Alicia Keys

Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 and was signed by Columbia Records at 15. After disputes with the label, she signed with J Records to release her debut studio album, Songs in A Minor (2001). Met with critical acclaim and commercial success, the album sold over 12 million copies worldwide and won five awards at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards. It contained the Billboard Hot 100-number one single "Fallin'". Her second album, The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003), was met with continued success, selling eight million units worldwide and spawning the singles "You Don't Know My Name", "If I Ain't Got You", and "Diary" (featuring Tony! Toni! Toné!). Its release earned an additional four Grammy Awards.

Her 2004 duet with Usher, "My Boo", became her second number-one single in the US. Keys's first live album, Unplugged (2005), spawned the single "Unbreakable" and made her the first female artist to have an MTV Unplugged project debut atop the Billboard 200. Her third album, As I Am (2007), sold seven million units worldwide and yielded her third Billboard Hot 100-number one single, "No One". In 2007, Keys made her film debut in the action-thriller Smokin' Aces, and performed the theme song to the James Bond film Quantum of Solace with her single "Another Way to Die" (with Jack White) the following year. Her fourth album, The Element of Freedom (2009), peaked atop the UK Albums Chart, sold four million copies worldwide, and was supported by the singles "Doesn't Mean Anything", "Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart", and "Un-Thinkable (I'm Ready)".

Keys guest appeared on Jay-Z's 2009 single "Empire State of Mind", which became her fourth number-one hit in the US. Her fifth album, Girl on Fire (2012), was her fourth non-consecutive album to peak the Billboard 200, and was supported by its lead single of the same name; her sixth album, Here (2016), peaked at number two on the chart. Her seventh and eighth studio albums, Alicia (2020) and Keys (2021), spawned the singles "Show Me Love" (featuring Miguel), "Underdog", "Lala" and "Best of Me". Her ninth, Santa Baby (2022), was a holiday album and her first independent release. In 2023, she wrote, composed and co-produced her first Broadway musical, Hell's Kitchen, which won two Tony Awards.

Keys has sold over 90 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. She was named by Billboard as the Top Artist of the 2000s in the R&B/Hip-Hop category, and placed tenth on their list of Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years. She has received numerous accolades in her career, including 17 Grammy Awards, 17 NAACP Image Awards, 12 ASCAP Awards, and an award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame and National Music Publishers Association. Keys was also honored with the Producers & Engineers Wing Award and the Global Impact Award by the Recording Industry Association of America. VH1 included her on their 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and 100 Greatest Women in Music lists, while Time has named her in their 100 list of most influential people in 2005 and 2017. Keys is also acclaimed for her humanitarian work, philanthropy, and activism. She co-founded the nonprofit HIV/AIDS-fighting organization Keep a Child Alive in 2003, for which she serves as Global Ambassador.

Alicia Augello Cook was born on January 25, 1981, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. She is the only child of Teresa Augello, who was a paralegal and part-time actress, and one of three children of Craig Cook, who was a flight attendant. Keys's father is African American and her mother is of Italian and "Irish or Scottish" descent; her mother's paternal grandparents were immigrants from Sciacca, Sicily; and Lamezia Terme, in Calabria. Named after her Puerto Rican godmother, Keys has said that she was comfortable with her multiracial heritage because she felt she was able to "relate to different cultures". Keys's father left when she was two years old. She was subsequently raised by her mother during her formative years at Manhattan Plaza in Hell's Kitchen. Keys has stated that her parents never had a relationship, and her father was not in her life. Although she did not like to speak about her father in order to not feed stereotypes, Keys remarked in 2001: "I'm not in contact with him. That's fine. When I was younger, I minded about that. [It] made me angry. But it helped show me what a strong woman my mother was, and made me want to be strong like her. Probably, it was better for me this way." Keys and her mother lived in a one-bedroom apartment. Her mother often worked three jobs to provide for Keys, who "learned how to survive" from her mother's example of tenacity and self-reliance.

From a young age, Keys struggled with self-esteem issues, hiding little by little when her differences made her vulnerable to judgment, and later uninvited sexual attention. Living in the rough neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen, she was, from an early age, regularly exposed to street violence, drugs, prostitution, and subjected to sexual propositions in the sex trade- and crime-riddled area. "I saw a variety of people growing up, and lifestyles, lows and highs. I think it makes you realize right away what you want and what you don't want," Keys said. Keys recalled feeling fearful early on of the "animal instinct" she witnessed, and eventually feeling "high" due to recurrent harassment. Her experiences in the streets had led her to carry a homemade knife for protection. She became very wary, emotionally guarded, and she began wearing gender-neutral clothing and what would become her trademark cornrows. Keys explained that she is grateful for growing up where she did as it prepared her for the parallels in the music industry, particularly as she was a teenager starting out; she could maintain a particular focus and not derail herself. She credits her "tough" mother for anchoring her on a right path as opposed to many people she knew who ended up on the wrong path and in jail. Keys attributed her unusual maturity as a young girl to her mother, who depended on her to be responsible while she worked to provide for them and gave Keys as many opportunities as possible.

Keys loved music and singing from early childhood. She recalled her mother playing jazz records of artists such as Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong on Sunday mornings—early musical moments Keys considers influential in kindling her interest in and emotional connection to music. In preschool, Keys sang in her school's production of the musical Cats and was cast as Dorothy Gale in a production of The Wizard of Oz. Keys discovered that she had a passion for the piano by age six, as she loved the sound and feel of the instrument and desired to play and learn it. When Keys was ten, a neighborhood friend who was moving home gave her family an old upright piano. This proved pivotal for Keys's musical development, which allowed her to practice, to play, and to benefit fully from music lessons at an early age. Keys began receiving classical piano lessons by age seven, practicing six hours a day, learning the Suzuki method and playing composers such as Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, and Satie. She was particularly drawn to "blue, dark, shadowy" and melancholic compositions, as well as the passionate romanticism of "blue composers" like Chopin. Inspired by the film Philadelphia, Keys wrote her first song about her departed grandfather on her piano by age 12. The scene in the film in which Tom Hanks's character listens to opera on a record player affected Keys, who "never showed emotion very well". After seeing the film, Keys, "for the first time, could express how [she] felt through the music."

Keys's mother had encouraged her to participate in different extracurricular activities, including music, dance, theater, and gymnastics, so she could "find her muse". Her extracurricular activities gave her focus and drive, and helped keep her out of trouble. Keys remained so occupied with her various pursuits that she experienced her first burnout before adolescence. Before her 13th birthday, she expressed to her mother that she was too overwhelmed and wanted to disengage, at which point her mother took some time off with her and encouraged her to keep focusing on piano. Keys would continue studying classical music until the age of 18. Keys regards her education in classical piano and dedication to classical music as vital for her stability in her youth and her development as a musician and songwriter. Keys later said of her classical background:

Keys enrolled in the Professional Performing Arts School at the age of 12, where she took music, dance, and theater classes and majored in choir. In her preteen years, Keys and her bass-playing friend formed their first group, though neither "knew too much about how pop songs worked". Keys would continue singing, writing songs, and performing in musical groups throughout junior high and high school. She became an accomplished pianist; according to some sources, after her classical-music teacher had nothing left to teach her, she began studying jazz at age 14 (this claim, however, was challenged by Keys's music teacher herself). Living in the "musical melting pot" city, Keys had already been discovering other genres of music, including soul music, hip hop, R&B, and taken affinity to artists like Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield. Keen on dissecting music, Keys continued developing her songwriting and finding her own 'flow and style" through her exploration of the intricacies in different music.

Keys spent more time in Harlem during her teenage years. She connected with the cultural and racial diversity in the neighborhood, where she expanded upon her musical exploration, and her character was also solidified. "Harlem raised me in a lot of ways," Keys remarked. "[It] taught me how to think fast, how to play the game ... taught me leadership, how to get out of bad situations when you need to, how to hold my own." During this period, she met her good friend who would later become her long-term collaborator and boyfriend Kerry Brothers Jr., also famously known as Krucial.