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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2001 - "Songs In A Minor" 
1 Woman's Worth
