death: 24 August 2024
- Age at the time of death: 87 years
- Place of death: New York, United States
Patricia was a Juilliard-trained opera singer and vocal coach, born on 17 February 1937 in Springfield, Illinois, United States. She performed with the New York City Opera and, in 1977, released the album To Start Again.
After meeting Alfred, Patricia set her career aside to raise their family. It is a decision Mariah Carey would later wrestle with in her memoir, questioning why a woman of such talent and training chose to step away from the stage.
Patricia was disowned by her mother after her marriage to Alfred Roy Carey. In a 1999 interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Patricia shared that they were targets of racial discrimination and violent attacks.
Well, when I told my mother that I was going to marry a black man, she was very upset. She had the priest call me, and then I got married because I was in love with him and I just felt it was the right thing to do. My mother died, but for years and years, she never even told her brothers and sister that I was married.
Mariah Carey and her mother, Patricia, shared a complicated relationship. However, they maintained contact and even recorded a duet of O Come All Ye Faithful/Hallelujah Chorus for Mariah’s second Christmas album in 2010. In her memoir, she said
Our relationship is a prickly rope of pride, pain, shame, gratitude, jealousy, admiration and disappointment. A complicated love tethers my heart to my mother’s.
In a tragic turn of events, Mariah Carey's mother and sister passed away hours apart, on the same day. Carey's sister Alison had been receiving hospice care before her death.
Alfred Roy Carey
Source: Twitter
- Full name: Alfred Roy Carey
- Date of birth: 23 October 1929
- Place of birth: New York, United States
- Date of death: 4 July 2002
- Age at the time of death: 72 years
- Place of death: Huntington, New York, United States
Mariah Carey's father, Alfred Roy Carey, was born in New York City on 23 October 1929. He was of African-American and Afro-Venezuelan descent. His grandfather, Francisco Nuñez, had served as a Venezuelan consul.
According to Mariah's memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, Alfred, who had a difficult upbringing, eventually enlisted in the military. In an excerpt of the memoir, she said,
My father craved discipline, culture and freedom, so he joined the military, a logical choice for a man who’d had no say over the time or skin into which he was born.
After his military service, Alfred moved to Brooklyn Heights. He built a career as an aeronautical engineer. Alfred worked on military contracts.
Alfred married Patricia Hickey on 20 February 1960, in Brooklyn. The couple went on to have three children: Morgan, Alison, and Mariah, the youngest of whom was born in 1969.
FAQs
- What ethnicity are Mariah Carey's parents? Mariah Carey's father was African-American and Afro-Venezuelan, while her mother was Irish-American.
- What happened to Mariah Carey's dad? Alfred Roy Carey died in 2002 from a rare form of bile duct cancer.
- Does Mariah Carey have black heritage? The R&B singer gets her black heritage from her father, who was African American and Venezuelan.
- Does Mariah Carey have a relationship with her dad? Although they had a fractured relationship, Mariah Carey reconciled with her father before he died in 2002.
- Are Mariah Carey's parents alive? Both Alfred Roy Carey and Patricia Carey are deceased.
- Who is Alison Carey? Alison was Mariah Carey's older sister.
Mariah Carey's parents, Alfred Roy Carey and Patricia Hickey, chose each other at a time when America made interracial love dangerous. They were shot at, had their pets poisoned, and their family structures torn apart by racial hatred. These experiences shaped Mariah Carey's voice, identity, and success.
Legit.ng has recently published an article about Mariah Carey's siblings. The award-winning singer, songwriter, and actress rose to stardom following the release of her self-titled debut album and became a worldwide sensation for her chart-topping R&B hits.
Mariah Carey had a complicated relationship with her siblings before her sister Alison's death. Read on for details of the Carey family and their background today.
Proofreading by Kola Muhammed, copy editor at Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
