Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook, known by the pseudonym Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Keys released her debut album with J Records, having had previous record deals first with Columbia and then Arista Records. Keys' debut album, Songs in A Minor, was a commercial success, selling over 12 million copies worldwide. She became the best-selling new artist and best-selling R&B artist of 2001. The album earned Keys five Grammy Awards in 2002, including Best New Artist...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPop Singer
Date of Birth25 January 1981
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
You just can't take a day for granted. We had to work really hard for anything, and so that's been instilled in me. And I don't look at myself as better than anybody else, because in an instant everything can change.
I was always amazed the way people would come in looking one way and transform completely to the point where I couldn't recognize their language, their accent, the way they looked, their hair, their face even changed becoming so inside of the character.
I acted before I sang. And I did The Cosby Show, and things like that. But the music kind of came first. And it was a part of my essence. So I knew that I would evolve into this world.
I'm so grateful that I can play and that I can execute what I hear in my head, because that's the tricky part.
I'm discovering my sexual side, and exploring relationships. You know, sensual stuff. And I'm discovering a lot of sides of myself, stuff I've buried. So the music is also therapeutic, to come to terms with things. And I feel now like my head is in the right space.
I do feel like I owe something, but not to the industry. When you say "industry," I think of a group of people who don't really care much about you and treat you as a commodity. So, in that regard, I don't feel like I owe anything. But the people who've always been supportive of me and have always seen me for my greatest potential-those are the people who I feel like I owe something to. I feel like I am their voice. I owe it them to represent them in a way that they can be proud of.
Business can change you, and chew you up, and spit you out, and be rid of you, and on to the next thing. That's why it's so important to know who you are and stand up for something.
I think being really connected to a higher power, of having a spirituality to me, has been really good for me and I pray all the time.
Even if your family isn't quite there for you, find the people that support you and hang on to those people and try to let go of those that try to take you down.
If your family - just because they're blood doesn't mean that they necessarily give you the best advice.
I think there was something about being in a tough environment that gave me a certain drive.
I think following my instinct has proven to lead me in the right direction, and it's hard to hear sometimes, because it's a noisy world and there's a lot of people talking to you.
Fear is not a part of my vocabulary, actually.
When I did get signed and I was going around letting people know what I was about, that's exactly how I did it: me on the piano, playing a couple of songs I'd written and talking to the people in between. That's how I got my performance chops up.