Mariah Carey posts birthday tribute to her late father after restoring his vintage sports car

Mariah Carey, 52, posted a loving Birthday tribute to her late father on Instagram Sunday after restoring his vintage sports car. 

The Grammy-winning superstar shared a series of photos that showed off the stunning restoration of the red speedster.

‘Happy Birthday to you my father Alfred Roy Carey,’ wrote the Hero singer. ‘The car you never got to finish is lovingly restored, complete with your spirit and my children. Sorry I never told you, all I wanted to say.’

Looking up and driving ahead: Mariah Carey, 52, posted a loving Birthday tribute to her late father on Instagram Sunday after restoring his vintage sports car

Diva in the driver seat: The Grammy-winning superstar glowed from behind the wheel as she shared a series of photos that showed off the stunning restoration of her father’s red speedster

Alfred Roy Carey passed away from cancer in 2002 at the age of 72.  

An aeronautical engineer of African-American and Venezuelan descent, Roy’s marriage to Mariah’s mother Patricia was plagued by racism from the very beginning. 

Patricia’s parents disowned her for marrying a black man and racial tensions prevented the young couple from finding peace in their community of Huntington, New York. 

After giving birth to Mariah in 1969, neighbors allegedly poisoned the family dog, set fire to their car and fired a bullet through their kitchen window. 

The couple divorced when Mariah was three years old and Mariah’s relationship with her father was reduced to spending Sundays together

The grandson he never met: Mariah’s son Moroccan Scott Cannon, 11, sat in the driver seat of his late grandfather’s beloved speedster 

Mini Mariah: The superstar’s daughter Monroe Cannon, 11, was also on hand to help celebrate her late grandfather’s birthday 

‘My father craved discipline, culture, and freedom,’ wrote the Vision of Love singer in her 2020 memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey. 

The multi-platinum hitmaker described her father’s decision to join the military as ‘a logical choice for a man who’d had no say over the time or skin into which he was born.’

When it came to her father’s demeanor and lifestyle, Mariah wrote about his ‘austere quality’ and shared that his home was ‘part military barracks, part Shaolin monastery.’ 

‘There was no room for extravagance or waste of any kind in his home,’ she recalled. ‘He considered the act of snacking frivolous. If I was hungry while waiting for dinner, he would give me one Ritz cracker. One.’ 

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Only on Sunday: Mariah’s parents divorced when she was only three years old and the relationship with her father was reduced to spending Sundays together

20 years gone: Alfred Roy Carey passed away from cancer in 2002 at the age of 72

Alfred’s aversion to frivolous pursuits and extravagant indulgence did not incline him to support his daughter becoming one of the most famous, critically-acclaimed and commercially-successful singers of all time. 

Mariah’s father still withheld his approval even after she won her first two Grammys in 1991 with her self-titled debut album that rocketed to the top of the charts. 

‘My two Grammys were two A’s on my report card and he was asking me what had happened to the pluses.’ Opening up about the dissolution of their relationship in her memoir, Carey wrote, ‘I had to let go of our Sundays so I could manifest my own day in the sun.’

But it seems that Mariah has come full circle and made peace with the memory of her father. She has honored Alfred in the past, posting Instagram tributes to him on Father’s Day and Juneteenth.

‘Happy Father’s Day, Alfred Roy Carey,’ she captioned a photo of her father as a young man for Father’s Day last year. “Shining like a sunflower up in the sky.”

A restored relationship: ‘Happy Father’s Day, Alfred Roy Carey,’ Mariah captioned a photo of her father as young man for Father’s Day last year. “Shining like a sunflower up in the sky”