Happy Mother's Day: 40 Stars and Their Moms

Before Beyoncé became his wife, the most important Mrs. Carter in Jay-Z’s life was his mother, Gloria. As we celebrate Mother’s Day, we take a look at some of the strong and inspiring women who raised today’s hip-hop moguls, Grammy-winning divas, and teen idols.

J. Cole’s mom held down a job at the post office to afford him an education, Ashanti, Chrisette Michele, and Christina Milian’s mothers also act as their managers, and Mariah’s opera singer mom passed on her multi-octave pipes.

In honor of the holiday, Rihanna shouted out the leading lady in her life. “Happy Mother’s Day beautiful!! What a lucky little bitch I am to have come from you!” the “Pour It Up” singer told Mama Fenty. “I am who I am because that’s all I’ve known!! Thank you for all that you’ve endured to make sure I got here, with a smile!! I could never repay you, you’re PRICELESS!!! My gem!!!”

RiRi’s on-again, off-again boyfriend Chris Brown also saluted his mother, who’s been there through the ups and downs. “I wanna praise the woman who created me! ‘Momma Joyce’ happy Mother’s Day . Thank u for always letting me be creative and dream!Love you mom,” tweeted Breezy.

View our photo gallery of 40 women behind music’s biggest stars including Beyoncé, Drake, Big Sean, Nicki Minaj, Rita Ora, Alicia Keys, and more.

Happy Mother’s Day!