Who doesn't know Alicia Keys? a singer, songwriter, pianist extraordinaire, producer, author, news correspondent, philanthropist, an actress who already won 9 Grammy award, 11 Billboard Music Award, 3 American Music Award and much more amazing things that she'd already reached in her music career.
The Talented Little Girl
Alicia keys was born in Manhattan, New York City in January 25th 1980 with name Alicia Augello Cook. She raised by her mom, a profesional actress, Teresa Augello. The star shine of Alicia Keys is noticeably very early. In March 1985, Augello gets her daughter a gig on The Cosby Show when she was 5, and enrolls her in gymnastics, piano, and ballet. She started to play piano at seven & graduated from Professional Performing Arts School at 16 as valedictorian (Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution). *She's smart! isn't she?! ;)*
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| Lil' Alicia Keys on The Cosby Show (source:people.com) |
At 14, Keys met Jeff Robinson at a Harlem PAL (Police Activities League), and he became her trusted friend and manager. At 16, Keys attended Columbia University, but leaved her studies for a record deal with Columbia Records. but in the middle of the contract, she encountered creative differences with the label, and then head of Arista Record, Clive Davis, bring out 17-year-old's Keys to follows him to his new label, J Records. in her new label, she recorded the songs "Rock wit U" and "Rear View Mirror", which were featured on the soundtracks to the films Shaft (2000) and Dr.Dolittle (2001).
Albums
In June 2001, Keys released her debut album, Songs in A Minor. In the first week, this album sold 236,000 copies and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The album was a phenomenon and sold over 6.2 million copies in the United States, 12 million copies worldwide and certified six times Platinum by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). No wonder, she later became the best-selling new artist and best-selling R&B artist of 2001 in US. Her first album brought her to win five Grammy Awards in 2002. it made her ties with Lauryn Hill for most Grammys won by a female artist. Her appearance in music biz was paid many people attention. This 'new girl' came , playing piano with a soulful voice and soulful performance. She blent classical piano with RnB, soul and jazz into her music.
In 2003, The Diary of Alicia Keys was released. It sold eight million copies worldwide and also added another 4 Grammy Awards in 2005. in an interview eith Time, Keys said "Everything is so much better on this album. My first album, I felt good about it, but I didn't know what I was doing." "If I Ain't Got You" became the first single by a female artist to remain on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for over a year.
Also in 2004, Alicia Keys released her novel Tears for Water: Songbook of Poems and Lyrics, a collection of unreleased poems from her journals and lyrics. The book sold over US$500,000 and Keys made The New York Times bestseller list in 2005.
In October 2005. Keys released her first live album, Unplugged. it sold 196,000 units in its first week release and debuted at number one on the U.S Billboard 200 chart. The album sold one million copies in the United States, where it was certified Platinum by the RIAA, and two million copies worldwide. The debut of Keys' Unplugged was the highest for an MTV Unplugged album since Nirvana's in 1994.
It's like there's no word of 'enough' in her dictionnary, As I am, her third album released in November 2007 and remain another great achievements. it sold 742,000 copies in its first week and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. It was a largest first week sales of her career and became her fourth consecutive number one album, As great as Britney Spears that had most consecutive number-one debuts on the Billboard 200 before.
In December 2009, Keys released her fourth album, The Element of Freedom. it sold 417,000 copies in the first week and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. She was ranked as the top R & B recording artist of the 2000-2009 decade and number five ranked as artist of the decade by Billboard magazine. In the United Kingdom, The Element of Freedom became her first album to top the UK Albums Chart.
Film Debut
Not enough of singing and just makin music, in 2007 Alicia Keys made her film debut in early 2007 in the film crime Smokin' Aces, she played with Ben Affleck and Andi Garcia. Her appearance on that film was given much praise from her co-stars in the film. The acting was so natural and blow everybody away. In her second film, The Nanny Diaries, she also earned much praise and acted well. in that film, she co-starred alongside Scarlett Johnsson and Chris Evans. She also guest starred as herself in one episode of the drama series, Cane.
Her brilliant acting also can be seen in her latest film, The Secret Life of Bees. In the movie, she played with many big names such as: Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah and Sophie Okonedo. She played the role as June Boatwright. The film itself earned $11.1 million.
She Givin' Back
As a successful singer, she must be earned much dollars from her pieces, but those bling and faboulosity does not make her forget to givin back. In 2002, Keys joined with "Keep A Child Alive (KCA)," a non-profit organization dedicated to providing life-saving anti-retroviral treatment to children and their families with HIV/AIDS in Africa and the developing world. She and KCA have set a goal to increase the 17 percent of Sub-Saharan Africans who are receiving treatment to 72 percent from the total of people who desperately need the AIDS treatment. She also collaborated with Bono (lead singer of U2) in recorded a song "Don't Give Up (Africa) to encourage people to do some charity. Keys, together with another artist like Kanye West, Damian Marley, Fela Kuti, David Bowie, Lenny Kravitz, Angelique Kidjo, John Mayer, Paul Simon, Nas, Common, and John Legend help raise AIDS awareness and funds which provided ARVs to those desperately in need, help build clinics, pay for hospital staff, food and even care for orphans of the pandemic.
Romance Buzz
In 2009, Keys makes headlines when media found out her relationship with hip hop producer Kasseem "Swizz Beatz" Dean – while in the process of divorcing his wife Mashonda. She happens worked together with Swizz in producing Whitney Houston's latest album. Later in May 2010, they confirmed that they're enganged and expecting a child together. Not too long after that, Keys and Swizz Beatz held a wedding celebration on the French island of Corsica on July 31, 2010. Keys gave birth to a son, Egypt Daoud Dean, on October 14, 2010 in New York City.
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| Alicia Keys-Swizz Beatz wedding @the french island, Corsica |
-Teera-
references:
www.aliciakeys.com
www.people.com
www.mtv.com
