The Superstar that is Alicia Keys

A breath of fresh air. That's what Alicia Keys is to the music business, in particular the r&b genre of music. Her ability to combine her piano playing with great vocals and create music have made her a force in the music business. On the heels of her latest release As I Am, Keys is continuing to blossom as a superstar in the music industry.

Keys, an only child, was born in Manhattan New York. She began playing the piano at an early age and graduated from the Professional Performing Arts School, as valedictorian at the age of sixteen. She then passed on her scholarship to Columbia University to pursue her career in music. After writing songs for a number of soundtracks Keys singed with Clive Davis and Arista Records. Her first album Songs in A Minor would put her on the music industry map. Her first single from that album Fallin was a huge hit. The song spent six weeks at number one on the Billboard charts and go play at r&b, pop and even hip-hop stations. It lead to her album having a huge first week, over 230,000 copies. She would go on to sell over eleven million copies of this album.

Keys success would continue on her next album, The Diary of Alica Keys. The album was led by the single You Don't Know My Name. She would follow with If IAin't Got You. Both songs were top 5 singles and huge on radio. Keys album would sell over 600,000 copies during its first week. The album would go onto sell well over 8 million copies. A far cry from a sophomore slump.

Alicia has shown that artists with true talent can have success in music. Artists that are real songwriters and singers can still have success in a market that tends to focus on hip-hop and dancing. Keys has had lots of crossover success getting play on MTV, BET and VH1. She has even branched out by getting her start in Hollywood. Keys has received lots of praise for her role in Smokin Aces, where she stared as an assassin named Georgia Sykes. She also appeared in The Nanny Diaries where she received lots of praise as well.

Alicia has a long list of people she has collaborated with in music. She has worked with the likes of John Mayer, Kanye West, Tony, Toni, Tone, Usher and many others. She has appeared on several award shows from the BET Awards to the American Music Awards. She is also an active philanthropist. Keys is a spokesperson for Keep a Child Alive, an organization that provides medicines for children with HIV. She also speaks for a group called From the Ground Up, a group which encourages youth to achieve success at all levels.

With her new album, As I Am, set to be released in November, Keys is set again to have huge success. The first single from the album No One, is already at number one. It's been one of the biggest songs of the year of any genre. With her dynamic song writing ability and beautiful voice, Keys is sure to have another huge selling album.