About Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys, born Alicia Augello Cook, was born on January 25, 1981 in Manhattan, New York. The son of a paralegal mother and a flight attendant father, who divorced when she was 2, she was raised in Manhattan's infamous Hell's Kitchen district. At a young age she was exposed to the arts, and learned how to play the piano at age 7. When she was 12 she was accepted into the Professional Performing Arts School, where she graduated at the age of 16 as the valedictorian. She enrolled in Columbia University, and landed a recording contract with Columbia Records.
Her professional career got off to a rocky start, and was dropped from Columbia after a dispute. Clive Davis signed her to his newly founded J Records, and from there her career took off. She released her debut album, Songs in A Minor in 2001, which sold 6 million copies in the United States alone. Her sophomore album, The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003), had similar success, and cemented Keys' status as one of the leading female artists of the 2000s.
Keys is still a successful artist, with her latest album, The Element of Freedom, serving as a sign of everlasting success. To date she has sold 30 million records worldwide.
