A classically trained pianist from Hell's Kitchen

Alicia Keys was born Alicia Augello Cook on 25 January 1981 in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of Manhattan, the only child of a paralegal and part-time actress. Her father left when she was two. A classically trained pianist, she began composing at twelve and was signed by Columbia Records at fifteen, though disputes with the label led her to move to J Records.

The result was Songs in A Minor in 2001. It sold over twelve million copies worldwide, won five awards at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards, and contained “Fallin'”, a number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100. The Diary of Alicia Keys followed in 2003 with “You Don't Know My Name” and “If I Ain't Got You”, both US top-five singles, and four more Grammys. Her 2004 duet with Usher, “My Boo”, became her second number one.

Over the next years she widened her work. Unplugged in 2005 made her the first woman to debut atop the Billboard 200 with an MTV Unplugged project. As I Am brought “No One”, her third number one, and she appeared in the film Smokin' Aces, performed the Quantum of Solace theme with Jack White and, in 2009, appeared on Jay-Z's “Empire State of Mind”, which became her fourth US number one.

Later records include Girl on Fire in 2012, Here in 2016 and Alicia and Keys in 2020 and 2021. In 2023 she wrote, composed and co-produced her first Broadway musical, Hell's Kitchen, which won two Tony Awards. She has sold over 90 million records and won 17 Grammy Awards, and in 2003 she co-founded Keep a Child Alive, a nonprofit fighting HIV and AIDS. It all started in the neighbourhood where she was born.