b. Alicia Augello-Cook, 25 January 1980, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. This highly talented US singer-songwriter and pianist enjoyed immediate success when her 2001 debut album, released on Clive Davis’ J Records label, went straight to the top of the US charts. A classically trained pianist and former student at Manhattan’s Professional Performance Arts School, Keys prompted a major label bidding war while still at college. After contributing ‘Dah Dee Dah (Sexy Thing)’ to Columbia Records’ Men In Black soundtrack, she cut her ties with the label to follow Arista Records founder Davis to his new venture, J Records. Keys collaborated with her songwriting partner Kerry Brothers Jnr. and luminaries such as executive producer Jermaine Dupri and soul legend Isaac Hayes on her debut for the label. The exotic fusion of urban R&B, hip-hop and blues on the chart-topping Songs In A Minor, released in July 2001 and featuring the bestselling single ‘Fallin’’, helped establish the album as a minor classic of modern soul. Keys was rewarded with five trophies at the following year’s Grammy Awards, including Song Of The Year (‘Fallin’’), Best R&B Album (Songs In A Minor) and Best New Artist.
Keys’ follow-up album was two years in the making and was one of the most eagerly anticipated releases of 2003. Finally appearing in mid-December, The Diary Of Alicia Keys debuted at the top of the US charts in the first week of its release. The single ‘You Don’t Know My Name’ was also a big hit, taking up residency in the Top 5 at the start of 2004. The singer topped the charts later in the year with the Usher duet, ‘My Boo’. Her third album, a live recording for the MTV series Unplugged, provided Keys with her third US chart-topper in late 2005.
In the following two years Keys branched out into acting, making appearances in the movies Smokin’ Aces (2006) and The Nanny Diaries (2007). She also opened the Long Island-based complex the Oven Studios with songwriting partner Brothers. The duo maintained their hit formula with Keys’ fourth album, As I Am, which debuted at the top of the US charts in late 2007. The single ‘No One’ also reached the number 1 position in the singles chart.
