Alicia Keys

Alicia Augello Cook , known by the pseudonym Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Keys released her debut album with J Records, having had previous record deals first with Columbia and then Arista Records. Keys debut album, Songs in A Minor, was a commercial success, selling overmillion copies worldwide. She became the bestselling new artist and bestselling RampB artist of 2001. The album earned Keys five Grammy Awards in 2002, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for Fallin becoming the second American recording artist to win five Grammys in one night. 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, which debuted at number one in the United States. She became the first female to have an MTV Unplugged album to deb

Keys was born Alicia Augello Cook on January 25, 1981, in the Hells Kitchen area of Manhattan, in New York City. She is the only child of Teresa , a paralegal and parttime actress, and Craig Cook, a flight attendant. Keys father is African American and her mother is of Italian, Scottish and Irish descent. Keys has expressed that she was comfortable with her 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 Hells 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 Rudy Huxtables sleepover guests in the episode Slumber Party. Throughout her childhood, Keys was sent to music and dance classes by her mother. She studied classical piano from age seven playing composers such as Beethoven, Mozart, and Chopin, and enrolled in the Professional Performing Arts Sch

Source: Wikipedia