Alicia Keys

Alicia grew up in New York. Her parents separated when she was young, and from then on her mom looked after her. From the age of seven, she learned piano, quickly becoming proficient as a classically-trained musician. Alicia’s real love though was R&B - early on she began to compose songs to sing at the piano. At the exceptionally early age of 16 she graduated from the Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan, majoring in choir.

Her first professional musical successes were contributing significant songs to movie soundtracks – she co-wrote and sung the song Dah Dee Dah which featured in the smash hit movie Men in Black.

In 2000, Alicia signed to J Records. Her debut album, Songs In A Minor was released in 2001. The record went on to sell more than 10 million copies worldwide, and won five Grammy Awards including Best R&B Album and Best New Artist. Singles off the album include Fallin’ and A Woman’s Worth.

Her follow up disc, The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003) went 7 times platinum, and spawned the hits If I Ain’t Got You, and You Don’t Know My Name

2005 saw the release of the album Unplugged, a live performance recording with MTV. It went straight to the top of the charts, making Keys the first female R&B artist ever to have 3 back-to-back number 1 albums.

After a wait of nearly four years, Alicia’s third studio album, As I Am hit the shops in late 2007. The first single off the album, No One raced into the charts, reaching #1.