Alicia Keys

Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, pianist, cellist and actress. Born in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York, she attended Professional Performing Arts School and graduated at sixteen. She later attended Columbia University before dropping out to pursue her music career. 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 11 million copies worldwide. The album earned Keys five Grammy Awards in 2002, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for "Fallin'". Her second studio album, The Diary of Alicia Keys, was released in 2003 and was also another success worldwide, selling nine million copies and garnered Keys four Grammy Awards in 2005. After the successful Unplugged release in 2005, Keys released in 2007 her third studio album, As I Am, which sold nearly four million copies in the United States.

Keys made a television appearance on The Cosby Show in 1985. In the early 2000s, she made small cameos in television series and played a voice in an episode of The Backyardigans. She made her first film debut in Smokin' Aces (2007) and went on to appear in the films The Nanny Diaries (2007) and The Secret Life of Bees (2008).

Keys has sold over thirty million albums worldwide and has won numerous awards, including eleven Grammy Awards, seventeen Billboard Music Awards, and five American Music Awards and was ranked in the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists at number 80. Together with her previous releases, she established herself as one of the best-selling artists of her time.