Mariah Carey Steps to Success Z Magazine Reading Program - 1995

Mariah Carey Steps to Success
Z Magazine Reading Program - 1995

Everyone needs a best friend - even a star like Mariah Carey. Before she made it big with hits like "Emotions" and "Hero," times were tough for the singer. But through it all, she had a friend she could rely on. That friend was her mom, Patricia.

Tough Beginnings
Mariah was born on New York's Long Island. Her parents divorced when she was just 3 years old. Mariah and her mom spent the next few years moving from place to place. They moved 13 times in all! That was hard for Mariah and her mom. "We were poor," Mariah says. "We had nothing." Nothing, that is, except each other. "My mom and I were like a team," Mariah remembers.

It was Patricia who convinced Mariah to take a chance on music. "My mom used to sing with the opera when I was little. So I knew you could actually make a living as a singer," Mariah explains. "When I would sing, she'd encourage me. She'd tell me, 'You have a really great voice. If that's what you want to do, you should do it.' "

Hard Work Pays Off
Mariah listened to her mom's advice. After graduating high school, Mariah moved to Manhattan to follow her dream. It wasn't easy. She shared a small apartment with two other girl friends. She slept on a mattress on the floor. To support herself, she worked three jobs. She was a waitress, she checked coats, and she sold T-shirts. After work, she would make tapes of her songs at a recording studio. "I'd come home, get a few hours sleep, wake up, and do it again," she remembers.

Her hard work finally paid off. At a party one night, she gave a tape of her songs to Tommy Mottola, the head of a record company. Tommy listened to the tape in his car on the way home. He was amazed at the voice he heard. He rushed back to the party, looking for the mystery singer. But Mariah had disappeared - without leaving a name or phone number.

It took Tommy a week to find Mariah. When he did, he gave her a contract with his record company. That lead to four hit albums, Grammy awards, and fame fortune for Mariah.

Mariah thinks her mother had a lot to do with that success. "My mother raised me to keep believing in something," she says. "If you work hard toward your goal, you can achieve it. My mom always said, 'Don't say if I make it. Say when I make it!' "