'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.

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.

The friend did not provide a cause of death.

In her memoir, Carey wrote of being estranged from Alison, as well as her brother Morgan, saying it was 'emotionally and physically safer for me to not have any contact.

' Alison sued Carey for $1.

2 million (£909,780) following the release of the memoir for 'immense emotional distress,' calling it 'vindictive.

' Her holiday single *All I Want For Christmas Is You* is the best-selling Christmas song by a female artist of all time.

She holds the record for the most Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles by a solo artist at 19 songs, has sold over 220 million records worldwide, and served as a judge on the competition show *American Idol*.