That Alicia Keys is one of the biggest singers, writters and pianists of the actuality, no one has doubts, but not everything was a sea of roses.
Alicia Keys, artistic name of Alicia Joseph Augello Cook, was born the 25th January 1981 in Manhattan. Daughter of Teresa “Terri” Augello and Craig Cook, she lived all her childhood and adolescence in a very problematic neighbourhood of New York, Hell’s Kitchen.
Always supported by her mother for the music, at the age of seven she started having piano lessons. Very quickly she fell in love with the melodies of famous classic composers, like Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin (her favourite). When she was just fourteen, she wrote her first song, named “Butterflyz”, which was included in her first album – “Songs in a Minor”.
However, Alicia got known with her first single, “Fallin’”, which was a huge success worldwide.
At sixteen years old, being the valedictorian of her class, she graduated in the school of Profissional Arts of Manhattan. With the help of a scholarship, she started studying at the Columbia University, but the course wouldn’t be finished, because Alicia decided to go trought her musical career.
Everything started when she decided to record a demo and send it to Jermaine Dupri, that used to represent Columbia Records. He liked what he listened so he signed a contract with Alicia and the song “Dah Dee Dah (Sexy Thing)” which would be her first profissional record in a studio.
Nevertheless, later, she would rescind her contract with Columbia Records, alleging creative incompatabilities between them, because Alicia wanted to write and produce her own songs. So that was when she met Clive Davis, and Alicia signed a contract with J Records.
In 2001, during the releasing of her first album – “Songs in A Minor” – the success was more than guaranteed. The sales showed a huge success, because it sell about 235 000 copies in it’s first week. The first single, “Fallin’”, stood more than 6 weeks in the first position of the list of the most sold of Billboard and the second single, “A Woman’s Worth”, was also one of the most sold.
Her talent, together with her work and the thousands of sales were translated in five Grammys, between them, Best New Artist and Song of The Year (Fallin’).
Later, in March 2002, a re-edition of “Songs in A Minor” named “Remixed & Unplugged in A Minor” was released, with 8 remixes and 7 acoustic versions of some songs of her first album.
Her work was compared to other icons from the 70′s, like Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye, and the reviews were very positive.
In December 2003, Alicia released her second album, “The Diary of Alicia Keys”, which was loved by the musical critics and it’s sales were once again a huge success, because it sold over 600 000 copies in it’s first week in United States. Until today, the album sold over eight millions of copies.
“You Don’t Know My name” and “If I Ain’t Got You”, were the first singles of the album and stood between the five most sold of Billboard. The last one become the first single of a feminine artist to stay more than a year in the top of the list of the most sold ones, becoming the R&B artist most sold of 2004 in the United States.
In 2005, Alicia would win more four Grammys: Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (“If I Ain’t Got You”), Best R&B Song (“You Don’t Know My Name”), Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (“My Boo” with Usher) and Best R&B Album (“The Diary of Alicia Keys”).
In the 14th July 2005, she recorded her third album, “Unplugged”, in the Academy of Music of Brooklyn and was released in CD and DVD the 11th October 2005. It sold over 200 000 copies in it’s first week, becoming the album the most sold in United States, in that week, according to Billboard.
In 2006, the death of a family member and the pressure of the medias, made that Alicia had a depression. One trip to Egypt, as a shelter, was an excellent idea, because Alicia came back more releaved and stronger.
It was time to start working and the result was “As I Am”, which according to Alicia – “I am in love with this album. It’s very fresh and new” – It was released the 13th November 2007 in United States. The first single was “No One”, and was almost 11 weeks, which five of them in #1, in Billboard’s Hot100. The year 2007 also revealed an exulting year for Alicia in the area of cinema, because she participated in “Smokin’ Aces” as Georgia Sykes, and in the movie “Diary of a Nanny” as Lynette.
And we can’t forget the fantastic documentary “Alicia in Africa: Journey to the Motherland” and the organization “Keep a Child Alive”, where Alicia is the Global Ambassador.
With more than 22 millions of albums and singles sold worldwide and having more than 80 awards, including eleven Grammys, ten Billboard Music Awards and three American Music Awards, and with an amazing comunity of fans, Alicia Keys is still the same person, not letting the fame change her. Humble and charming, she admits that she’s just a normal girl.

[The text above was produced by the team Alicia 4 Life and it's extremely forbidden to copy without our knowledge.]