Mariah Carey has revealed that her mum Patricia and sister Alison both passed away over the weekend: ‘My heart is broken,’ the Grammy-winning singer shared

Patricia was a Juilliard-trained opera singer before she had Mariah and her siblings Alison and Morgan with her ex-husband Alfred Roy Carey – so who was he?

Mariah Carey has revealed that her mother Patricia and sister Alison both died over the weekend, People magazine reported.

“My heart is broken that I’ve lost my mother this past weekend,” the “Emotions” singer told the outlet. “Sadly, in a tragic turn of events, my sister lost her life on the same day.”

“I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed,” she added. “I appreciate everyone’s love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time.” It’s unclear what their causes of death were.

Patricia was a Juilliard-trained opera singer and vocal coach before she welcomed her three children – Alison, Mariah and son Morgan – with her ex-husband Alfred Roy Carey, per People.

Here’s what we know about Mariah Carey’s late father, Alfred Roy Carey:

What did Mariah Carey’s dad, Alfred Roy Carey, do for work?

Alfred Roy Carey was born in 1929 in New York City. Photo: @MariahCarey/Facebook

Born on October 23, 1929, in New York City, Alfred Roy Carey had a difficult upbringing, according to Mariah’s memoir. He ended up joining the military. “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,” she shared, per the source.

His father changed his last name to “feel more accepted”

Mariah Carey’s father Alfred Roy Carey joined the military. Photo: @MariahCarey/X

As seen in an old clip from a fan-run Mariah Carey YouTube channel, the Grammy-winning songstress could have had a different last name.

“My grandfather made up the name ‘Carey’ when he came to America, to be more accepted I guess,” the singer said in the video, which is believed to be from Venezuelan TV in the 1990s. “But that’s funny because that’s an Irish name and Irish people [were] discriminated at that time too so it didn’t really work.” Mariah’s father was born to an African-American mother and a Venezuelan immigrant father named Francisco Nuñez, according to HuffPost.

His marriage to Mariah’s mum was frowned upon

Mariah Carey with her late mother Patricia and her own daughter Monroe at her Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony in 2015. Photo: AP

As reported by People, Alfred’s relationship with Patricia was not approved of by her family, who disowned her for having a relationship with a Black man. In a 1999 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Patricia said that she was instructed by her mother, Ann Hickey, to lie about her romance with Alfred. They were also discriminated against in the neighbourhood they moved to, saying that at one point, one of their dogs was poisoned and someone shot a bullet through their window.

He died in 2002

A young Mariah Carey and her father Alfred Roy Carey. Photo: @NdomitableNegro/X

Mariah Carey’s parents divorced when she was just three years old, but she would see her father during weekends, per People. However, as her career began to take off, the visits reportedly became less frequent.

In 2002, he died after contracting a rare form of bile duct cancer, notes People. Mariah regularly shares Father’s Day posts and birthday tributes to her late dad on Instagram.