Singer Mariah Carey performs during ABC Good Morning America Summer Concert Series in Times Square in New York April 25, 2008. [Xinhua/Reuters]

Nick Cannon spent years trying to woo Mariah Carey.

The rapper had been smitten with the 'Hero' singer for a long time and did everything he could to try and meet her by letting everyone know his feelings for her.

Mariah said: "He likes to say that he spoke it into existence. He told everybody who he thought might know me, 'Tell your girl Mariah that I want to talk to her.' All this stuff. I didn't know him… but I didn't know what to believe."

The pair finally met at The Teen Choice Awards in 2005, after Nick insisted on presenting her with an accolade.

Speaking to Barbara Walters on her Here's Barbara Sirius XM radio show, she revealed: "He told me that he said to the people that were doing the show, that he wouldn't do it, unless he could present my award to me. I said, 'Thank you for all the nice things that you've been saying about me.' And he said, 'I meant everything - give me a chance.' And then I didn't see him again for two years."

But they eventually got together when Mariah - who married Nick in 2008 - decided she wanted him to star in her music video for 'Bye Bye'.

She said: "I always remembered the moment. We were doing a video and there was going to be a love interest in it. And we were thinking of all different actors and people - we wanted it to look authentic. And I said, 'Oh, what about Nick Cannon?' "

(Agencies via China Daily September 25, 2009)