Alicia Keys Biography
Alicia Keys Basic Information
| Stage Name: | Alicia keys |
| Real Name: | Alicia Augello Cook |
| Occupation: | Singer, Songwriter, Actress |
| Date Of Birth/Age: | January 25, 1981 (43 Years Old) |
| Place of Birth: | New York City, US. |
| Gender: | Female |
| Nationality: | American |
| Marital Status: | Swizz Beatz (m. 2010) |
| Education: | Professional Performing Arts School |
| Height: | 5 ft. 5 |
| Net Worth: | $150m |
Alicia Keys Biography
Alicia Augello Cook, known professionally, as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is a classically trained pianist who began composing songs at age 12. Columbia Records signed her at age 15. She signed with Arista Records after disputes arose with her label. Later in 2001, she released her debut album “Songs In A Minor” with J Records. The album became a critical and commercial success, selling over 12 million copies worldwide. The album produced to chart-topping single “Fallin” and earned her five Grammy Awards in 2002. She experienced the same success with her second studio album, “The Diary Of Alicia Keys,” which was released in 2003. The critically acclaimed album sold over eight million copies worldwide and produced the hit singles “You Don’t Know My Name”, “If I Ain’t Got You”, and “Diary.” The album also earned Keys four Grammy Awards. Keys has released eight total albums as of 2022 and won 15 Grammy Awards. Having sold over 90 million records worldwide, Keys is one of the best-selling artists in the world.
Kids
Alicia Keys became pregnant with her and Swizz Beatz’s first child, Egypt Daoud Dean, after they got engaged in 2010. The child was born (in October) after their wedding in July. Their second child, Genesis Ali Dean, was born five years later (in 2014). She told Harper’s Bazaar in August 2019, ” Motherhood gave me a stronger sense of clarity. I used to be less aware of how I wanted to spend my time and more influenced by other people. After I had my kids, I felt like I had found my North Star. I was less wasteful; I worked more effectively.”
Husband
Alicia Keys is married to American producer Swizz Beatz. The couple first met when they were teenagers. Keys was 14, and Swizz was 16. According to her book, “More Myself,” Alicia was never about it. She wrote, “We ended up in the same circles at various awards shows and industry events. He’d usually pull up in some fancy car, rolling deep with his Bronx crew and shining with diamonds. I wanted nothing to do with that scene or with Swizz.”
Things didn’t click when they’d run into each other years later. It wasn’t until they worked on a project together that the feelings began to build. She realized he was deeper than she gave him credit for after chatting with him for some time. Then, she agreed to go to lunch with him. She revealed that while she arrived early, he was late to the date. After the date, she noticed a painting of a grand piano with paintbrushes on the keys strapped to her car. He revealed that that was why he was late. She was the keys in the painting, and he was the paint brushes.
They became serious from there and got engaged in 2010. The same year, Keys found out she was pregnant with their first child a few months before they tied the knot in Corsica.
Parents
Alicia Keys is the only child of Teresa Augello and Craig Cook (who has two other children). Teresa was a paralegal, and a part-time actress and Craig worked as a flight attendant. Augello is of Italian, Irish, and Scottish descent, while Cook is African American. Keys’ mother’s grandparents were immigrants from Sciaccia in Sicily and Lamezia Terme in Calabria. Her parents named her after her Puerto Rican godmother. She has stated that she was comfortable with her multiracial heritage because it enabled her to “relate to different cultures.”
Keys was raised in Hell’s Kitchen by her mother after her father left when she was two. She has stated that her parents never had a relationship, and her father was not in her life. She said in 2001, “I’m not in contact with him. That’s fine. When I was younger, I minded about that. [It] made me angry. But it helped show me what a strong woman my mother was and made me want to be strong like her. Probably, it was better for me this way.” She lived with her mother in a one-room apartment, and her mother worked three jobs to provide for them. She stated that her mother anchored her on the right path as many people she knew ended up on the wrong path and in jail.
Her mother played Jazz records of several artists, including Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong, on Sunday mornings. She stated that those early musical moments were influential in kindling her interest in music and tying her emotions to it. Her mother encouraged her to participate in several extracurricular activities, including music, dance, theater, and gymnastics, to enable her “find her muse.”
House
Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz are owners of a modernist home overlooking the Pacific ocean. The couple purchased the house known as Razor House in 2019 and changed its name to Dreamland. According to Architectural Digest, “Keys says the expansive, nearly 11,000-square-foot residence, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean and is rumored to be the inspiration for Tony Stark’s futuristic bachelor pad in the Iron Man movies, is ‘a place to create dreams and to be bold enough to dream your wildest dream—for us to even be here is a wildest dream.”
