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Mariah Carey was born on March 27, 1970 in Huntington, New York. She is the third and youngest child of Patricia Hickey and Alfred Roy Carey. Mariah Carey was named after the song, "And They Call the Wind Maria" from the musical Paint Your Wagon. Morgan, her older brother by nine years and Alison, her older sister by ten years, were her only siblings. Because the Carey household was a multiracial family, they were met with racial slurs and violence from their neighborhood. Patricia and Alfred eventually divorced. Mariah and Morgan went to live with Patricia while Alison moved with Alfred. Mariah Carey had very little contact with her father.

Mariah Carey started singing when she was three. Her first public performance when she was six. By middle school, she was writing her own music. She attended and graduated from Oldfield Middle School and Harborfields High School. In 1988, she was the backup singer for Brenda K. Starr who helpped Carey create a demo tape. Starr was responsible for inviting Carey to a party where executive Tommy Mottola of Columbia Records heard and was impressed by Carey's demo tape. It would be at Columbia Records where Mariah Carey's career would begin to take off.