Mariah Carey's mother inspired her to be a singer.
Mariah Carey
The 'We Belong Together' hitmaker has admitted she has "always" had a "love affair" with music, but her parent was the driving force behind her successful career, which has spanned over two-decades, because she encouraged her to belt out songs since she was four years old.
Speaking about her career on her programme 'Mariah's World', which will air on Sunday (04.12.16), the blonde beauty said: "I've always had this love affair with music, ever since I can remember. When I was like four years old, my mother encouraged me to sing."
And the powerhouse has revealed despite starting off as a backing singer at 12 years old, and moving to live in Manhattan on her own where she claimed she had "nothing", she found it an "exciting time" in her life, although she had to sleep on the floor for a while.
She explained: "I started doing demos when I was like 12 years old, I was a backup singer. I moved to Manhattan alone as a teenage girl. It was an exciting time for me, even though I had nothing.
"I lived like on a mattress on the floor. I was writing my songs and being a horrible waitress. My demo tape ended up at Sony and they signed it away."
And Mariah - who recently called off her engagement to the businessman James Packer - has revealed her and her musically-minded nephew Shawn boast a "great relationship" because they know how it feels to "come from nothing" and build their way up.
The vocalist - who has five-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe with her ex-husband Nick Cannon - explained: "I think me and Shawn have a great relationship because we both understand what it's like to literally come from nothing.
"We did not grow up this way, people have to understand this."
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