Carey Owes Her Fame To Her Fairy Godsister

Mariah Carey owes her career to 1980s hitmaker BRENDA K STARR - because she not only gave the pop star a job as her backing singer, she also made her look like a million dollars.

Starr became like an older sister to Carey, paying for her clothes and food, and turned her into an overnight Cinderella figure when she invited her to a 1988 industry party.

Starr recalls, "I said, 'Listen, I'm going to this party tonight, do you wanna come with me because there's gonna be a lot of people in the industry there. Just bring your demo and I'll pass it on.'"

Carey admits she was thrilled, but had nothing to wear: "I said OK. I borrowed a dress from her, I borrowed everything. The only thing that didn't fit were the shoes."

The singer met movie mogul and future husband Tommy Mottola at the party, who was smitten by her and promised to listen to her demo.

But when Mottola returned to the party hours later, after checking out the singer's demo is his car on the way home, Starrand Carey were gone.

Carey says, "We were gone. It's very Cinderella."