Alicia Keys Biography

Early Life

Alicia Keys was born Alicia J. Augello-Cook on the 25th of January, 1981 in Harlem, New York. Her father’s name is Craig Cook and her mother’s name is Teresa ‘Terri’ Augello. She does not have any siblings.

Alicia’s parents were separated while she was very young, and she was raised by her mother. Alicia’s musical talents were notable, even in her childhood, and her mother kept encouraging her to develop them.

In 1985 (Alicia was 4 years old!) Alicia and her friends won the part of Rudy Huxtable’s guests in an episode of The Bill Cosby Show.

She started learning how to play the piano when she was 7 years old and she was very interested in learning the music of classical composers such as Beethoven and Mozart. Chopin was her particular favorite.

At 16, Alicia graduated from the Professional Performing Arts School. She gave up on college to pursue her musical career.

Music Career

In 1997, Alicia Keys signed a contract with the So So Def label and her first song ‘Dah Dee Dah (Sexy Thing)’ was recorded. It appeared on the soundtrack of the hit movie ‘Men In Black’. The song was never released as a single. She then moved on to sign a contract with the J Records label and her two songs ‘Rock Wit U’ and ‘Rear View Mirror’ were recorded. They appeared on the soundtracks of the movies ‘Shaft’ and ‘Dr. Doolittle’ respectively.

In 2001, Alicia launched her first album ‘Songs in A Minor’ which went on to sell over eleven million CDs worldwide. She won 5 Grammy Awards in 2002 for songs from that album. The title ‘Fallin’ got her the ‘Best New Artist’ and the ‘Song of the Year’ awards.

In 2003 Alicia released her album ‘The Diary of Alicia Keys’ which was applauded by critics all over the world and has sold over eight million copies to date. In the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, she won the ‘Best R&B Video’ award for her single ‘If I Ain’t Got You’ and in 2005 won the ‘Best R&B Video’ award for her single ‘Karma’ – both from this album.

In 2005, Alicia Keys recorded an MTV Unplugged series of her performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The CD for that recording was released later that year, and has sold over a million copies worldwide. It gained her 4 Grammy Nominations and won 3 NAACP Image Awards for ‘Outstanding Female Artist’, ‘Outstanding Song’ and ‘Outstanding Music Video’.

Alicia has been working on her next album since 2006, which is slated to be released in 2007.

She is also set to appear in her first movie titled ‘Smokin’ Aces’ co-starring with Ben Affleck, Ray Liotta, and Andy Garcia. The movie is expected to release in 2007 as well.

Another movie release scheduled in 2007 is ‘The Nanny Diaries’ where she stars along with Scarlett Johansson.

She would also be acting in the Disney movie ‘Bell, Book and Candle’.

Alicia Keys would be playing the lead role in the movie ‘Composition in Black and White’ which is a biopic about the 1940s biracial piano prodigy Philippa Schuyler.