Alicia Keys is a world-renowned singer, songwriter, and producer who has achieved massive success both in the United States and internationally. She was born Alicia Augello Cook in Harlem, New York on January 25, 1981. Her mother, Terria Joseph, was a paralegal and her father, Craig Cook, was a flight attendant. keys began playing the piano at the age of seven and by the age of 14 she had signed a contract with Columbia Records.
keys’ debut album, Songs in A Minor, was released in 2001 and it quickly went platinum. The album’s first single, “Fallin,” became a huge hit and won Keys several Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist. keys’ follow-up album, The Diary of Alicia Keys, was released in 2003 and it also went platinum. In addition to her success as a recording artist, Keys has also been involved in various philanthropic endeavors. She is a co-founder of Keep a Child Alive, an organization that provides medication and treatment to children and families affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India.
Keys has won numerous awards throughout her career, including 15 Grammy Awards and an Academy Award. She has sold over 65 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling artists of all time. Alicia Keys is a truly extraordinary talent and her story is an inspiration to us all. Thanks for reading!
Early Life
Alicia Keys was born on January 25, 1981 at Manhattan, New York. She was trained in both dance and music at the insistence of her mother. She soon took interest in music at the age of 5 and by the age of 7 she had started to play the piano. She graduated as a valedictorian at the age of 16 from the Professional Performing Arts School. She was naturally talented in music such that she started writing songs at the age of 14 itself. Soon after coming out of Arts college, she was signed to Columbia Records. She wrote and recorded the song ‘Dah Dee Dah’ which was put in the soundtrack of the film ‘Men in Black’ (1997). Next she went on to join J Records in 1999 and recorded the songs ‘Rock wit U’ and ‘Rear View mirror’ with the Kerry brothers which was put in the soundtracks of ‘Shaft’ (2001) and ‘Dr. Dolittle’ (2001). Her first album ‘Songs in A Minor’ came out in the year 2001. It was a major hit with the audience, selling 6.2 million copies in the United States and more than 12 million copies in the International market. The song reached the top spot on the Billboard 200 with sales in the first week in excess of 230,000 copies.
Career
The kind of reception that the album received was the first of its kind for a debut album. Her variety and combination of different elements into her music composition was widely appreciated around the world. She had become the best selling new artist of the year and an overnight star in the international music industry. With her first album, Keys went on to win 5 awards at the Grammy Awards in 2002 which included the Song of the Year, Best R&B song and Best New Artist. In 2003, she released her next album called ‘The Diary of Alicia Keys’. Again the album debuted at the No.1 spot on the Billboard 200. In the first week, the album sold more than 600,000 copies.
Achievements
It became the 2nd biggest selling album by a female R & B artist. It was certified 4 times by the RIAA as Platinum. In 2005, she won 4 awards at the Grammy Awards and cemented herself as one of the best songwriter cum singer of her generation. In 2007, her third album released which was called ‘As I Am’. For the 3rd consecutive time her album debuted on the No.1 spot on the Billboard 200. It sold 5 million copies worldwide and sold more than 700,000 copies in the first week itself. For this album she won 2 Grammy Awards for Best R&B song and Best Female R&B vocal performance.
“I always want to stay focused on who I am, even as I’m discovering who I am”-Alicia Augello Cook
Her 4th album ‘The Element of Freedom’ was released in 2009. This time it debuted at No.2 on the Billboard 200 and sold 410,000 copies in the first week of release. The Billboard Magazine named Alicia Keys as the No.1 R&B artist of the decade 2000-2009 and the No.5 artist overall. As of 2013, her albums have sold 30 million copies worldwide, with nearly 15 million copies of them being sold in the U.S. only. She is worth more than $65 million as of today, all of it coming from her successful career in music. She has been one of the most popular and successful R&B artists in the history of music.
