Mariah Carey duets with children Moroccan and Monroe at the Hollywood Bowl

Mariah Carey's children will Always Be Her Babies, it seems. The singer is spending the summer performing as a special guest on Lionel Richie's tour and graced the stage at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles on 31 July where she brought out a couple of special guests, her son and daughter Moroccan and Monroe.

Much to the delight of the audience, Carey, 47, managed to entice the twins from backstage to join her for a special duet of her 1996 classic hit, Always Be My Baby. Proving "Dem Babies" are growing increasingly familiar with her extensive back catalogue, Carey revealed: "We learned this song the other day," before adding of her homecoming to LA: "We're home and they're here."

The six-year-olds rather shyly moved to the music before Carey held the microphone to Monroe, coaxing the youngster to belt out a few words impressively in-tune. However, Moroccan remained in the background during his cameo – perhaps Always Be My Baby is not his favourite "Mariah" song or he simply suffered a case of stage-fright.

As Carey took the audience on a trip down memory lane, black and white photos of Moroccan and Monroe were shown above the stage. It seems the musical gene runs in the family as Carey's ex-husband and Roc n Roe's father, Nick Cannon, recently revealed the pair are keen to start a rap career.

Cannon, 36, told Entertainment Tonight: "They've been in the studio. They got records. It's popping. They're singing, writing, rapping. It's amazing. I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of putting children into the workforce. But they love it, so they get into the studio."

Making for another memorable moment at the Hollywood Bowl show, Carey was seen hanging out backstage with Ritchie's daughter, Nicole Richie, and actress Cameron Diaz. The group photo may have come as a surprise to those who remember that Diaz, 44, allegedly described Carey's music as "torture" back in 1998.

In an interview with FHM the following year, Carey revealed that she had confronted Cameron about the comments, stating: "People think that I'm this little girl-next-door and they can say stuff about me and I'll never check them if they run into me. Wrong. I decided I should seize the opportunity to straighten a few things out."

Richie's tour resumes at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas on 3 August.