Did You Know
'''Alicia Augello Cook''' (born January 25, 1981), better known by her stage name '''Alicia Keys''', is an American recording artist, musician and actress. She was raised in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York by her single mother, where Keys made a television appearance on ''The Cosby Show'' at the age of four. She attended Professional Performing Arts School and graduated at 16. She later attended Columbia University before dropping out to pursue her music career. Keys released her debut album with J Records, having had previous record deals first with Columbia and then Arista Records.
Keys' debut album, ''Songs in A Minor'', was a commercial success, selling over 12 million copies worldwide. She became the best-selling new artist and best-selling R&B artist of 2001. The album earned Keys five Grammy Awards in 2002, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for "Fallin'". Her second studio album, ''The Diary of Alicia Keys'', was released in 2003 and was also another success worldwide, selling eight million copies. The album garnered her an additional four Grammy Awards in 2005. Later that year, she released her first live album, ''Unplugged'', which debuted at number one in the United States. She became the first female to have an ''MTV Unplugged'' album to debut at number one and the highest since Nirvana in 1994.
Keys made guest appearances in several television series in the following years. She made her film debut in ''Smokin' Aces'' and went on to appear in ''The Nanny Diaries'' in 2007. Her third studio album, ''As I Am'', was released in the same year and sold six million copies worldwide, earning Keys an additional three Grammy Awards. The following year, she appeared in ''The Secret Life of Bees'', which earned her a nomination at the NAACP Image Awards. Throughout her career, Keys has won numerous awards and has sold over 30 million albums worldwide, establishing herself as one of the best-selling artists of her time.
|
|
Alicia Keys Tickets at your only Visual Ticket Broker |
Keys was born in the Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem, in New York City, New York, to Teresa "Terri" Augello, a paralegal and part-time actress, and Craig Cook, a flight attendant.[5] Keys' mother is of Irish, Scottish,[6] and Italian descent and her father is Jamaican.[7] Keys describes herself as comfortable with her biracial heritage : "I grew up in New York, and thank God, I never had to go through that in regards to, 'You're not black enough, you're not white enough,' the whole kind of white/black-mixture thing. I never had to go through that. I went through prejudices and all, surely. But I never had to battle with those two parts of me.
|
|
|
Selling over 235,000 copies in its first week (more than 50,000 of those on its first day), Songs in A Minor, released on June 5, 2001, went on to sell over ten million units worldwide,[13] and established Keys' popularity both outside and inside the U.S., where she became the best-selling new artist of 2001 (as well as the best-selling R&B artist). The album's first single, "Fallin'", gained radio airplay on many different radio formats and spent six weeks at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Keys performed Donny Hathaway's 1973 song "Someday We'll All Be Free" at the America: A Tribute to Heroes televised benefit concert following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Another single from Songs in A Minor, "A Woman's Worth", made the top ten in the U.S. as well. The album led Keys to win five Grammy Awards in 2002: "Song of the Year", "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance", and "Best R&B Song" for "Fallin'", "Best New Artist", and "Best R&B Album"; "Fallin'" was also nominated for "Record of the Year". This made Keys become one of the five female solo artists who won five Grammy Awards in a single night alongside Lauryn Hill (1999), Norah Jones (2003), Beyoncé (2004), and Amy Winehouse (2008).[14] On October 22, 2002, Songs in A Minor was reissued as Remixed & Unplugged in A Minor, including eight remixes and seven unplugged versions of some of the songs from the original album.
Critical reviews of the album were mostly positive.[15] Keys' work had a sound similar to 1970s soul singers such as Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder along with hip hop influences like those apparent in neo soul artists such as Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, and D'Angelo.
By that time, Keys wrote, produced, played the piano, and sang background for Christina Aguilera's song "Impossible", from the latter's 2002 album Stripped.
|
