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Arts & Entertainment
Alicia Keys:
pop singer
Alicia Keys is a classically trained pianist, skimming her fingers over the black-and-white keys with tender grace. But it is Keys' sultry voice that turned record executives' heads and made the young musician a star. Keys'debut album, "Songs in A Minor," has been a chart-topper, and the hit single "Fallin'" was nominated for two Grammys.
FULL NAME
Alicia Keys
BORN
January 25, 1981
EDUCATION
Keys attended the Professional Performance Arts School in Manhattan, where she majored in choir. After graduating at age 16, she attended Columbia University but quit school so she could pursue singing professionally.
CAREER
A native New Yorker, Keys was encouraged at a young age to play the piano. She took lessons until she was a teen-ager but became a choir major after enrolling in Manhattan's Professional Performance Arts School -- the school made famous in the 1980 movie "Fame." Columbia University beckoned following her graduation from the arts-oriented high school. But the lure of the professional music business proved too strong, and Keys left Columbia to sign a record deal with Arista Records in 1998.
When Arista head Clive Davis joined J Records, Keys followed. She's been working closely with Davis since then. Keys' debut topped the Billboard 200 album chart from the beginning, and critics hailed the musician as a unique talent. She also writes her own lyrics.
AWARDS
The newcomer has been nominated for six Grammys this year. Her No. 1 smash "Fallin' " has been nominated for the Grammy record and song of the year. "Songs in A Minor" was among 2001's 10 top-selling discs, with 4.1 million albums sold. Keys also has been voted best new artist in a video at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards.
PERSONAL QUOTE
"I would love to see less focus on the physical," Keys told Rolling Stone magazine in December. "It's a very physical business, very skin-driven, very body-driven, and I have big fights about that."
RELATED WEBSITE
Rolling Stone: Alicia Keys Biography
