Alicia Augello-Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American musician, singer and composer. A classically-trained pianist, Keys was composing songs by age 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Columbia Records. After disputes with the label, she signed with Arista Records, and later released her debut album, Songs in A Minor, with J Records in 2001. The album was critically and commercially successful, producing her first Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "Fallin'" and selling over 16 million copies worldwide. The album earned Keys five Grammy Awards in 2002. Her second album, The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003), was also a critical and commercial success, spawning successful singles "You Don't Know My Name", "If I Ain't Got You", and "Diary", and selling eight million copies worldwide.[1] The album garnered her an additional four Grammy Awards.[2] Her duet "My Boo" with Usher became her second number-one single in 2004. Keys released her first live album, Unplugged (2005), and became the first woman to have an MTV Unplugged album debut at number one.
Her third album, As I Am (2007), produced the Hot 100 number-one single "No One", selling 7 million copies worldwide and earning an additional three Grammy Awards. In 2007, Keys made her film debut in the action-thriller film Smokin' Aces. She, along with Jack White, recorded "Another Way to Die" (the title song to the 22nd official James Bond film, Quantum of Solace). Her fourth album, The Element of Freedom (2009), became her first chart-topping album in the UK, and sold 4 million copies worldwide. In 2009, Keys also collaborated with Jay Z on "Empire State of Mind", which became her fourth number-one single and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Girl on Fire (2012) was her fifth Billboard 200 topping album, spawning the successful title track, and won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. In 2013, VH1 Storytellers was released as her second live album. Her sixth studio album, Here (2016), became her seventh US R&B/Hip-Hop chart topping album.
Keys has received numerous accolades in her career, including 15 competitive Grammy Awards, 17 NAACP Image Awards, 12 ASCAP Awards, and an award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame and National Music Publishers Association. She has sold over 65 million records worldwide. Considered a musical icon, Keys was named by Billboard the top R&B artist of the 2000s decade and placed number 10 on their list of Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years. VH1 also included her on their 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and 100 Greatest Women in Music lists, while Time has named her in their 100 list of most influential people in 2005 and 2017. Keys is also acclaimed for her humanitarian work, philanthropy and activism. She co-founded and is the Global Ambassador of the nonprofit HIV/AIDS-fighting organization Keep a Child Alive.
Life and career
1981–1993: Early life
Alicia Augello Cook was born on January 25, 1981, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City's Manhattan borough.[3][4] She is the only child of Teresa (Augello), who was a paralegal and part-time actress, and one of three children of Craig Cook, who was a flight attendant.[5][6][7] Keys' father is African American of Jamaican descent and her mother is of Italian descent; her maternal grandparents came from Sciacca in Sicily.[8] Keys states she also has some Scottish or Irish ancestry.[9] Named after her Puerto Rican godmother,[10] Keys expressed that she was comfortable with her multiracial heritage because she felt she was able to "relate to different cultures".[3][11] Keys' father left when she was two and she was subsequently raised by her mother during her formative years in Hell's Kitchen.[12] Keys said her parents never had a relationship, and her father was not in her life.[13] Although she did not like to speak about her father in order to not feed stereotypes, Keys remarked in 2001: "I'm not in contact with him. That's fine. When I was younger, I minded about that. [It] made me angry. But it helped show me what a strong woman my mother was, and made me want to be strong like her. Probably, it was better for me this way."[3] Keys and her mother lived in a one-room apartment.[12] Her mother often worked three jobs to provide for Keys, who "learned how to survive" from her mother's example of tenacity and self-reliance.[12][14]
From a young age, Alicia struggled with self-esteem issues, "hiding" little by little when her differences made her vulnerable to judgement, and later uninvited sexual attention.[16][17][18] Living in the rough neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen,[12][13] she was, from an early age, regularly exposed to street violence, drugs, prostitution, and subjected to sexual propositions in the sex trade- and crime-riddled area.[18][19][20] "I saw a variety of people growing up, and lifestyles, lows and highs. I think it makes you realise right away what you want and what you don't want", Keys said.[21] Keys recalled feeling fearful early on of the "animal instinct" she witnessed, and eventually feeling "high" due to recurrent harassment.[16][22] Her experiences in the streets had led her to carry a homemade knife for protection.[23][24] She became very wary,[24][25] emotionally guarded, and she began wearing gender-neutral clothing and what would become her trademark cornrows.[28] Keys explained that she is grateful for growing up where she did as it prepared her for the parallels in the music industry, particularly as she was a teenager starting out; she could maintain a particular focus and not derail herself.[18][29] She credits her "tough" mother for anchoring her on a right path as opposed to many people she knew who ended up on the wrong path and in jail. Keys attributed her unusual maturity as a young girl to her mother, who depended on her to be responsible while she worked to provide for them and give Keys as many opportunities as possible.[24][25]
Keys loved music and singing from early childhood. She recalled her mother playing jazz records of artists like Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong on Sunday mornings, early musical moments Keys considers influential in kindling her interest in and emotional connection to music.[3][14] In preschool, Keys sung in her school's production of the musical Cats and was cast as Dorothy Gale in a production of The Wizard of Oz.[30] Keys discovered she had a passion for the piano by age six, as she loved the sound and feel of the instrument and desired to play and learn it.[15][31] A friend had given her an old, upright piano, a pivotal gift for Keys as it allowed her to play and take lessons as a child.[13] Keys began receiving classical piano training by age seven,[32] practicing six hours a day,[31] learning the Suzuki method and playing composers such as Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, and Satie.[13][33] She was particularly drawn to "blue, dark, shadowy" and melancholic compositions, as well as the passionate romanticism of "blue composers" like Chopin.[34] Inspired by the film Philadelphia, Keys wrote her first song about her departed grandfather on her piano by age 12. The scene in the film where Tom Hanks's character listens to opera on a record player notably affected Keys, who "never showed emotion very well".[15] After seeing the film, Keys, "for the first time, could express how [she] felt through the music
Keys' mother had encouraged her to participate in different extracurricular activities, including music, dance, theater, and gymnastics, so she could "find her muse".[30][35] Her extracurricular activities gave her focus and drive, and helped keep her out of trouble.[23][31][33] Keys remained so occupied with her various pursuits that she experienced her first burnout before adolescence. Before her 13th birthday, she expressed to her mother that she was too overwhelmed and wanted to disengage, at which point her mother took some time off with her and encouraged her to keep focusing on piano.[30] Keys would continue studying classical music until the age of 18.[31] Keys regards her education in classical piano and dedication to classical music as vital for her stability in her youth and her development as a musician and songwriter.[3][15] Keys later said of her classical background:
That type of studying, that type of discipline...after a while, I realized what it provided me – focus, the ability to pay attention for a long enough period of time to make progress; the work ethic; the actual knowledge of music, that then unlocked the ability to write my own music, put my own chords and things I heard in my own head to different lyrics that I maybe felt, and I never, ever had to wait for anybody to write something for me.[36]
Keys enrolled in the Professional Performing Arts School at the age of 12, where she took music, dance, and theater classes and majored in choir.[5][18] In her preteen years, Keys and her bass-playing friend formed their first group, though neither "knew too much about how pop songs worked".[13][33] Keys would continue singing, writing songs, and performing in musical groups throughout junior high and high school.[14][30][32] She became an accomplished pianist, and after her classical music teacher had nothing left to teach her, she began studying jazz at age 14.[35][37] Living in the "musical melting pot" city, Keys had already been discovering other genres of music, including soul music, hip hop, R&B, and taken affinity to artists like Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield. Keen on dissecting music, Keys continued developing her songwriting and finding her own 'flow and style" through her exploration of the intricacies in different music.[15][33][38]
Keys spent more time in Harlem during her teenage years. She connected with the cultural and racial diversity in the neighborhood, where she expanded upon her musical exploration, and her character was also solidified. "Harlem raised me in a lot of ways," Keys remarked. "[It] taught me how to think fast, how to play the game...taught me leadership, how to get out of bad situations when you need to, how to hold my own."[3][32] During this period, she met her friend and future collaborator Kerry Brothers Jr.[14][32]
1994–1997: Career beginnings
In 1994, manager Jeff Robinson met 13-year old Keys, who participated in his brother's youth organization called Teens in Motion.[30][39] Robinson's brother had been giving Keys vocal lessons in Harlem.[31] His brother had talked to him about Keys and advised him to go see her, but Robinson shrugged it off as he had "heard that story 1,000 times". At the time, Keys was part of a three-girl band that had formed in the Bronx and was performing in Harlem.[30][37] Robinson eventually agreed to his brother's request, and went to see Keys perform with her group at the Police Athletic League center in Harlem. He was soon taken by Keys, her soulful singing, playing contemporary and classical music and performing her own songs.[30][32] Robinson was excited by audiences' incredulous reactions to her. Impressed by her talents, charisma, image, and maturity, Robinson considered her to be the "total package", and took her under his wing.[35][37][39] By this time, Keys had already written two of the songs that she would later include on her debut album, "Butterflyz" and "The Life".[35][37]
Robinson wanted Keys to be informed and prepared for the music industry, so he took her everywhere with him, including all the meetings with attorneys and negotiations with record labels, while the teenager often became disgruntled with the process.[30] Robinson had urged Keys to pursue a solo career, as she remained reluctant, preferring the musical interactions of a group. She took Robinson's advice after her group disbanded, and contacted Robinson who in 1995 introduced her to A&R executive Peter Edge. Edge later described his first impressions of Keys to HitQuarters:
I remember that I felt, upon meeting her, that she was completely unique. I had never met a young R&B artist with that level of musicianship. So many people were just singing on top of loops and tracks, but she had the ability, not only to be part of hip-hop, but also to go way beyond that. She's a very accomplished musician, songwriter and vocalist and a rare and unique talent.[40]
Robinson and Edge helped Keys assemble some demos of songs she had written and set up a showcases for label executives.[14][30][32] Keys performed on the piano for executives of various labels, and a bidding war ensued.[13][32] Edge was keen to sign Keys himself but was unable to do so at that time due to being on the verge of leaving his present record company, Warner Bros. Records, to work at Clive Davis' Arista Records.[13][30][40] During this period, Columbia Records had approached Keys for a record deal, offering her a $26,000 white baby grand piano; after negotiations with her and her manager, she signed to the label, at age 15. Keys was also finishing high school, and her academic success had provided her opportunity for scholarship and early admission to university.[13][30][40] That year, Keys accepted a scholarship to study at Columbia University in Manhattan.[14] She graduated high school early as valedictorian, at the age of 16, and began attending Columbia University at that age while working on her music.[13][35] Keys attempted to manage a difficult schedule between university and working in the studio into the morning, compounding stress and a distant relationship with her mother. She often stayed away from home, and wrote some of the most "depressing" poems of her life during this period. Keys decided to drop out of college after a month to pursue music full-time.[14][27][35]
Columbia Records had recruited a team of songwriters, producers and stylists to work on Keys and her music. They wanted Keys to submit to their creative and image decisions.[14] Keys said they were not receptive to her contributions and being a musician and music creator.[35][36] While Keys worked on her songs, Columbia executives attempted to change her material; they wanted her to sing and have others create the music, forcing big-name producers on her who demanded she also write with people with whom she was not comfortable.[3][31] She would go into sessions already prepared with music she had composed, but the label would dismiss her work in favor of their vision.[36] "It was a constant battle, it was a lot of -isms", Keys recalled. "There was the sexism, but it was more the ageism – you're too young, how could you possibly know what you want to do? – and oh God, that just irked me to death, I hated that."[14] "The music coming out was very disappointing", she recalled. "You have this desire to have something good, and you have thoughts and ideas, but when you finish the music it's shit, and it keeps on going like that."[32] Keys would be in "perpetual music industry purgatory" under Columbia, while they ultimately "relegated [her] to the shelf".[37] She had performed "Little Drummer Girl" for So So Def's Christmas compilation in 1996,[37] and later co-wrote the song "Dah Dee Dah (Sexy Thing)" for the Men in Black (1997) film soundtrack, the only released recording Keys made with Columbia.[27][31]
Keys "hated" the experience of writing with the people Columbia brought in. "I remember driving to the studio one day with dread in my chest", she recalled.[13] Keys said the producers would also sexually proposition her.[3][18][35] "It's all over the place. And it's crazy. And it's very difficult to understand and handle", she said.[35] Keys had already built a "protect yourself" mentality from growing up in Hell's Kitchen, which served her as a young teen then in the industry having to rebuff the advances of producers and being around people who "just wanted to use [her]".[18][29] Keys felt like she could not show weakness.[18] Executives at Columbia also wanted to manufacture her image, with her "hair blown out and flowing", short dresses, and asking her to lose weight; "they wanted me to be the same as everyone else", Keys felt.[13] "I had horrible experiences," she recalled. "They were so disrespectful...I started figuring, 'Hey, nothing's worth all this.'"[3] As months passed, Keys had grown more frustrated and depressed with the situation, while the label requested the finished tracks.[13][32][35] Keys recalled, "it was around that time that I realized that I couldn't do it with other people. I had to do it more with myself, with the people that I felt comfortable with or by myself with my piano."[35] Keys decided to sit in with some producers and engineers to ask questions and watch them technically work on other artists' music.[32] "The only way it would sound like anything I would be remotely proud of is if I did it", Keys determined. "I already knew my way around the keyboard, so that was an advantage. And the rest was watching people work on other artists and watching how they layer things".[32]
Her friend Kerry Brothers Jr. suggested to Keys she buy her own equipment and record on her own.[35] Keys began working separately from the label, exploring more production and engineering on her own with her own equipment.[32] She had moved out of her mother's apartment and into a sixth-floor walk-up apartment in Harlem, where she fit a recording studio into her bedroom and worked on her music.[35] Keys felt being on her own was "necessary" for her sanity. She was "going through a lot" with herself and with her mother, and she "needed the space"; "I needed to have my own thoughts, to do my own thing."[32] Keys later moved to Queens and turned the basement into KrucialKeys Studios with Brothers.[35] Keys would return to her mother's house periodically, particularly when she felt "lost or unbalanced or alone". "She would probably be working and I would sit at the piano", she reminisced.[35] During this time, she composed the song "Troubles", which started as "a conversation with God", working on it further in Harlem. Around this time the album "started coming together", and she composed and recorded most of the songs that would appear on her album.[25][32][35] "Finally, I knew how to structure my feelings into something that made sense, something that can translate to people", Keys recalled. "That was a changing point. My confidence was up, way up."[32] The different experience reinvigorated Keys and her music.[35] While the album was nearly completed, Columbia's management changed and more creative differences emerged with the new executives. Keys brought her songs to the executives, who rejected her work, saying it "sounded like one long demo". They wanted Keys to sing over loops,[32] and told Keys they will bring in a "top" team and get her "a more radio-friendly sound". Keys would not allow it; "they already had set the monster loose", she recalled. "Once I started producing my own stuff there wasn't any going back."[35] Keys stated that Columbia had the "wrong vision" for her. "They didn't want me to be an individual, didn't really care", Keys concluded. "They just wanted to put me in a box."[3] Control over her creative process was "everything" to Keys.[36]
Keys had wanted to leave Columbia since they began "completely disrespecting [her] musical creativity".[13] Leaving Columbia was "a hell of a fight", she recalled. "Out of spite, they were threatening to keep everything I'd created even though they hated it. I thought I'd have to start over again just to get out, but I didn't care."[13] Keys said in 2001: "It's been one trial, one test of confidence and faith after the next." To Keys, "success doesn't just mean that I'm the singer, and you give me my 14 points, and that's all. That's not how it's going to go down."[41] Edge, who was by that time head of A&R at Arista Records,[14] said, "I didn't see that there was much hands-on development at Columbia, and she was smart enough to figure that out and to ask to be released from her contract, which was a bold move for a new artist."[35] Edge introduced Keys to Arista's then-president, Clive Davis, in 1998.[14][42] Davis recalled:
My only familiarity with [Keys] was that I had asked for any visuals and material on her, so, of course, I was blown away. I saw a panel show she had done on TV. I had heard some cuts she had been recording, and I honestly couldn't believe she could be free. She was still under contract. I left that to her. It took a few months before I got the call that she was able to get out of her contract and enter into one with us."[30]
After hearing some of her songs, Davis thought Keys had "a very natural talent as a songwriter and a vocalist, sufficient to warrant a personal meeting...one of those no-brainers – her beauty is stunning, and all her talent as an arranger, a producer".[14] Regarding her first meeting with Davis, Keys said that she had "never had anyone of his stature ask me how I saw myself, and what I wanted to do."[13] Davis had asked Keys "what the creative visions were that she had for herself."[30]
She came across then, from that very first meeting, the way she comes across today, which is really as a young Renaissance woman of enormous musical talent, but really matured way beyond her young years. When I saw her sit down and play the piano and sing, it just took my breath...Everything about her was unique and special.[30]
1998–2002: Breakthrough with Songs in A Minor
Robinson and Keys, with Davis' help, were able to negotiate out of the Columbia contract and she signed to Arista Records in late 1998.[31][35][40] Keys was also able to leave with the music she had created.[13] Davis gave Keys the creative freedom and control she wanted, and encouraged her to be herself.[3][42] Keys said of Davis' instinct: "he knows which artists are the ones that maybe are needing to craft their own sound and style and songs, and you just have to let an artist go and find that space. And I think he somehow knew that and saw that in me and really just let me find that."[37] After signing with Davis, Keys continued honing her songs.[3] Keys almost chose Wilde as her stage name at the age of 16 until her manager suggested the name Keys after a dream he had. She felt that name embodied her both as a performer and person.[43] Keys contributed her songs "Rock wit U" and "Rear View Mirror" to the soundtracks of the films Shaft (2000) and Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), respectively.[44][45]
In 2000, Davis was ousted from Arista and the release of Keys' album was put on hold. Later that year, Davis formed J Records and immediately signed Keys to the label.[13] "He didn't try to divert me to something else", Keys said on following Davis to his new label. He understood that she wants to be herself and not "made into what somebody else thinks I should be."[27]
Keys played small shows across America, performed at industry showcases for months and then on television.[32][42] Davis thought "pop station might feel she's too urban. Urban might feel she's too traditional", and as he felt Keys was a "compelling, hypnotic performer" best experienced in person, he had Keys perform her music to different crowds in different places to spread the word.[30][32][42] "I created opportunities for those who saw her to spread the word", Davis recalled. "She is her own ambassador."[30] Davis wanted to "let people discover her, and you can only do that with a few artists."[14][38] Keys later performed on The Tonight Show in promotion for her upcoming debut.[32] Davis wrote a letter to Oprah asking her to have Keys, Jill Scott, and India.Arie perform on her show to promote new women in music.[32] Oprah booked Keys the day she heard her song "Fallin'", her debut single.[3][30] Keys performed the song on Oprah's show the week prior to the release of her debut album.[37] "Fallin'", released as a single in April, went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and stayed atop the chart for six consecutive weeks.[37][46] Ebony magazine wrote that at the time "the music that was pumping on the airwaves was hip-hop and rap – not Alicia's unique blend of classical meets soul, meets hip-hop, meets, well, Alicia. What could have been a recipe for disaster...turned into the opportunity of a lifetime."[30] Keys as an artist since her early days, Davis said, "does her own thing. She has set out her own vision. That's the way it is for artists of her ilk...They don't try to fit in. They try to establish their own paths...[she has] sure natural instinct and sure vision" and "a respect for musical history.
Her third album, As I Am (2007), produced the Hot 100 number-one single "No One", selling 7 million copies worldwide and earning an additional three Grammy Awards. In 2007, Keys made her film debut in the action-thriller film Smokin' Aces. She, along with Jack White, recorded "Another Way to Die" (the title song to the 22nd official James Bond film, Quantum of Solace). Her fourth album, The Element of Freedom (2009), became her first chart-topping album in the UK, and sold 4 million copies worldwide. In 2009, Keys also collaborated with Jay Z on "Empire State of Mind", which became her fourth number-one single and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Girl on Fire (2012) was her fifth Billboard 200 topping album, spawning the successful title track, and won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. In 2013, VH1 Storytellers was released as her second live album. Her sixth studio album, Here (2016), became her seventh US R&B/Hip-Hop chart topping album.
Keys has received numerous accolades in her career, including 15 competitive Grammy Awards, 17 NAACP Image Awards, 12 ASCAP Awards, and an award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame and National Music Publishers Association. She has sold over 65 million records worldwide. Considered a musical icon, Keys was named by Billboard the top R&B artist of the 2000s decade and placed number 10 on their list of Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years. VH1 also included her on their 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and 100 Greatest Women in Music lists, while Time has named her in their 100 list of most influential people in 2005 and 2017. Keys is also acclaimed for her humanitarian work, philanthropy and activism. She co-founded and is the Global Ambassador of the nonprofit HIV/AIDS-fighting organization Keep a Child Alive.
Life and career
1981–1993: Early life
Alicia Augello Cook was born on January 25, 1981, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City's Manhattan borough.[3][4] She is the only child of Teresa (Augello), who was a paralegal and part-time actress, and one of three children of Craig Cook, who was a flight attendant.[5][6][7] Keys' father is African American of Jamaican descent and her mother is of Italian descent; her maternal grandparents came from Sciacca in Sicily.[8] Keys states she also has some Scottish or Irish ancestry.[9] Named after her Puerto Rican godmother,[10] Keys expressed that she was comfortable with her multiracial heritage because she felt she was able to "relate to different cultures".[3][11] Keys' father left when she was two and she was subsequently raised by her mother during her formative years in Hell's Kitchen.[12] Keys said her parents never had a relationship, and her father was not in her life.[13] Although she did not like to speak about her father in order to not feed stereotypes, Keys remarked in 2001: "I'm not in contact with him. That's fine. When I was younger, I minded about that. [It] made me angry. But it helped show me what a strong woman my mother was, and made me want to be strong like her. Probably, it was better for me this way."[3] Keys and her mother lived in a one-room apartment.[12] Her mother often worked three jobs to provide for Keys, who "learned how to survive" from her mother's example of tenacity and self-reliance.[12][14]
From a young age, Alicia struggled with self-esteem issues, "hiding" little by little when her differences made her vulnerable to judgement, and later uninvited sexual attention.[16][17][18] Living in the rough neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen,[12][13] she was, from an early age, regularly exposed to street violence, drugs, prostitution, and subjected to sexual propositions in the sex trade- and crime-riddled area.[18][19][20] "I saw a variety of people growing up, and lifestyles, lows and highs. I think it makes you realise right away what you want and what you don't want", Keys said.[21] Keys recalled feeling fearful early on of the "animal instinct" she witnessed, and eventually feeling "high" due to recurrent harassment.[16][22] Her experiences in the streets had led her to carry a homemade knife for protection.[23][24] She became very wary,[24][25] emotionally guarded, and she began wearing gender-neutral clothing and what would become her trademark cornrows.[28] Keys explained that she is grateful for growing up where she did as it prepared her for the parallels in the music industry, particularly as she was a teenager starting out; she could maintain a particular focus and not derail herself.[18][29] She credits her "tough" mother for anchoring her on a right path as opposed to many people she knew who ended up on the wrong path and in jail. Keys attributed her unusual maturity as a young girl to her mother, who depended on her to be responsible while she worked to provide for them and give Keys as many opportunities as possible.[24][25]
Keys loved music and singing from early childhood. She recalled her mother playing jazz records of artists like Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong on Sunday mornings, early musical moments Keys considers influential in kindling her interest in and emotional connection to music.[3][14] In preschool, Keys sung in her school's production of the musical Cats and was cast as Dorothy Gale in a production of The Wizard of Oz.[30] Keys discovered she had a passion for the piano by age six, as she loved the sound and feel of the instrument and desired to play and learn it.[15][31] A friend had given her an old, upright piano, a pivotal gift for Keys as it allowed her to play and take lessons as a child.[13] Keys began receiving classical piano training by age seven,[32] practicing six hours a day,[31] learning the Suzuki method and playing composers such as Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, and Satie.[13][33] She was particularly drawn to "blue, dark, shadowy" and melancholic compositions, as well as the passionate romanticism of "blue composers" like Chopin.[34] Inspired by the film Philadelphia, Keys wrote her first song about her departed grandfather on her piano by age 12. The scene in the film where Tom Hanks's character listens to opera on a record player notably affected Keys, who "never showed emotion very well".[15] After seeing the film, Keys, "for the first time, could express how [she] felt through the music
Keys' mother had encouraged her to participate in different extracurricular activities, including music, dance, theater, and gymnastics, so she could "find her muse".[30][35] Her extracurricular activities gave her focus and drive, and helped keep her out of trouble.[23][31][33] Keys remained so occupied with her various pursuits that she experienced her first burnout before adolescence. Before her 13th birthday, she expressed to her mother that she was too overwhelmed and wanted to disengage, at which point her mother took some time off with her and encouraged her to keep focusing on piano.[30] Keys would continue studying classical music until the age of 18.[31] Keys regards her education in classical piano and dedication to classical music as vital for her stability in her youth and her development as a musician and songwriter.[3][15] Keys later said of her classical background:
That type of studying, that type of discipline...after a while, I realized what it provided me – focus, the ability to pay attention for a long enough period of time to make progress; the work ethic; the actual knowledge of music, that then unlocked the ability to write my own music, put my own chords and things I heard in my own head to different lyrics that I maybe felt, and I never, ever had to wait for anybody to write something for me.[36]
Keys enrolled in the Professional Performing Arts School at the age of 12, where she took music, dance, and theater classes and majored in choir.[5][18] In her preteen years, Keys and her bass-playing friend formed their first group, though neither "knew too much about how pop songs worked".[13][33] Keys would continue singing, writing songs, and performing in musical groups throughout junior high and high school.[14][30][32] She became an accomplished pianist, and after her classical music teacher had nothing left to teach her, she began studying jazz at age 14.[35][37] Living in the "musical melting pot" city, Keys had already been discovering other genres of music, including soul music, hip hop, R&B, and taken affinity to artists like Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield. Keen on dissecting music, Keys continued developing her songwriting and finding her own 'flow and style" through her exploration of the intricacies in different music.[15][33][38]
Keys spent more time in Harlem during her teenage years. She connected with the cultural and racial diversity in the neighborhood, where she expanded upon her musical exploration, and her character was also solidified. "Harlem raised me in a lot of ways," Keys remarked. "[It] taught me how to think fast, how to play the game...taught me leadership, how to get out of bad situations when you need to, how to hold my own."[3][32] During this period, she met her friend and future collaborator Kerry Brothers Jr.[14][32]
1994–1997: Career beginnings
In 1994, manager Jeff Robinson met 13-year old Keys, who participated in his brother's youth organization called Teens in Motion.[30][39] Robinson's brother had been giving Keys vocal lessons in Harlem.[31] His brother had talked to him about Keys and advised him to go see her, but Robinson shrugged it off as he had "heard that story 1,000 times". At the time, Keys was part of a three-girl band that had formed in the Bronx and was performing in Harlem.[30][37] Robinson eventually agreed to his brother's request, and went to see Keys perform with her group at the Police Athletic League center in Harlem. He was soon taken by Keys, her soulful singing, playing contemporary and classical music and performing her own songs.[30][32] Robinson was excited by audiences' incredulous reactions to her. Impressed by her talents, charisma, image, and maturity, Robinson considered her to be the "total package", and took her under his wing.[35][37][39] By this time, Keys had already written two of the songs that she would later include on her debut album, "Butterflyz" and "The Life".[35][37]
Robinson wanted Keys to be informed and prepared for the music industry, so he took her everywhere with him, including all the meetings with attorneys and negotiations with record labels, while the teenager often became disgruntled with the process.[30] Robinson had urged Keys to pursue a solo career, as she remained reluctant, preferring the musical interactions of a group. She took Robinson's advice after her group disbanded, and contacted Robinson who in 1995 introduced her to A&R executive Peter Edge. Edge later described his first impressions of Keys to HitQuarters:
I remember that I felt, upon meeting her, that she was completely unique. I had never met a young R&B artist with that level of musicianship. So many people were just singing on top of loops and tracks, but she had the ability, not only to be part of hip-hop, but also to go way beyond that. She's a very accomplished musician, songwriter and vocalist and a rare and unique talent.[40]
Robinson and Edge helped Keys assemble some demos of songs she had written and set up a showcases for label executives.[14][30][32] Keys performed on the piano for executives of various labels, and a bidding war ensued.[13][32] Edge was keen to sign Keys himself but was unable to do so at that time due to being on the verge of leaving his present record company, Warner Bros. Records, to work at Clive Davis' Arista Records.[13][30][40] During this period, Columbia Records had approached Keys for a record deal, offering her a $26,000 white baby grand piano; after negotiations with her and her manager, she signed to the label, at age 15. Keys was also finishing high school, and her academic success had provided her opportunity for scholarship and early admission to university.[13][30][40] That year, Keys accepted a scholarship to study at Columbia University in Manhattan.[14] She graduated high school early as valedictorian, at the age of 16, and began attending Columbia University at that age while working on her music.[13][35] Keys attempted to manage a difficult schedule between university and working in the studio into the morning, compounding stress and a distant relationship with her mother. She often stayed away from home, and wrote some of the most "depressing" poems of her life during this period. Keys decided to drop out of college after a month to pursue music full-time.[14][27][35]
Columbia Records had recruited a team of songwriters, producers and stylists to work on Keys and her music. They wanted Keys to submit to their creative and image decisions.[14] Keys said they were not receptive to her contributions and being a musician and music creator.[35][36] While Keys worked on her songs, Columbia executives attempted to change her material; they wanted her to sing and have others create the music, forcing big-name producers on her who demanded she also write with people with whom she was not comfortable.[3][31] She would go into sessions already prepared with music she had composed, but the label would dismiss her work in favor of their vision.[36] "It was a constant battle, it was a lot of -isms", Keys recalled. "There was the sexism, but it was more the ageism – you're too young, how could you possibly know what you want to do? – and oh God, that just irked me to death, I hated that."[14] "The music coming out was very disappointing", she recalled. "You have this desire to have something good, and you have thoughts and ideas, but when you finish the music it's shit, and it keeps on going like that."[32] Keys would be in "perpetual music industry purgatory" under Columbia, while they ultimately "relegated [her] to the shelf".[37] She had performed "Little Drummer Girl" for So So Def's Christmas compilation in 1996,[37] and later co-wrote the song "Dah Dee Dah (Sexy Thing)" for the Men in Black (1997) film soundtrack, the only released recording Keys made with Columbia.[27][31]
Keys "hated" the experience of writing with the people Columbia brought in. "I remember driving to the studio one day with dread in my chest", she recalled.[13] Keys said the producers would also sexually proposition her.[3][18][35] "It's all over the place. And it's crazy. And it's very difficult to understand and handle", she said.[35] Keys had already built a "protect yourself" mentality from growing up in Hell's Kitchen, which served her as a young teen then in the industry having to rebuff the advances of producers and being around people who "just wanted to use [her]".[18][29] Keys felt like she could not show weakness.[18] Executives at Columbia also wanted to manufacture her image, with her "hair blown out and flowing", short dresses, and asking her to lose weight; "they wanted me to be the same as everyone else", Keys felt.[13] "I had horrible experiences," she recalled. "They were so disrespectful...I started figuring, 'Hey, nothing's worth all this.'"[3] As months passed, Keys had grown more frustrated and depressed with the situation, while the label requested the finished tracks.[13][32][35] Keys recalled, "it was around that time that I realized that I couldn't do it with other people. I had to do it more with myself, with the people that I felt comfortable with or by myself with my piano."[35] Keys decided to sit in with some producers and engineers to ask questions and watch them technically work on other artists' music.[32] "The only way it would sound like anything I would be remotely proud of is if I did it", Keys determined. "I already knew my way around the keyboard, so that was an advantage. And the rest was watching people work on other artists and watching how they layer things".[32]
Her friend Kerry Brothers Jr. suggested to Keys she buy her own equipment and record on her own.[35] Keys began working separately from the label, exploring more production and engineering on her own with her own equipment.[32] She had moved out of her mother's apartment and into a sixth-floor walk-up apartment in Harlem, where she fit a recording studio into her bedroom and worked on her music.[35] Keys felt being on her own was "necessary" for her sanity. She was "going through a lot" with herself and with her mother, and she "needed the space"; "I needed to have my own thoughts, to do my own thing."[32] Keys later moved to Queens and turned the basement into KrucialKeys Studios with Brothers.[35] Keys would return to her mother's house periodically, particularly when she felt "lost or unbalanced or alone". "She would probably be working and I would sit at the piano", she reminisced.[35] During this time, she composed the song "Troubles", which started as "a conversation with God", working on it further in Harlem. Around this time the album "started coming together", and she composed and recorded most of the songs that would appear on her album.[25][32][35] "Finally, I knew how to structure my feelings into something that made sense, something that can translate to people", Keys recalled. "That was a changing point. My confidence was up, way up."[32] The different experience reinvigorated Keys and her music.[35] While the album was nearly completed, Columbia's management changed and more creative differences emerged with the new executives. Keys brought her songs to the executives, who rejected her work, saying it "sounded like one long demo". They wanted Keys to sing over loops,[32] and told Keys they will bring in a "top" team and get her "a more radio-friendly sound". Keys would not allow it; "they already had set the monster loose", she recalled. "Once I started producing my own stuff there wasn't any going back."[35] Keys stated that Columbia had the "wrong vision" for her. "They didn't want me to be an individual, didn't really care", Keys concluded. "They just wanted to put me in a box."[3] Control over her creative process was "everything" to Keys.[36]
Keys had wanted to leave Columbia since they began "completely disrespecting [her] musical creativity".[13] Leaving Columbia was "a hell of a fight", she recalled. "Out of spite, they were threatening to keep everything I'd created even though they hated it. I thought I'd have to start over again just to get out, but I didn't care."[13] Keys said in 2001: "It's been one trial, one test of confidence and faith after the next." To Keys, "success doesn't just mean that I'm the singer, and you give me my 14 points, and that's all. That's not how it's going to go down."[41] Edge, who was by that time head of A&R at Arista Records,[14] said, "I didn't see that there was much hands-on development at Columbia, and she was smart enough to figure that out and to ask to be released from her contract, which was a bold move for a new artist."[35] Edge introduced Keys to Arista's then-president, Clive Davis, in 1998.[14][42] Davis recalled:
My only familiarity with [Keys] was that I had asked for any visuals and material on her, so, of course, I was blown away. I saw a panel show she had done on TV. I had heard some cuts she had been recording, and I honestly couldn't believe she could be free. She was still under contract. I left that to her. It took a few months before I got the call that she was able to get out of her contract and enter into one with us."[30]
After hearing some of her songs, Davis thought Keys had "a very natural talent as a songwriter and a vocalist, sufficient to warrant a personal meeting...one of those no-brainers – her beauty is stunning, and all her talent as an arranger, a producer".[14] Regarding her first meeting with Davis, Keys said that she had "never had anyone of his stature ask me how I saw myself, and what I wanted to do."[13] Davis had asked Keys "what the creative visions were that she had for herself."[30]
She came across then, from that very first meeting, the way she comes across today, which is really as a young Renaissance woman of enormous musical talent, but really matured way beyond her young years. When I saw her sit down and play the piano and sing, it just took my breath...Everything about her was unique and special.[30]
1998–2002: Breakthrough with Songs in A Minor
Robinson and Keys, with Davis' help, were able to negotiate out of the Columbia contract and she signed to Arista Records in late 1998.[31][35][40] Keys was also able to leave with the music she had created.[13] Davis gave Keys the creative freedom and control she wanted, and encouraged her to be herself.[3][42] Keys said of Davis' instinct: "he knows which artists are the ones that maybe are needing to craft their own sound and style and songs, and you just have to let an artist go and find that space. And I think he somehow knew that and saw that in me and really just let me find that."[37] After signing with Davis, Keys continued honing her songs.[3] Keys almost chose Wilde as her stage name at the age of 16 until her manager suggested the name Keys after a dream he had. She felt that name embodied her both as a performer and person.[43] Keys contributed her songs "Rock wit U" and "Rear View Mirror" to the soundtracks of the films Shaft (2000) and Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), respectively.[44][45]
In 2000, Davis was ousted from Arista and the release of Keys' album was put on hold. Later that year, Davis formed J Records and immediately signed Keys to the label.[13] "He didn't try to divert me to something else", Keys said on following Davis to his new label. He understood that she wants to be herself and not "made into what somebody else thinks I should be."[27]
Keys played small shows across America, performed at industry showcases for months and then on television.[32][42] Davis thought "pop station might feel she's too urban. Urban might feel she's too traditional", and as he felt Keys was a "compelling, hypnotic performer" best experienced in person, he had Keys perform her music to different crowds in different places to spread the word.[30][32][42] "I created opportunities for those who saw her to spread the word", Davis recalled. "She is her own ambassador."[30] Davis wanted to "let people discover her, and you can only do that with a few artists."[14][38] Keys later performed on The Tonight Show in promotion for her upcoming debut.[32] Davis wrote a letter to Oprah asking her to have Keys, Jill Scott, and India.Arie perform on her show to promote new women in music.[32] Oprah booked Keys the day she heard her song "Fallin'", her debut single.[3][30] Keys performed the song on Oprah's show the week prior to the release of her debut album.[37] "Fallin'", released as a single in April, went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and stayed atop the chart for six consecutive weeks.[37][46] Ebony magazine wrote that at the time "the music that was pumping on the airwaves was hip-hop and rap – not Alicia's unique blend of classical meets soul, meets hip-hop, meets, well, Alicia. What could have been a recipe for disaster...turned into the opportunity of a lifetime."[30] Keys as an artist since her early days, Davis said, "does her own thing. She has set out her own vision. That's the way it is for artists of her ilk...They don't try to fit in. They try to establish their own paths...[she has] sure natural instinct and sure vision" and "a respect for musical history.
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