Alicia Keys

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Biography

Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), better known by her stage name Alicia Keys , is an American R& B singer-songwriter , record producer , and actress . Keys was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan|Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City . At age seven, Keys began playing the piano. She attended Professional Performing Arts School and graduated at 16 as valedictorian . Keys released her debut album with J Records , having had previous record deals first with Columbia Records|Columbia and then Arista Records .

Keys' debut album, Songs in A Minor , was a commercial success, selling over 12 million copies worldwide. She became the best-selling new artist and best-selling R& B artist of 2001. The album earned Keys five Grammy Award s in 2002, including Grammy Award for Best New Artist|Best New Artist and Grammy Award for Song of the Year|Song of the Year for " Fallin' ". Her second studio album, The Diary of Alicia Keys , was released in 2003 and was also another success worldwide, selling eight million copies. The album garnered her an additional four Grammy Awards in 2005. Later that year, she released her first live album , Unplugged (Alicia Keys album)|Unplugged , which debuted at number one in the United States. She became the first female to have an MTV Unplugged album to debut at number one and the highest since Nirvana (band)|Nirvana in 1994.

Keys made guest appearances on several television series in the following years, beginning with Charmed . She made her film debut in '' Smokin' Aces and went on to appear in The Nanny Diaries (film)|The Nanny Diaries in 2007. Her third studio album, As I Am , was released in the same year and sold six million copies worldwide, earning Keys an additional three Grammy Awards. The following year, she appeared in The Secret Life of Bees (film)|The Secret Life of Bees , which earned her a nomination at the NAACP Image Awards . She released her fourth album, The Element of Freedom '', in December 2009, which became Keys' first chart-topping album in the United Kingdom. Throughout her career, Keys has won list of awards and nominations received by Alicia Keys|numerous awards and has sold over 30 million albums worldwide and 25 million singles, which makes her one of the List of best-selling music artists|best selling artists of all time. Billboard (magazine)|Billboard magazine named her the top R& B artist of the 2000–2009 decade, establishing herself as one of the best-selling artists of her time. In 2010, VH1 included Keys on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Billboard magazine placed her number ten on their list of Top 50 R& B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years.

Life and career

1981–96: Early life

Keys was born Alicia Augello Cook on January 25, 1981, in the Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan|Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan , in New York City , New York . She is the only child of Teresa Augello, a paralegal and part-time actress, and Craig Cook, a flight attendant . Keys' mother is of Italian people|Italian , Scottish people|Scottish , and Irish people|Irish descent, and her father is African American ;"A lot of people believe I'm part Jamaican, though I'm not. I'm definitely black and Italian and a little Irish or Scottish" – Keys has expressed that she was comfortable with her multiracial|biracial heritage because she felt she was able to "relate to different cultures". Her parents separated when she was two and she was subsequently raised by her mother during her formative years in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan. In 1985, Keys made an appearance on The Cosby Show at the age of four, where she and a group of girls played the parts of The Cosby Show#Cast|Rudy Huxtable's sleepover guests in the episode "Slumber Party". Throughout her childhood, Keys was sent to music and dance classes by her mother. She began playing the piano when she was seven and learned classical music by composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart and Frédéric Chopin|Chopin . Keys enrolled in the Professional Performing Arts School at the age of 12, where she majored in choir and began writing songs at the age of 14. She graduated in three years as valedictorian at the age of 16.

In 1994 Keys met long-term manager Jeff Robinson after she enrolled in his brother's after-school program. The following year Robinson introduced Keys to her future A& R at Arista Records, Peter Edge, who later described his first impressions to HitQuarters : "I had never met a young R& B artist with that level of musicianship. So many people were just singing on top of loops and tracks, but she had the ability, not only to be part of hip-hop, but also to go way beyond that." Edge helped Robinson create a showcase for Keys and also got involved in developing her demo material. He was keen to sign Keys himself but was unable to do so at that time due to being on the verge of leaving his present record company. Keys signed to Columbia Records soon after. At the same time as signing a recording contract with Columbia Records, Keys was accepted into Columbia University . At first, Keys attempted to manage both but after four weeks dropped out of college to pursue her musical career fulltime.

1997–2000: Career beginnings

Keys signed a demo deal with Jermaine Dupri and So So Def Recordings , where she appeared on the label's Christmas album performing "The Little Drummer Girl". She also co-wrote and recorded a song entitled "Dah Dee Dah (Sexy Thing)", which appeared on the soundtrack to the 1997 film, Men in Black (film)|Men in Black . The song was Keys' first professional recording; however, it was never released as a single and her record contract with Columbia ended after a dispute with the label. Keys was unhappy with the label because her career had stalled during her two years under contract at Columbia due to executive indecision over her direction and major changes within the company. Keys called Clive Davis , who sensed a "special, unique" artist from her performance and signed her to Arista Records , which later disbanded. Keys almost chose Wilde as her stage name until her manager suggested the name Keys after a dream he had. Keys felt that name represented her both as a performer and person. Following Davis to his newly formed J Records label, she recorded the songs "Rock wit U" and "Rear View Mirror", which were featured on the soundtracks to the films Shaft (2000 film)|Shaft (2000) and Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), respectively.

2001–2002: Songs in A Minor

Keys released her first studio album, Songs in A Minor , in June 2001. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200| Billboard 200 and sold 236,000 copies in its first week. The album sold over 6.2 million copies in the United States, where it was certified six times music recording sales certification|Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It went on to sell over 12 million copies worldwide, establishing Keys' popularity both inside and outside the United States, where she became the best-selling new artist and best-selling R& B artist of 2001. The album's lead single, " Fallin' ", spent six weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100| Billboard Hot 100 . The album's second single, " A Woman's Worth ", was released in February 2002 and peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs , as her second Top 10 single in both charts. The album's third single, " How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore? #Alicia Keys version|How Come You Don't Call Me ", was released in June 2002 and peaked at number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 30 on the Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs . The album's fourth single, " Girlfriend (Alicia Keys song)|Girlfriend ", was released in November 2002 in UK and peaked at number 82 on the Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs .
The following year, the album was reissued as Remixed & Unplugged in A Minor , which included eight remix es and seven unplugged versions of the songs from the original.

Songs in A Minor led Keys to win five awards at the 44th Grammy Awards|2002 Grammy Awards : Grammy Award for Song of the Year|Song of the Year , Grammy Award for Best Female R& B Vocal Performance|Best Female R& B Vocal Performance , and Grammy Award for Best R& B Song|Best R& B Song for "Fallin'", Grammy Award for Best New Artist|Best New Artist , and Grammy Award for Best R& B Album|Best R& B Album ; "Fallin'" was also nominated for Grammy Award for Record of the Year|Record of the Year . Keys became the second female solo artist to win five Grammy Awards in a single night, following Lauryn Hill at the 41st Grammy Awards . That same year, she collaborated with Christina Aguilera for the latter's upcoming album Stripped (Christina Aguilera album)|Stripped on a song entitled "Impossible", which Keys wrote, co-produced, and provided with background vocals. During the early 2000s, Keys also made small cameos in television series Charmed and American Dreams .

2003–2005: The Diary of Alicia Keys and Unplugged

Keys followed up her debut with The Diary of Alicia Keys , which was released in December 2003. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200| Billboard 200 , selling over 618,000 copies its first week of release, becoming the largest first-week sales for a female artist in 2003. It sold 4.4 million copies in the United States and was certified four times music recording sales certification|Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America|RIAA . It sold eight million copies worldwide, becoming the sixth biggest-selling album by a female artist and the second biggest-selling album by a female R& B artist. The album's lead single, " You Don't Know My Name ", peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs for eight consecutive weeks, his first Top 10 single in both charts since 2002 's " A Woman's Worth ". The album's second single, " If I Ain't Got You ", was released in February 2004 and peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs for six weeks. The album's third single, " Diary (Alicia Keys song)|Diary ", peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, being their third consecutive Top 10 single in both charts. The album's fourth and final single, " Karma (Alicia Keys song)|Karma ", which peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 17 on the Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs , first release to fail to achieve top ten status on both charts. "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. Keys also collaborated with recording artist Usher (entertainer)|Usher on the song " My Boo (Usher and Alicia Keys song)|My Boo " from his 2004 album, Confessions (Usher album)|Confessions (Special Edition) . The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks and Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs for three weeks, became her first number-one single in Hot 100 since 2001's " Fallin' ".

Keys won MTV Video Music Award for Best R& B Video|Best R& B Video for "If I Ain't Got You" at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards ; she performed the song and " Higher Ground (Stevie Wonder song)|Higher Ground " with Lenny Kravitz and Stevie Wonder . Later that year, Keys released her novel Tears for Water: Songbook of Poems and Lyrics , a collection of unreleased poems from her journals and lyrics. The title derived from one of her poems, "Love and Chains" from the line: "I don't mind drinking my tears for water." She said the title is the foundation of her writing because "everything I have ever written has stemmed from my tears of joy, of pain, of sorrow, of depression, even of question". The book sold over US$500,000 and Keys made The New York Times bestseller list in 2005. The following year, she won a second consecutive award for Best R& B Video at the MTV Video Music Awards for the video "Karma". Keys performed "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 song made famous by Ray Charles in 1960 at the 47th Grammy Awards|2005 Grammy Awards . That evening, she won four Grammy Awards: Best Female R& B Vocal Performance for "If I Ain't Got You", Best R& B Song for "You Don't Know My Name", Best R& B Album for The Diary of Alicia Keys , and Grammy Award for Best R& B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals|Best R& B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals " for " My Boo (Usher and Alicia Keys song)|My Boo " with Usher (entertainer)|Usher .

Keys performed and taped her installment of the MTV Unplugged series in July 2005 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music . During this session, Keys added new arrangements to her original songs and performed a few choice cover version|covers . The session was released on CD and DVD in October 2005. Simply titled Unplugged (Alicia Keys album)|Unplugged , the album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart with 196,000 units sold in its first week of release. 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 (band)|Nirvana 's 1994 MTV Unplugged in New York and the first Unplugged by a female artist to debut at number one. The album's first single, " Unbreakable (Alicia Keys song)|Unbreakable ", peaked at number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number four on the Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs. It remained at number one on the Billboard Adult R& B Airplay|Hot Adult R& B Airplay for 11 weeks. The album's second and final single, " Every Little Bit Hurts ", was released in January 2006, it failed to enter the U.S. charts.

Keys opened a recording studio in Long Island , New York , called The Oven Studios, which she co-owns with her production and songwriting partner Kerry Brothers, Jr.|Kerry "Krucial" Brothers . The studio was designed by renowned studio architect John Storyk of WSDG , designer of Jimi Hendrix ' Electric Lady Studios . Keys and Brothers are the co-founders of KrucialKeys Enterprises, a production and songwriting team who assisted Keys in creating her albums as well as create music for other artists.

2006–2008: Film debut and As I Am

In 2006, Keys won three NAACP Image Awards , including NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Female Artist|Outstanding Female Artist and NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Song|Outstanding Song for "Unbreakable". She also received the Starlight Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame . In October 2006, she played the voice of Mommy Martian in the " list of Backyardigans episodes#Mission To Mars|Mission to Mars " episode of the children's television series The Backyardigans , in which she sang an original song, "Almost Everything Is Boinga Here". That same year, Keys nearly suffered a mental breakdown . Her grandmother had died and her family was heavily dependent on her. She felt she needed to "escape" and went to Egypt for three weeks. She explained: "That trip was definitely the most crucial thing I've ever done for myself in my life to date. It was a very difficult time that I was dealing with, and it just came to the point where I really needed to—basically, I just needed to run away, honestly. And I needed to get as far away as possible."

Keys made her film debut in early 2007 in the crime film '' Smokin' Aces , co-starring as an assassin named Georgia Sykes opposite Ben Affleck and Andy García . Keys received much praise from her co-stars in the film; Reynolds said that Keys was "so natural" and that she would "blow everybody away". Smokin' Aces'' had a hit moderate performance at the box office, earning only $57,103,895 worldwide during its theatrical run. In the same year, Keys earned further praise for her second film, The Nanny Diaries (film)|The Nanny Diaries , based on the 2002 The Nanny Diaries|novel of the same name , where she co-starred alongside Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans (actor)|Chris Evans . The Nanny Diaries had a hit moderate performance at the box office, earning only $44,638,886 worldwide during its theatrical run. She also guest starred as herself in the " List of Cane (TV Series) Episodes|One Man Is an Island " episode of the drama series Cane (TV series)|Cane .

Keys released her third studio album, As I Am , in November 2007; it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200| Billboard 200 , selling 742,000 copies in its first week. It gained Keys her largest first week sales of her career and became her fourth consecutive number one album, tying her with Britney Spears for the most consecutive number-one debuts on the Billboard 200 by a female artist. The week became the second largest sales week of 2007 and the largest sales week for a female solo artist since singer Norah Jones ' album Feels Like Home (Norah Jones album)|Feels like Home in 2004. The album has sold nearly four million copies in the United States and has been certified three times music recording sales certification|Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America|RIAA . It has sold nearly six million copies worldwide. Keys received five nominations for As I Am at the 2008 American Music Award and ultimately won two. The album's lead single, " No One (Alicia Keys song)|No One ", peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100| Billboard Hot 100 for fifth consecutive weeks and Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs for ten consecutive weeks, became her first number-one single in Hot 100 since 2004's "My Boo" and becoming Keys' third and fifth number-one single on each chart, respectively. The album's second single, " Like You'll Never See Me Again ", was released in late 2007 and peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs for seven consecutive weeks. From October 27, 2007, when "No One" reached No. 1, through February 16, 2008, the last week "Like You'll Never See Me Again" was at No. 1, the Keys was on top of the chart for 17 weeks, more consecutive weeks than any other artist in Hot R& B/Hip/Hop Songs chart. The album's third single, " Teenage Love Affair ", which peaked at number 54 on the ' Billboard Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs . The album's fourth and final single, " Superwoman (Alicia Keys song)|Superwoman ", which peaked at number 82 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 12 on the Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs .

"No One" earned Keys the awards for Grammy Award for Best Female R& B Vocal Performance|Best Female R& B Vocal Performance and Grammy Award for Best R& B Song|Best R& B Song at the 50th Grammy Awards|2008 Grammy Awards . Keys opened the ceremony singing Frank Sinatra 's 1950s song " Learnin' the Blues " as a "duet" with archival footage of Sinatra in video and "No One" with John Mayer later in the show. Keys also won Best Female R& B Artist during the show. She starred in "Fresh Takes", a commercial micro-series created by Dove (brand)|Dove Go Fresh, which premiered during The Hills on MTV from March to April 2008. The premiere celebrated the launch of new Dove Go Fresh. She also signed a deal as spokesperson with Energy Brands|Glacéau's VitaminWater to endorse the product, and was in an American Express commercial for the "Are you a Cardmember? " campaign. Keys, along with The White Stripes ' guitarist and lead vocalist Jack White (musician)|Jack White , recorded the Another Way to Die|theme song to Quantum of Solace , the first duet in Bond soundtrack history. In 2008, Keys was ranked in at number 80 the Billboard Hot 100| Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists. She also starred in The Secret Life of Bees (film)|The Secret Life of Bees , a film adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd 's acclaimed 2003 bestseller The Secret Life of Bees|novel of the same name alongside Jennifer Hudson , Dakota Fanning , Paul Bettany and Queen Latifah , released in October 2008 via Fox Searchlight Pictures|Fox Searchlight . The Secret Life of Bees had a hit moderate performance at the box office, earning only $39,947,322 worldwide during its theatrical run. Her role earned her a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards . She also received three nominations at the 51st Grammy Awards|2009 Grammy Awards and won Grammy Award for Best Female R& B Vocal Performance|Best Female R& B Vocal Performance for "Superwoman".

In an interview with Blender (magazine)|Blender magazine, Keys allegedly said "' Gangsta rap ' was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other, 'gangsta rap' didn't exist" and went on to say that it was created by "the government". The magazine also claimed she said that Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. were "essentially assassinated, their beefs stoked by the government and the media, to stop another great black leader from existing". Keys later wrote a statement clarifying the issues and saying her words were misinterpreted. Later that year, Keys was criticized by anti-smoking campaigners after billboard posters for her forthcoming concerts in Indonesia featured a logo for the A Mild cigarette brand sponsored by tobacco firm Philip Morris International|Philip Morris . She apologized after discovering that the concert was sponsored by the firm and asked for "corrective actions". In response, the company withdrew its sponsorship.

2009–2010 The Element of Freedom , marriage and motherhood

Keys and manager Jeff Robinson signed a film production deal to develop live-action and animated projects with The Walt Disney Company|Disney . Their first film will be a remake of the 1958 comedy Bell, Book and Candle and will star Keys as a witch who casts a love spell to lure a rival's fiancé. Keys and Robinson also formed a television production company called Big Pita. Keys and Robinson will develop live-action and animated projects from their company, Big Pita and Little Pita, with Keys as producer, thespian, banner spearheading soundtrack and music supervision.

Keys collaborated with the record producer Swizz Beatz to write and produce " Million Dollar Bill " for Whitney Houston 's seventh studio album, I Look to You . Keys had approached Clive Davis for permission to submit a song for the album. Keys also collaborated with the recording artist Jay-Z on the song " Empire State of Mind " from his 2009 album, The Blueprint 3 . The song topped the Billboard Hot 100| Billboard Hot 100 and became her fourth number-one single on that chart. At the 53rd Grammy Awards ceremony, "Empire State of Mind" won Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration|Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and Grammy Award for Best Rap Song|Best Rap Song . It had also been one of the five nominees for Grammy Award for Record of the Year|Record of the Year .
The following month, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers honored Keys with the Golden Note Award, an award given to artists "who have achieved extraordinary career milestones". She collaborated with Spanish people|Spanish recording artist Alejandro Sanz for " Looking for Paradise ", which topped the Hot Latin Songs chart, this was Keys' first number one on all three charts, which also made her the first African-American of non-Hispanic origin to reach #1 on the Hot Latin Tracks . Keys released her fourth studio album , The Element of Freedom , in December 2009. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200| Billboard 200 , selling 417,000 copies in its first week. As part of the promotional drive for the album, she performed at the Cayman Island Jazz Festival on December 5, the final night of the three day festival which will be broadcast on Black Entertainment Television (BET). The album's lead single, " Doesn't Mean Anything ", has peaked at number 60 on the Billboard Hot 100| Billboard Hot 100 and number 14 on the Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs . Keys was ranked as the top R& B recording artist of the 2000–2009 decade by Billboard (magazine)|Billboard magazine and ranked at number five as artist of the decade, while her song, " No One (Alicia Keys song)|No One ", was ranked at number six on the magazine's songs of the decade. In the United Kingdom, The Element of Freedom became Keys' first album to top the UK Albums Chart . The album's second single, " Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart ", was released in November 2009 and peaked at number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs . The album's third single, " Put It in a Love Song ", featuring Grammy -winner Beyoncé , peaked at number 60 on the Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs . The music video for the single, which was filmed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil , has been postponed several times, and later it was confirmed that Alicia Keys' team made a decision not to release the video. The album's fourth single, " Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down ", was released in February 2010 and peaked at number 55 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 76 on the Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs . The album's fifth single, " Un-Thinkable (I'm Ready) ", was released in May 2010 and peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs , for twelve consecutive weeks and became the album's most successful single, becoming Keys' eighth number-one single on Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album's sixth and final single, " Wait Til You See My Smile ", was released in December 2010 in the U.K only.

In May 2009, Swizz Beatz announced that he and Keys were romantically involved, and in May 2010, a representative for Keys and Swizz Beatz confirmed that they were engaged and expecting a child together. During the time of the 2010 FIFA World Cup , the couple took part of a union and had the unborn child blessed in a Zulu people|Zulu ceremony, which took place in the Illovo, Gauteng|Illovo suburb of Johannesburg , South Africa . Keys and Swizz Beatz were married on the French island of Corsica on July 31, 2010. On October 14, 2010, Keys gave birth to a son, Egypt Daoud Ibarr Dean, in New York City .

2011-Present: Ten Year Celebration, Project 5, Stick Fly and Upcoming New Album

In June 2011, Songs in A Minor was re-released as deluxe and collector's editions in commemoration of its 10th anniversary. To support the release, Keys embarked on a four-city promotional tour, entitled Piano & I: A One Night Only Event With Alicia Keys , featuring only her piano. Keys is also set to co-produce the Broadway premiere of Stick Fly , which will open in December 2011. On September 26, 2011, was the premiere of Project 5 known as Five , short film that marks the debut of Alicia Keys as a director. It is a documentary of five episodes that tell stories of five women who were victims of breast cancer and how it affected their lives. The production also has co-direction of the actresses Jennifer Aniston , Demi Moore and film director Patty Jenkins .

On September 23, she performed at iHeart Music Festival and sang her new song "A Place Of My Own", which is present in her fifth studio album. On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding J Records along with Arista Records and Jive Records . With the shutdown, Keys (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) will release her future material on the RCA Records brand.

Musical style

An accomplished pianist, Keys incorporates piano into a majority of her songs and often writes about love, heartbreak and female empowerment. She has cited several musicians as her inspirations, including Prince (musician)|Prince , Nina Simone , Barbra Streisand , Marvin Gaye , Quincy Jones , Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder . Keys' style is rooted in gospel and vintage soul music, supplemented by bass and programmed drumbeats. She heavily incorporates classical piano with contemporary R& B|R& B , soul music|soul and jazz into her music. She began experimenting with other genres, including pop music|pop and rock music|rock , in her third studio album, As I Am , transitioning from neo soul to a 1980s and 1990s R& B sound with her fourth album, The Element of Freedom . Patrick Huguenin of the Daily News (New York)|New York Daily News stated that her incorporation of classical piano riff s contributed to her breakout success. Jet (magazine)|Jet magazine states she "thrives" by touching her fans with "piano mastery, words and melodious voice". The Independent described her style as consisting of "crawling blues coupled with a hip-hop backbeat", noting that her lyrics "rarely stray from matters of the heart". Blender (magazine)|Blender magazine referred to her as "the first new pop artist of the millennium who was capable of changing music."

Keys has a vocal range of a contralto , which spans three octaves. She can sing from B flat over an octave below middle C (B₂) to B below soprano C (B₅). Often referred to as the " honorific nicknames in popular music|Princess of Soul ", Keys has been commended as having a strong, raw and impassioned voice; others feel that her voice is "emotionally manufactured" at times and that she pushes her voice out of its natural range. Keys' songwriting is often criticized for lack of depth, which has led to her writing abilities being called limited. Her lyrics have been called generic, cliché d and that her songs revolve around generalities. Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune feels that she " around for multi-format hits rather than trying to project any sort of artistic vision". Diversely, Jon Pareles of Blender (magazine)|Blender magazine stated that the musical composition of her songs makes up for their lyrical weakness, while Gregory Stephen Tate of The Village Voice compared Keys' writing and production to 1970s music.

Joanna Hunkin of The New Zealand Herald reviewed one of Keys' performances, where Kylie Minogue also attended. She described Minogue's reaction to Keys' performance, saying "it was obvious she was just as much of a fan as the 10,000 other people at Vector Arena ". She went on to say that Minogue was "the original pop princess bowing down to the modern-day queen of soul". Hunkin characterized Keys' opening performance as a "headbanging, hip-gyrating performance" and her energy as "high-octane energy most bands save for their closing finale". At the end of her two-hour performance, fans "screamed, stomped and begged for a second encore". Hillary Crosley and Mariel Concepcion of Billboard (magazine)|Billboard magazine noted that her shows are "extremely coordinated" with the audience's attention span "consistently maintained". The show ended with a standing ovation and Keys "proved that a dynamic performance mixed with superior musicianship always wins". Throughout her career, Keys has won list of awards and nominations received by Alicia Keys|numerous awards and is listed on the Recording Industry Association of America 's list of best-selling music artists in the United States|best-selling artists in the United States, with 15 million RIAA certification|certified albums. She has sold over 30 million albums worldwide and has established herself as one of the best-selling artists of her time.

Philanthropy

Keys is the co-founder and Global Ambassador of Keep a Child Alive , a non-profit organization that provides medicine to families with HIV and AIDS in Africa. Keys and U2 lead singer Bono recorded a cover version of Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush 's " Don't Give Up (Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush song)|Don't Give Up ", in recognition of World AIDS Day 2005. Keys and Bono's version of the song was retitled "Don't Give Up (Africa)" to reflect the nature of the charity it was benefiting. She visited African countries such as Uganda , Kenya and South Africa to promote care for children affected by AIDS. Her work in Africa was documented in the documentary Alicia in Africa: Journey to the Motherland and was available in April 2008.

Keys has also donated to Frum tha Ground Up, a non-profit organization that aids children and teenagers with scholarship s. She performed in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , as part of the worldwide Live 8 concerts to raise awareness of the poverty in Africa and to pressure the G8 leaders to take action. In 2005, Keys performed on ReAct Now: Music & Relief and Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast , two benefit programs that raised money for those affected by Hurricane Katrina . In July 2007, Keys and Keith Urban performed The Rolling Stones ' 1969 song " Gimme Shelter " at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey at the Live Earth concert, New York City|American leg of the Live Earth concerts.

Keys performed Donny Hathaway 's 1973 song " Someday We'll All Be Free " at the America: A Tribute to Heroes televised benefit concert following the September 11 attacks . She participated in the Nobel Peace Prize Concert which took place at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo , Norway, on December 11, 2007, along with other various artists. She recorded a theme song for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama . She joined Joss Stone and Jay-Z on the effort, which served as a theme song for Obama's campaign. For her work, Keys was honored at the 2009 BET Awards with the Humanitarian Award. Keys performed the song "Prelude to a Kiss", retitled "Send Me an Angel", from her 2007 album As I Am for the " Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief " telethon in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake .

Discography

Songs in A Minor (2001)

The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003)

As I Am (2007)

The Element of Freedom (2009)

TBA (2012)

;Live albums

Unplugged (Alicia Keys album)|Unplugged (2005)

Tours

Year !! Title !! Number of performances
2001/ 2002
2004
2005
2008
2010
2011

Filmography

Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	The Cosby Show	Maria	Slumber Party " (season 1, episode 22)
2001	Charmed	P3 VIP Patron (uncredited)	Size Matters " (season 4, episode 5)
2003	American Dreams	Fontella Bass	"Rescue Me" (season 2, episode 6)
2003	The Proud Family	Herself (voice)	The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly " (season 3, episode 46)
2005	Sesame Street	Herself	Season 36
2006	The Backyardigans	Mommy Martian (voice)	Mission to Mars " (season 2, episode 1)
2007	Cane	Herself	"One Man Is an Island" (season 1, episode 7)
2007	'' Elmo's Christmas Countdown	Herself	Christmas television special
2008	Dove "Fresh Takes"	Alex	Starred in all five episodes
2010	American Idol (season 9)	Herself	Mentor
Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	'' Smokin' Aces	Georgia Sykes	Debut film Main role
2007	The Nanny Diaries	Lynette	Support role
2008	The Secret Life of Bees	June Boatwright	Main role
Director
Year	Title	Type	Notes
2004	Karma	Music video	MTV Video Music Award for Best R& B Video
2011	Project 5	Short film / Documentary

Urban/R&B Music Artists