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Mike Cook Jonathan Evans Brock Craft Biography & Facts

Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs when she was the age of 12 and was signed by Columbia Records at the age of 15. After disputes with the label, she signed with J Records to release her debut studio album, Songs in A Minor (2001). Met with critical acclaim and commercial success, the album sold over 12 million copies worldwide and won five awards at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards. It contained the Billboard Hot 100-number one single "Fallin'." Her second album, The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003) was met with continued success, selling eight million units worldwide and spawning the singles "You Don't Know My Name", "If I Ain't Got You", and "Diary" (featuring Tony! Toni! Toné!). Its release earned an additional four Grammy Awards. Her 2004 duet with Usher, "My Boo", became her second number-one single. Alicia's first live album, Unplugged (2005), spawned the single "Unbreakable" and made her the first female artist to have an MTV Unplugged project debut atop the Billboard 200. Her third album, As I Am (2007), sold seven million units worldwide and yielded her third Billboard Hot 100-number one single. "No One." In 2007, Keys made her film debut in the action-thriller Smokin' Aces, and performed the theme song to the James Bond film Quantum of Solace with her single "Another Way to Die" (with Jack White) the following year. Her fourth album, The Element of Freedom (2009), peaked the UK Albums Chart, sold four million copies worldwide, and was supported by the singles "Doesn't Mean Anything", "Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart", and "Un-Thinkable (I'm Ready)." That same year, her 2009 single "Empire State of Mind" (with Jay-Z) became her fourth number-one in the United States. Her fifth album, Girl on Fire (2012), became her fourth non-consecutive album to peak the Billboard 200 and was supported by its lead single of the same name; her sixth album, Here (2016), peaked at number two on the chart. Her seventh and eighth studio albums, Alicia (2020) and Keys (2021), spawned the singles "Show Me Love" (featuring Miguel), "Underdog", "Lala" and "Best of Me". Her first independent release, Santa Baby (2022), was a holiday album. In 2023, she wrote, composed and co-produced her first off-Broadway musical, Hell's Kitchen. Keys has sold over 90 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. She was named by Billboard as the Top Artist of the 2000s in the R&B/Hip-Hop category, and placed tenth on their list of Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years. She has received numerous accolades in her career, including 16 Grammy Awards, 17 NAACP Image Awards, 12 ASCAP Awards, and an award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame and National Music Publishers Association. VH1 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 the nonprofit HIV/AIDS-fighting organization Keep a Child Alive in 2003, for which she serves as Global Ambassador. Early life, family and education Alicia Augello Cook alias Alicia Keys was born on January 25, 1981, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. 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. Keys's father is African American and her mother is of Italian and "Irish or Scottish" descent; her mother's paternal grandparents were immigrants from Sciacca, Sicily; and Lamezia Terme, in Calabria. Named after her Puerto Rican godmother, Keys has said that she was comfortable with her multiracial heritage because she felt she was able to "relate to different cultures". Keys's father left when she was two years old. She was subsequently raised by her mother during her formative years at Manhattan Plaza in Hell's Kitchen. Keys has stated that her parents never had a relationship, and her father was not in her life. 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." Keys and her mother lived in a one-bedroom apartment. 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. From a young age, Keys struggled with self-esteem issues, hiding little by little when her differences made her vulnerable to judgment, and later uninvited sexual attention. Living in the rough neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen, 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. "I saw a variety of people growing up, and lifestyles, lows and highs. I think it makes you realize right away what you want and what you don't want," Keys said. Keys recalled feeling fearful early on of the "animal instinct" she witnessed, and eventually feeling "high" due to recurrent harassment. Her experiences in the streets had led her to carry a homemade knife for protection. She became very wary, emotionally guarded, and she began wearing gender-neutral clothing and what would become her trademark cornrows. 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. 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 gave Keys as many opportunities as possible. Keys loved music and singing from early childhood. She recalled her mother playing jazz records of artists such as 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. In preschool, Keys sang in her school's production of the musical Cats and was cast as Dorothy Gale in a production of The Wizard of Oz. Keys discovered that 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. When Keys was ten, a neighborhood friend who was moving home gave her family an old upright piano. This proved pivotal for Keys's music.... Discover the Mike Cook Jonathan Evans Brock Craft popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Mike Cook Jonathan Evans Brock Craft books.