Alicia Keys A High Note with Fallin

Keys, a New York native, has become a celebrity seemingly overnight. She says she is "keeping it real" and won't let fame go to her head. She credits her mother, Terri Augello, for making her believe she could do anything. Keys's mother is Italian and her father, Craig Cook, is African-American, but Key's says she has never had a problem with being bi-racial. She says that growing up in New York surrounded by all different types of people helped her to never feel out of place.

Keys started ballet at 5, classical piano at 7 and attended New York's Professional Performing Arts School where she maintained an "A" average. She began writing songs in early adolescence and was signed to her first record deal at age 16 with Columbia records. Keys was accepted at Columbia University on a partial scholarship at 17. Her college career did not last long, and record exec Clive Davis bought her contract from Columbia and signed her with Arista before taking her to his new record label, J Records.

Even with her meteoric rise to fame, Keys has remained down to earth and humble. She keeps a good attitude about herself and her fame. She says in an interview with US Magazine, "When I go home and take off all that makeup and look at myself in the mirror, it makes me realize- 'This is you.' At night, about two in the morning, hair sticking up, busted old pajamas on, just chilling, that's who you are."