Mariah Carey's mother and sister die on the same day

“My heart is broken that I’ve lost my mother this past weekend,” Carey said on Monday. “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. I appreciate everyone’s love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time.”

The Grammy-winning singer said she felt blessed to have spent time with her mother in the week before her death and asked for privacy.

She gave no further details about either woman's cause of death.

Patricia, 87, was a former opera singer and vocal coach of Irish-American descent.

In Carey's 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, the five-time Grammy Award-winning singer detailed her complicated relationship with her mother, saying it had caused her "so much pain and confusion”.

Carey, 55, said competition had come between them - Professional jealousy "comes with the territory of success, but when the person is your mother and the jealousy is revealed at such a tender age, it’s particularly painful", she added.

Carey also described what she termed as a 'complicated love relationship' between herself and her mother. 

"Our relationship is a prickly rope of pride, pain, shame, gratitude, jealousy, admiration and disappointment,” Carey wrote. “A complicated love tethers my heart to my mother’s.”

But she also spoke of the deep love she had had for her mother, writing in the dedication: “To Pat, my mother, who, through it all, I do believe actually did the best she could. I will love you the best I can, always.”

In an interview with Gayle King in 2022, the singer said she had "definitely" been affected by criticism from her mother when she was growing up.

She added that she had always credited her mother with exposing her to music.

Still, Carey maintained contact with her mother and they even recorded a duet of O Come All Ye Faithful/Hallelujah Chorus for the singer’s second Christmas album in 2010. 

Carey's sister Alison, 63, had been receiving hospice care before her death, according to a friend quoted by the Times Union, a newspaper in New York State.

In 2020, Alison sued their mother, claiming she was forced to endure sexual abuse from multiple men by way of Satanic worship meetings when she was a child.

Just like with mom Patricia, Mariah revealed in her memoir that it was tough to have a relationship with sister Alison and brother Morgan.

The Obsessed singer claimed that it was "emotionally and physically safer for me not to have any contact" with her brother and sister.

In November 2023, Alison revealed she had lost all of her teeth amid her estrangement from her mega famous sister. 

In a video shared on social media, Alison shared her new living condition, explaining that it's "almost impossible" to go about her day to day life. She said: "I'm Alison Carey, unfortunately I'm living without teeth. I haven't been able to replace them. I wish I could replace them but I just don't have the money, so this is where I stand. It's almost impossible to get things done without teeth. That's all I really have to say."

And in 2021, Alison launched a lawsuit against Mariah claiming her pop star sister's memoir had caused her emotional distress.

"The Meaning of Mariah Carey", published in 2020, saw the singer criticise Alison heavily throughout the book; alleging her now-late sister offering her cocaine as a child and "would barter her body for money or drugs".

Alison's lawsuit was filed with the New York County supreme court in February 2021, and called for at least $1.25m (Ksh. 160 million) in damages. 

Alison accused her estranged sister Mariah of "heartless, vicious, vindictive, despicable and totally unnecessary public humiliation" via the book.

In addition to her bid to sue her relatives, Alison had also experienced a handful of brushes with the law herself too, such as her 2016 arrest for prostitution in New York.

Mariah, 55, is one of the most influential figures in music globally. She is known for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style, and signature use of the whistle register. 

Referred to as the "Songbird Supreme" by Guinness World Records, she was ranked as the fifth greatest singer of all time by Rolling Stone in 2023.