Keys, Alicia (1981– )

US R&B artist. In an age of heavily promoted vocalists whose talents failed to extend beyond the microphone, Keys, who plays a number of instruments and composes and produces her own material, emerged in the early 2000s as a widely respected musical talent. Her albums include Songs in A Minor (2001) and The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003).

She wrote her first song, ‘Butterflyz’, when she was 14. The song appears on her debut album, Songs in A Minor, released when she was 19. The album includes R&B, hip-hop, jazz, and classical influences and features the hit single ‘Fallin'’. It entered the Billboard album charts at number one and won five Grammy Awards in 2002. She followed with The Diary of Alicia Keys, featuring the hit singles ‘If I Ain't Got You’ and ‘You Don't Know My Name’, in 2003.

She was born and grew up in New York City, where she was trained in piano from the age of seven. She developed her singing voice at the Professional Performance Arts School of Manhattan, from which she graduated early at age 16. After enrolling at Columbia University, she left to pursue her musical career. She soon became the subject of a bidding war, and signed with Arista Records in 1998. She left Arista with veteran music producer Clive Davis (who had worked with artists such as Janis Joplin and Bruce Springsteen) and signed with his new J Records label the following year.