Mariah Carey has made it her mission to become a role-model for mixed-race youngsters, because there was no-one for her to look up to when she was growing up.

The HONEY hitmaker was born in New York in 1970 to an Irish-American mother and an African American-Venezuelan father.

She confesses confusion about her race made her early years a troubled time - but has driven her to help others in similar situations through her music.

Mariah says, "People have come up to me and said, 'Your music has helped me get through some difficult times in my life' - that's very important to me. Being a mixed race person, I know how I felt growing up - I felt like an outsider, I didn't have somebody to look and think this person is mixed race like me, they're ambiguous-looking and yet they've made it and people understand who they are. What they are.

"A lot of people say how when they found out I was mixed, it made them feel better about themselves. For me that's a huge achievement."

29/08/2003 13:24