Alicia Keys

One of the most respected R&B musicians of her generation, Alicia Keys first grabbed the attention of audiences with the release of her acclaimed 2001 debut album Songs in A Minor. Born and raised in the New York neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen, Keys began studying classical piano at age seven using the Suzuki method, which could sometimes find her practicing up to six hours a day. Though Keys sometimes struggled with the conditions of what was often a difficult neighborhood, she would find a tremendous source of expression in music, writing her first song to help cope with the death of her grandfather at age 13. It was around this same time, while Keys was regularly performing with other teens at local musical events, that she was discovered by manager Jeff Robinson, who allowed the young musician to shadow him throughout his business dealings with artists, lawyers, and executives to give her insight into the workings of the music industry. At 15, Keys signed a recording contract with Columbia Records, which paired her with producers to work on shaping her material as well as her image, but Keys butted heads with most of the musical directives she was given. After purchasing her own recording equipment-which she used to record her songs herself in her Harlem apartment-Keys eventually negotiated out of her contract with Columbia, taking her recordings to Arista Records. There, she eventually released her landmark debut, immediately impressing critics and R&B fans alike with her deft musicality and complex lyrics. She released The Diary of Alicia Keys in 2003 before trying her hand at acting, appearing in the ensemble action film "Smokin' Aces" (2006). Keys released another album, 2007's As I Am, before appearing in "The Nanny Diaries" (2007) and "The Secret Life of Bees" (2008). In 2009, she released The Element of Freedom in addition to appearing as a featured vocalist on the hit Jay-Z track "Empire State of Mind." Though she would take a two-year break following the 2010 birth of her son with her husband, musician Swizz Beats, Keys returned in 2012 with the highly acclaimed album Girl on Fire. She gave birth to a daughter in 2014 before becoming an extremely popular coach on the hit competitive singing show "The Voice" (NBC, 2011-) in 2016, the same year she released the critically lauded album Here. Ever expanding her purview, Keys began executive producing the Viceland docu-series "Hustle" (Viceland, 2019) in 2019.