With Christmas just a few days away, Mariah Carey is taking a well-deserved break after wrapping up her “Christmas Time” tour last week.
“Lambs, thank you for making my #Christmastime so special. I loved it.” I sing with you every eveningand I can’t wait to see you all in Brooklyn tomorrow for the final show of the tour,” Carey wrote in an Instagram post on December 16, referencing her final show on December 17.
Although the tour was undoubtedly a success, there were also some problems.
On December 11, just before Carey was scheduled to perform in Pittsburgh, the Grammy-winning singer announced that she had to cancel the show at the last minute.
Mariah Carey’s song “All I Want for Christmas Is You” became a hit in 1994. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Mariah Carey)
“Pittsburgh, I’m sorry to say I have the flu. It breaks my heart that I unfortunately have to cancel the show tonight. I love you all so much,” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
A few days later the pop singer “All I Want For Christmas”. has canceled two upcoming performances due to her illness.
Almost a week before the sudden cancellation a a fight broke out between fans during her show in St. Louis, Missouri, while she performed “All I Want for Christmas is You.” A video showed two men arguing while a woman tried to restrain one of them. Carey seemed unfazed by the altercation and continued belting out the tune, ending the show.
In August, Carey officially announced that she would embark on a 20-city national tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her album Merry Christmas with “All I Want For Christmas.” The tour began November 6th at the Yaamava Theater in Highland, California.
As fans wait for Carey’s now-famous tune “It’s Time” every December 1st, it’s hard to believe that the singer almost missed out on becoming the “Queen of Christmas.”
Carey had to cancel three shows due to illness. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Mariah Carey)
At the height of her fame in the 90s Grammy Award-winning artistThe 55-year-old got an idea: record a Christmas album. But there was a problem.
“I felt like it was too early in my career,” she said recently The New York Times.
But deep down, Carey knew she was always destined to create her “own little magical, joyful Christmas world.”
“I focused on all the things my mother had trouble creating. All I needed was a shower of glitter and a full church choir to back me up,” she said of recording her fourth studio album, “Merry Christmas,” which featured original songs including “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
This “little girl spirit and these early family fantasies” were the inspiration for her big hit 30 years ago.
Carey was born in Huntington, New York and was the youngest of three children. Her parents divorced when she was 3 years old.
“I had some very sad Christmases as a child, but I always try to find the bright light there,” she told W magazine in 2022.
The singer spoke for the first time about her turbulent upbringing her 2020 memoir, “The Meaning of Mariah Carey.”
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Carey was dubbed the “Queen of Christmas” by her fans. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Mariah Carey)
“It was an extremely dysfunctional childhood, to the point that it’s shocking that I even made it through it,” Carey, who reportedly experienced abuse at the hands of her siblings, told W.
Carey’s father, Alfred, was a black aerospace engineer and her mother, Patricia, was a white opera singer. Being of mixed race always made her feel different.
“There were no role models for people who were clearly mixed or, you know, light-skinned or whatever we were categorizing at the time. “So I didn’t know who to look up to when I was growing up,” she said. “It was difficult.”
Despite the odds, Carey was able to persevere, and when it came time to turn the turmoil into joy, she did just that.
“Christmas makes me happy,” she told W. “People think I lived this princess life or whatever, some kind of fairytale existence where I just showed up and said, ‘Here I am!’ And that’s not it.
“When you grow up with a chaotic life and then you have the opportunity to have this transformation where you can shape your life the way you want? This is a joy for me,” she added.
The singer said her turbulent childhood inspired her career. (Michael Ostuni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
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“That’s why I want my children to have everything they can have. I want them to understand that they can be anything they want.”
Carey wrote the 1994 smash hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
“I didn’t want it to feel specific to a certain time, so we didn’t use any sounds that were happening at that time,” she told W. “That way it would feel classic and timeless.”
Since its release, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has become one of the longest-charting singles of any genre, spending 65 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, according to the Times. Her album “Merry Christmas” has sold 18 million copies .
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From her children’s book and an animated film based on the song to Christmas clothing and decorations, Carey has earned the title “Queen of Christmas.”
Mariah Carey wants her children Monroe Cannon and Moroccan Scott Cannon to “understand that they can be anything they want.” (Gilbert Flores/Penske Media via Getty Images)
In March 2021, Carey registered the term “Queen of Christmas” as a trademark. According to the application filed with the U.S. Trademark Office, the term would cover a wide range of items such as lotions, fragrances, jewelry, mugs, clothing, food, jewelry and music.
“I never imagined that (the song) would become such an important part of my life,” she told W.
Mariah Carey shares how her “confused” childhood led to her finding joy at Christmas
Carey, whose 21-date holiday tour began this month, couldn’t be more grateful for the ability to bring so much joy to others through her music.
“It’s really rewarding, and I’m just thankful and grateful for it and for all the people who come up to me and say, ‘I love your music’ or ‘I listen to your Christmas music in July’ – that started to develop. “One thing,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to do this for my life, and now we can do it.”
Carey said she “could never have imagined” the success she has had. (Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty Images)
And ultimately, Carey attributes the joy she feels today to the pain she endured as a child.
“I realized that one day when I grow up and do what I dream of, this will happen, and I won’t be in these sad circumstances forever, but one day I’ll just remember what this is .” feels,” Carey told Oprah Winfrey for the Apple TV+ series “The Oprah Conversation” in 2020. “So I don’t become one of those people who has lost touch with who they are, but in many ways I have lost that because of so many other external components.”
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Fox News Digital’s Ashley Hume contributed to this report.
