It has internationally sold over 30 million albums and won numerous awards, including 14 Grammys, 17 Billboard Awards and 3 American Music Awards. Their debut album Songs in A Minor won five Grammys in one night, a record for female artists, which she shared with Lauryn Hill (1999), Norah Jones (2003), Beyoncé (2004) and Amy Winehouse (2008), but years later was overcome with 6 Grammys in one night by Beyoncé (2010) and Adele (2012).
Alicia Keys, whose birth name is Alicia Augello Cook was born on January 25, 1981 in Manhattan , New York , the result of the union of Teresa Augello , a legal assistant of Italian and English origins , and Craig Cook, a flight attendant African American . Keys has expressed that he always felt comfortable with his multiracial heritage, and this has allowed him to have contact with two different cultures. His parents separated when he was two, and as a result, Alice was raised only by his mother during his early years in the New York neighborhood of Hell 's Kitchen. In 1985, only 4 years old , Alicia performed a role in the television series The Cosby Show as one of the guests at a sleepover Rudy Huxtable . Throughout his childhood , Alicia took classes in music and dance , at the age of seven she began to play the piano , beginning in the study of composers such as Beethoven , Mozart and Chopin. At age 12, Alicia enrolled in the Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan , where he excelled as a singer and began composing his first songs. He graduated with honors at age 16 .
In 1994 , Alice met the man who would be his future manager, Jeff Robinson, to join a school program that ran by his brother. The following year Robinson introduced Alicia to Peter Edge, later " discovered " on Arista Records. On his first impressions about it , Edge would later claim to HitQuarters : I had never seen a R & B artist of her age with so much musical talent before. There were many people who participated in choir as loops or songs, but she had the ability , not only to adapt to hip- hop, but to go much further. Peter Robinson helped arrange a showcase for Alicia and develop a demo. However, although he had put a lot of excitement in the idea of launching his own career of it, could not get involved because of the danger of losing their jobs . Alicia signed a contract with Columbia Records soon after. At the same time she was accepted into Columbia University and , although initially tried to combine his pop music career with studies , he soon had to leave to devote himself entirely to music .
Alicia signed a trial contract with Jermaine Dupri and So So Def Recordings, where she appeared on the cover of the Christmas album performing " The Little Drummer Girl" . Also during this time co - wrote and recorded the song " Dah Dee Dah ( Sexy Thing) " , which was part of the soundtrack of the movie Men in Black ( 1997). This issue was the first professional composition Alicia , although it was never released as a single conflict since the representatives of Alicia with Columbia , which eventually lead to the end of his contract. Alicia was dissatisfied with the deal that the company had given him during the two years of the contract , because his career had stalled lacking a certain direction. Alicia then contacted Clive Davis , who felt that it was facing a "special , unique " artist and got him a contract with Arista Records , a company that later dissolve. During this time Alicia also adopted his stage name would be : although initially leaned " Alicia Wilde ," his manager suggested he used Keys because of a dream he had , the singer accepted advice . Alicia continued to work with Davis in his new company J Records, where he worked with Kerry " Krucial " Brothers and recorded the songs " Rock wit U" and "Rear View Mirror" , which were used in the soundtrack of the Shaft films ( 2000) and Dr. Dolittle 2, respectively.
