Saturday, October 27, 2007

Alicia Keys early life


Alicia Keys (born Alicia J. Augello-Cook on January 25, 1980) is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, pianist, record producer, actress, philanthropist, and author who has sold over twenty million albums worldwide and has won numerous awards, including nine Grammy Awards, eleven Billboard Music Awards, and three American Music Awards.

Keys is the only child born to an Irish-Italian mother, Teresa "Terri" Augello (a paralegal and part-time actress), and a Jamaican father, Craig Cook (a flight attendant), in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, New York.

Keys' parents separated during her early childhood, and she was subsequently raised by her mother during her formative years in Hell's Kitchen, also in Manhattan. In 1985, Keys and a group of other girls played the parts of Rudy Huxtable's sleepover guests in an episode of The Cosby Show called "Slumber Party". She began playing the piano when she was seven, learning classical music by composers such as Beethoven, Mozart, and her favorite, Chopin.

Keys graduated from the Professional Performing Arts School, a prestigious high school in Manhattan, as valedictorian at the age of sixteen. Although accepted to Columbia University with a scholarship, she decided to drop out and pursue her musical career. Keys signed a demo deal with Jermaine Dupri and his So So Def label, then distributed by Columbia Records. She co-wrote and recorded a song entitled "Dah Dee Dah (Sexy Thing)", which appeared on the soundtrack to the 1997 blockbuster, Men in Black. The song was Keys' first professional recording; however, it was never released as a single and her record contract with Columbia Records ended quickly. Keys later met Clive Davis, who signed her to Arista Records, which has since disbanded. Following Davis to his newly-formed J Records label, she recorded the songs "Rock wit U" and "Rear View Mirror", featured on the soundtracks to the films Shaft (2000) and Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001) respectively. Keys then released her debut album, Songs in A Minor.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Songs in A Minor (2001)


Selling over 235,000 copies in its first week (more than 50,000 of those on its first day), Songs in A Minor, released on June 5, 2001, went on to sell more than eleven million units worldwide, and established Keys' popularity both outside and inside the U.S., where she became the best-selling new artist of 2001 (as well as the best-selling R&B artist). The album's first single, "Fallin'", gained radio airplay on many different radio formats and spent six weeks at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Keys performed Donny Hathaway's "Someday We'll All Be Free" at the America: A Tribute to Heroes televised benefit concert following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Another single from Songs in A Minor, "A Woman's Worth", made the top ten in the U.S. as well. Keys and the album won five Grammy Awards in 2002, including "Best New Artist" and "Song of the Year" for "Fallin'". Later, on October 22, 2002, Keys released Remixed & Unplugged in A Minor, a re-issue of Songs in A Minor, which includes eight remixes and seven unplugged versions of some of the songs off her debut album.

Critical reviews of the album were mostly positive. Keys' work had a sound similar to 1970s soul singers such as Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder along with hip hop influences like those apparent in neo soul artists such as Lauryn Hill, Erikah Badu and D'Angelo.

By that time, Keys wrote, produced, played the piano, and sang background for Christina Aguilera's song "Impossible", from the latter's 2002 album Stripped.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003)


Keys followed up her debut with The Diary of ALicia Keys, released on December 2, 2003. The album was hailed by critics and debuted at number one in the U.S., selling over 618,000 copies its first week of release, the sixth highest album sales by a female and second by R&B female. To date, it has sold eight million copies worldwide. The singles "You Don't Know My Name" and "If I Ain't Got You" both reached the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and another single, "Diary", entered the top ten. The classical/hip hop-flavored "Karma" was less successful, peaking at number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 but more successful on Top 40 Mainstream peaking at number three. "If I Ain't Got You" became the first single by a female artist to remain on the sixty-three-year-old Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for more than one year, surpassing Mary J. Blige's "Your Child" (forty-nine weeks). Keys went on to become the best-selling female R&B artist of 2004.

At the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, Keys won "Best R&B Video" for "If I Ain't Got You" and also led Lenny Kravitz and Stevie Wonder in their version of Wonder's "Higher Ground". Also the following year in 2005, she won "Best R&B Video" in her second year in a row for "Karma". At the 2005 Grammy Awards, she performed the album's second single, "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. That evening, she won four Grammy Awards: "Best R&B Album" for The Diary of Alicia Keys, "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" for "If I Ain't Got You", "Best R&B Song" for "You Don't Know My Name", and "Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" for "My Boo" with Usher. She was also nominated for "Album of the Year" for The Diary of Alicia Keys, "Song of the Year" for "If I Ain't Got You", "Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" for "Diary" (featuring Tony! Toni! Toné!), and "Best R&B Song" for "My Boo".

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Unplugged (2005)

Keys performed and taped her installment of the MTV Unplugged series on July 14, 2005 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. During this live session, Keys added brand-new arrangements to her original songs such as "A Woman's Worth" and the funk-driven "Heartburn", and performed a few choice covers. Part of Keys' audience also included her guest performers; she collaborated with rappers Common and Mos Def on "Love It or Leave It Alone", reggae artist Damian Marley on "Welcome to Jamrock", and Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine on a cover of the Rolling Stones' 1971 "Wild Horses".

In addition to a cover of "Every Little Bit Hurts", previously performed by singers such as Aretha Franklin and Brenda Holloway, Keys also premiered two new original songs: "Stolen Moments", which she co-wrote with producer Lamont Green, and "Unbreakable", the album's lead single, which peaked at number four and number thirty-four on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and the Hot 100 respectively. It was more successful on the Billboard Hot Adult R&B Airplay, where it stayed at number one for eleven weeks in late 2005. The session was released on CD and DVD on October 11, 2005. Known simply as Unplugged, the album peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart with 196,000 units sold in its first week of release. So far the album has sold one million units in the United States. The debut of Keys' Unplugged was the highest debut for an MTV Unplugged album since Nirvana's 1994 MTV Unplugged in New York and the first Unplugged by a female artist to debut at number one. It was nominated for four Grammy Awards in 2006: "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" for "Unbreakable", "Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance" for "If I Was Your Woman", "Best R&B Song" for "Unbreakable", and "Best R&B Album". It also won three NAACP Image Awards: "Outstanding Female Artist", "Outstanding Song" for "Unbreakable", and "Outstanding Music Video" for "Unbreakable".

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

As I Am (is out in November 2007!!)


Since late 2006, Keys worked on her third studio album, As I Am—as confirmed in a red-carpet interview at the 2007 BET Awards on June 26—, which is due out on November 13, 2007. Keys has talked to MTV about her upcoming album: "It's coming together incredibly. I am in love with this album. It's very fresh and new". The album is said to feature John Mayer on two songs—"Lesson Learned" and "Heavy Times". Linda Perry and Marsha Ambrosius of Floetry also collaborated with Keys.

The lead single No One" debuted at number seventy-one on the Billboard Hot 100, and has since peaked at number four. It was also her fifth number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Rolling Stone magazine reported in December 2005 that Keys and her long-term songwriting partner Kerry "Krucial" Brothers would start working seriously on Keys' third studio album in the later half of 2006. Keys has explained that her new upcoming album has an edgier feel than her first two albums and she is keen to do strange and unexpected collaborations outside the R&B and hip hop worlds. Keys also plans to collobarate with Drew Lane, Eddie Galan, and Stargate on the album.

Keys sang the outro to John Mayer's song "Gravity" on his album Continuum and in a surprise appearance with him at his sold-out show at Madison Square Garden on February 28, 2007.

Keys has opened a new recording studio in Long Island, New York called The Oven Studios, which she co-owns with her production and songwriting partner 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 award-winning albums as well as create music for other artists.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Alicia on TV!!

Keys has co-starred in a film alongside Ben Affleck, Ray Liotta, Common, Andy Garcia, Jeremy Piven, and Ryan Reynolds entitled Smokin' Aces, released on January 26, 2007, as an assassin named Georgia Sykes. Keys has received much praise from her co-stars in the film; Ryan Reynolds said Keys has "natural" acting ability as he was surprised she had not starred in films before.

Furthermore, in her second film, The Nanny Diaries, released on August 24, 2007, Keys co-stars alongside Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans as Lynette, Johansson's character Annie's best friend. The Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York was used to film the college graduation scene for the film.

Keys and her long-term manager Jeff Robinson have signed a first-look film production deal to develop live-action and animated projects with Disney, Variety reports. Their first film, a remake of the 1958 comedy Bell, Book and Candle, will star Keys as a witch who casts a love spell to lure a rival's fiance. Keys and Robinson have also formed a television production company called Big Pita. Their first project will be a CW Network TV series inspired by Keys' experiences as a biracial child growing up in New York, similar to the network's Everybody Hates Chris. Keys has been tapped to executively produce an upcoming TV drama. The title and airing date are presently unconfirmed. Keys and Robinson said they will develop live-action and animated projects at their company, Big Pita, Little Pita, with Keys participating as producer, thesp, banner spearheading soundtrack, and music supervision. She also played a voice in the "Mission to Mars" episode of The Backyardigans.

Keys will also play 1940s biracial piano child prodigy Philippa Schuyler in an upcoming film entitled Composition in Black and White. It is based on the 1995 biographical book of the same name by Kathryn Talalay and follows the story of Philippa Schuyler. "The challenge, in order to actually be able to play classical piano as a woman of mixed race, was by far more than I could ever imagine", Keys said. "That's what intrigued me about that role". The biopic will tell the difficult tale of Schuyler's controversial career, love-hate relationship with her mother, and the black community, her second career as a writer, and her eventual death in a helicopter accident. "Her story is very deep, even up to the point where the relationship between her and her mother gets very strained and she chooses to go to Europe and pass as a Spanish woman in order to be able to play, in order to be able to live a more normal life", Keys said, adding that she and Halle Berry hope to start shooting in early 2008. "As of right now, we're still in the first, second draft of the script", she said. "So a little bit of time—at least a year".