Style(s) music(aux) : Music

Nationality : United States

Bio:

Alicia Keys is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, pianist, record producer, actress and author who has sold over twenty million albums worldwide and has won numerous awards, including nine Grammy Awards, eleven Billboard Music Awards, and three American Music Awards.

Keys is the only child born to an Irish-Italian mother, Teresa "Terri" Augello (a paralegal and part-time actress), and a Jamaican father, Craig Cook (a flight attendant), in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.
Keys parents separated during her early childhood, and she was subsequently raised by her mother. She graduated from the Professional Performing Arts School, a prestigious high school in Manhattan, as valedictorian at the age of sixteen. Although accepted to Columbia University with a scholarship, she decided to drop out and pursue her musical career.

Keys signed a demo deal with Jermaine Dupri and his So So Def label, then distributed by Columbia Records. She co-wrote and recorded a song entitled "Dah Dee Dah (Sexy Thing)", which appeared on the soundtrack to the 1997 blockbuster, "Men in Black". The song was Keys first professional recording; however, it was never released as a single and her record contract with Columbia Records ended quickly. Keys later met Clive Davis, who signed her to Arista Records, which has since disbanded. Following Davis to his newly-formed J Records label, she recorded the songs "Rock wit U" and "Rear View Mirror", featured on the soundtracks to the films Shaft (2000) and Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001) respectively. Keys then released her debut album, Songs in A Minor that sold over 235,000 copies in its first week.

That album was her first break into the music industry. Then she released the diary of Alicia Keys, an unplugged album. Her latest album, "As I am" is enjoying critical acclaim worldwide.

Alicia Keys is also an actress. She started her career in 1985, when her and a group of other girls played the parts of Rudy Huxtables sleepover guests in an episode of The Cosby Show called "Slumber Party".

More recently, Keys has co-starred in a film alongside Ben Affleck, Ray Liotta, Common, Andy Garcia, Jeremy Piven, and Ryan Reynolds entitled Smokin Aces, as an assassin named Georgia Sykes. Keys has received much praise from her co-stars in the film; Ryan Reynolds said Keys has "natural" acting ability as he was surprised she had not starred in films before. In her second film, The Nanny Diaries, released on August 24, 2007, Keys co-stars alongside Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans as Lynette, Johanssons character Annies best friend.

Keys and her long-term manager Jeff Robinson have signed a first-look film production deal to develop live-action and animated projects with Disney. Keys and Robinson have also formed a television production company called Big Pita. Their first project will be a CW Network TV series inspired by Keys experiences as a biracial child growing up in New York, similar to the networks "Everybody Hates Chris".