Alicia was raised by her mother, Terri Augello, who happened to be an Irish-Italian actress. When she was 4, Alicia followed her mother’s example and was seen in an episode of The Cosby Show, Slumber Party.Growing up in Harlem’s Kitchen, she was influenced by all sorts of music. At the age of 7, Alicia was introduced to the piano and learned classical music by the great composers, e.g. Beethoven, Chopin and Mozart.

Seven years later, she wrote her first song, Butterflyz which was featured on her first album Songs in A Minor.

She studied at the Professional Performing Arts School where Miss Aziza learned her the art of songwriting and producing. She received a scholarship for Columbia University, but dropped it to persue her music carreer.Alicia signed her first contract with Columbia Records, but she decided a few years later to leave this record company due to creative differences. Her artistic freedom was intruded and she wanted to find her own voice.

At the age of 19, Alicia was given a new record company, called J Records, founded by Clive Davis. J Records offered her a new home, where she could be herself without any restrictions.The record company decided to release Fallin’ as the first single, which would be a signature song according to Clive Davis.Her breakthrough came when Oprah Winfrey accepted to let Alicia perform Fallin’ while millions people where watching.

June 5th 2001 was the date when Songs in A Minor was released. It entered the charts at the first place and lasted there for weeks. Worldwide it has been sold 11 million times platinum. Her first single Fallin’ ended the year at No. 2 on the Billboards Hot 100 chart, spending weeks at the number 1 spot.

Since then, Alicia is seen as a respected artist, covering multiple magazines, accepting loads of awards and giving hundreds of performances.Two and a half years later, on December 2nd 2003, her follow-up for Songs in A Minor was released, The Diary of Alicia Keys. 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.

In July 2005 she renewed the MTV program Unplugged, by taping her accoustic performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Both a DVD and CD were released, and a few new songs where also added (Unbreakable, Every Little Bit Hurts, Stolen Moments). Alicia Keys’ Unplugged was the first Unplugged for a female to debute at the number one spot.Afterwards, her musical carreer was put on a break. She announced several new directions, particularly writing, being active in associations and acting. She wrote her first book, Tears for Water, which is a songbook of poems and lyrics.Alicia is also known as a philanthropist. She’s a spokeswoman for Keep a Child Alive, a non-profit organization that provides life-saving AIDS medicines directly to children and families with HIV /AIDS in Africa.

In 2006, she surprised everybody by her acting skills. Her first movie, Smokin’ Aces featured Alicia as Georgia Sykes, a killer for hire. Smokin’ Aces was directed by Joe Carnahan and also included A-list actors as Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, Ryan Reynolds and Ray Liotta.The movie wasn’t always as succesful in the reviews written by the press, however it seemed that the viewers seemed to give more positive reviews. She also appeared in The Nanny Diaries, next to Scarlett Johansson.
In 2006, 2007 Alicia has been working hard on her upcoming album, As I Am. It should be released October 23rd 2007, including collaborations with John Mayer and Linda Perry. She also worked, traditionally, with her producer-partner Kerry “Krucial” Brothers. Together they form Krucial Keys, a music production company.