Just the Beginning....

R&B and hip-hop artist, Alicia Keys, was born January 25, 1981, and was raised in Manhattan, New York. Alicia Keys' musical talent began to show when she was just five years old. Alicia Keys took piano lessons with the Suzuki method at an early age. Alicia Keys developed her vocal performance singing in choir and began song writing in her early teens. Alicia Keys had a competitive grade point average and was able to graduate when she was 16. Alicia Keys' musical influences growing up were Tupac, Miles Davis, Nina Simone and even Beethoven.

Alicia Keys was approached by record labels and signed with Clive Davis' and Artista Records in 1998. In 2001 the 19 year-old released her first CD, Songs in A Minor. The album even debuted at Number One on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. The main reason it did so well was the first single, Fallin'. The song's a huge hit, and turned Alicia Keys into a household name. Alicia Keys' album also includes a groovy cover of a Prince song, How Come You Don't Call Me.

Fallin'

A Woman's Worth

How Come You Don't Call Me


The Diary of Alicia Keys

Keys followed up her debut with The Diary of Alicia Keys, released in December 2003. The album was hailed by critics and debuted at number one in the U.S., selling over 618,000 copies its first week of release, the sixth highest album sales by a female and second by R&B female. To date, it has sold nine million copies worldwide. The singles "You Don't Know My Name" and "If I Ain't Got You" both reached the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and another single, "Diary," entered the top 10. The classical/hip-hop-influenced "Karma" was less successful, peaking at number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 but more successful on Top 40 Mainstream peaking at number three. "If I Ain't Got You" became the first single by a female artist to remain on the sixty-three-year-old Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart for more than one year, surpassing Mary J. Blige's "Your Child" (forty-nine weeks). Keys went on to become the best-selling female R&B artist of 2004.

At the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, Keys won "Best R&B Video" for "If I Ain't Got You" and also led Lenny Kravitz and Stevie Wonder in their version of Wonder's "Higher Ground." Also the following year in 2005 won "Best R&B Video" in her second year in a row for "Karma." At the 2005 Grammy Awards, she gave a performance of the album's second single, "If I Ain't Got You," and then joined Jamie Foxx and Quincy Jones in a rendition of "Georgia on My Mind," the Hoagy Carmichael's song made famous by Ray Charles. That evening, she won four Grammy Awards: "Best R&B Album" for The Diary of Alicia Keys, "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" for "If I Ain't Got You," "Best R&B Song" for "You Don't Know My Name," and "Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" for "My Boo" with Usher. She was also nominated for "Album of the Year" for The Diary of Alicia Keys, "Song of the Year" for "If I Ain't Got You," "Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" for "Diary" (featuring Tony! Toni! Toné!), and "Best R&B Song" for "My Boo."

You Don't Know My Name

If I Ain't Got You

Diary

Karma