Alicia Keys Biography - Profile


Birth name: Alicia Augello Cook Birthday: January 25, 1981
Place of birth:  New York City, USA
Nationality: USA
Raised in: New York
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Brown
Height: 173 cm (5'6)
Education / Profession: Arts School - Manhattan, Columbia University, Musician
Labels: J Records
First Song: 1996 - Butterflyzn
First released record: 2001 - Fallin
Claim to fame: 2001 - Songs in a minor
Music styles: R&B, Pop, Modern
Awards:
> Grammy: 2001, 2001, 2005
> MTV Video Music Awards: 2001 (Fallin), 2004 (If I ain't got you), 2005 (Karma)
> MTV Europe Music Awards: 2002, 2004
> Echo Deutscher Musikpreis: 2000
> American Music Awards: 2002, 2004
How it began: Alicia Keys was born as Alicia J. Augello-Cook in New York’s Harlem on January 25, 1981 as the only daughter of Irish-Italian mother Teresa Augello and Jamaican father Craig Cook. After her parents separated when she was two, she moved with her mother to New York’s notorious Hell’s Kitchen where she started her classical music education by learning the piano since the age of seven. 
When she was twelve, she enrolled at the Professional Performing Arts School, graduating only three years after as a valedictorian of her year. Though accepted to Columbia University, she dropped out mere four weeks later with the aim of focusing on her musical career. Signing a demo deal with So So Def label distributed by Columbia Records, she co-authored and recorded a song Dah Dee Dah which appeared in the 1997 hit Men In Black.
Despite its success, Keys’ first professional recording was never released as a single and her contract with Columbia Records was terminated soon afterwards through creative disputes. With the help of Clive Davis who paid her out of the Columbia Records contract, she went through Arista Records unsuccessfully and finally settled in Davis’ newly formed label J Records, where she released songs which featured in soundtracks for Shaft and Dr Doolitle 2 (Rock Wit U and Rearview Mirror respectively). Finally in 2001 she released her debut album, Songs in A Minor, which catapulted her to fame.
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Posted by ali saidi at 10:06 AM