Keys ’s life became a whirlwind of studying and singing, practicing piano, and performing onstage.
“We wanted people to see that I played piano and sang, ” she told Rolling Stone. At the same time, Keys ’s manager, Jeff Robinson, began booking Keys at music-industry shows. After school she worked on her voice at a local Police Athletic League girls ’ club.
ALICIA KEYS DIARY PIANO LIVE PROFESSIONAL
At eleven she began writing songs.įor her high school education Keys was accepted into the prestigious Professional Performance Arts School in Manhattan where she majored in Choir and continued her piano lessons. With her mother ’s support, Keys learned classical piano by the time she was seven. ’ She didn ’t care what it cost, ” Keys told Newsweek. “But my mom would tell me, ‘Quit what you like, but you ’re not quitting piano. ” Despite her commitment, Keys was aware of the financial strain the lessons put on her mother ’s meager salary and once begged to quit. Music came before everything, everything, everything. Keys told Rolling Stone, “I ’ve had a deep love for music since I was four …. Despite the difficult life of a single mom and the poverty in which she often struggled, Keys ’s mother was determined to nourish her child ’s budding passion for music and enrolled Keys in piano classes. As a child Keys didn ’t see much of her father, Craig Cook, however, they remained on good terms. Her parents did not stay together and Keys was raised by her mother, Terri Augello, a paralegal and sometimes actress. Keys was born on January 21, 1981, in New York City to an Italian-American mother and an African-American father.
That ’s where the title comes from as well, A Minor is one of my favorite keys to plays in, and A is the first letter of my name so it really just talks about songs from me. All the things I went through, and experienced …. Of Songs in A Minor Keys told, “ a journey through my life from the time when I was 14, when I wrote the first song on the album …. Not just another pretty face singing catchy pop, Keys wrote most of the lyrics and music, played all of the instruments, and co-produced the album. With her classical training on the piano, soul-stirring lyrics, and heart-stopping voice, Keys had become a bonafide superstar. Suddenly you couldn ’t open a magazine, turn on the radio, or tune into MTV without encountering the stunning bi-racial Keys. Just three weeks after being released, Alicia Keys ’s debut album, Songs in A Minor, was certified triple platinum.