Alicia Augello Cook who is better known as Alicia Keys is an American songwriter, singer, and actress. She is a classically trained pianist and has been involved in music since her childhood.
What Is the Net Worth of Alicia Keys?
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Keys and her husband, producer Swizz Beatz have an estimated net worth of $150 million combinedly.
Early Life
Alicia Augello Cook was born in Manhattan, New York City, the U.S. on 25 January 1981. She is the daughter of Teresa Augello and Craig Cook. Her mother was a paralegal and part-time actress, whereas her father was a flight attendant.
In a statement, she has stated that she had no issue with her multiracial heritage as she thought she was fit to “relate to different cultures”. At the age of 2, her father left them, and then her mother did her upbringing on her own in her childhood in Hell’s Kitchen.
She stated that her parents were never literally in a relationship. However, she didn’t like speaking of her father to avoid feeding stereotypes, in 2001, she said “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 used to live in a one-room apartment with her mother and in order to be capable of providing for Keys, her mother used to work three jobs and she “learned how to survive” taking her mother as an example of determination and self-dependence.
Personal Life
Keys was in a relationship with her long-time good friend and partner Kerry Brothers Jr. for over a decade but they separated in 2008. In the early 1990s, she met Brothers at a cipher in the Downtown Village in Washington Square Park.
For her first four albums, Brothers was a partner in her production as well as songwriting. Later, she was in a relationship with Swizz Beatz, a hip-hop artist-producer. They have both known each other since their teenage years. In 2010, the couple made the announcement of their engagement and also confirmed that they are expecting their first child.
During the 2010 FIFA World Cup, a Zulu ceremony was organized by them to bless their unborn child in the Johannesburg suburb of Illovo, South Africa. On July 31, 2010, the couple got married, in a close-knit ceremony.
On October 14, 2010, they welcomed their son, Egypt Daoud Dean. In late 2014, they welcomed their second son, Genesis Ali Dean.
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Career
Since Keys was young, she started singing and used to perform in school musical productions since she was in preschool. After she got an old piano from a friend as a gift, she started taking piano lessons when she was a child.
At the age of 7, she was getting classical piano training. Through the age of 18, she continued her studies of classical music. Apart from that, she attended the Professional Performing Arts School at the age of 12 and she used to take classes in dance, music, theater, and choir.
At the age of 13, through the youth organization Teens in Motion, Keys met manager Jeff Robinson. He was like a mentor for her, he used to educate her about the music industry as he started taking her to meetings with lawyers and record label negotiations.
He introduced her to A&R executive Peter Edge, and they assisted her in creating certain song demonstrations to show to label executives. In the subsequent bidding war that stemmed, Columbia Records signed her ultimately by an offer of a $26,000 white baby grand piano.
Following the signed Columbia, she kept her education on and when she was 16, she completed her graduation early from high school as valedictorian. Later, she went to Columbia University on a scholarship.
Following her struggle with balancing the challenging time schedule of her university course load, while still working in the recording studio, she dropped college one month later so that she can pay attention to music full-time.
However, she was immensely annoyed for not having control over her music, since Columbia attempted to form a particular image for her, compelling her to collaborate with producers she didn’t like.
Ultimately, with Robinson’s help and also with Clive Davis, the president of Arista Records, she negotiated out of her contract with Columbia, and in late 1998, Arista signed her. In 2000, following Davis was expelled from Arista, her album was put over yet again, but he began his own label named J Records, and signed her immediately.
At J Records, she started promotion of her forthcoming debut with performances on shows such as “The Oprah Show” and “The Tonight Show.” In April 2001, her first single entitled “Fallin'” came out and peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
In June 2001, her debut studio album entitled “Songs in A Minor” came out and peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, and continued to sell more than 6.2 million copies in the U.S. The album had material that Columbia Records dismissed earlier.
However, her decision of not compromising and not coming to terms with Columbia absolutely paid off, since the album received nominations for 6 Grammy Awards.
Keys continued to win 5 Grammy Awards at the 2002 Grammy Awards, in the mentioned categories: “Song of the Year”, “Best R&B Song”, Best New Artist”, “Best Female R&B Vocal Performance”, “and “Best R&B Album”.
Apart from that, her albums entitled “The Diary of Alicia Keys” and “As I Am”, both dominated the charts, and in fact, at the 2008 Grammy Awards, brought her 2 awards for the song titled “No One” which was from the album entitled “As I Am”. Keys’ other albums are entitled “The Element of Freedom”, “Girl on Fire”, “Here”, and “Alicia”.
Acting and Television Career
In 2007, Keys made her film debut with the crime movie titled “Smokin’ Aces”, and later she appeared in the 2007 film “The Nanny Diaries”. In 2008, she appeared in “The Secret Life of Bees”.
In addition to the film, she also featured on several television shows including “Saturday Night Live,” “The Late Late Show with James Corden” and “Empire”.
Apart from that, she has also appeared on several reality music competition shows either as a judge, coach, or musical guest, the show includes “The Voice” Seasons 7, 11, 12, and 14, “The X Factor Australia” Season 4, and “The Voice Germany” Season 6.
Other Works
Besides music, Keys has been part of many other projects. In 2005, she launched her book “Tears for Water: Songbook of Poems and Lyrics” that showcased unreleased poems from her journals and lyrics and became The New York Times bestseller list in the same year.
In March 2020, she released her biography titled “More Myself: A Journey”. She also co-owns The Oven Studios which is a recording studio in Long Island, alongside her production and songwriting partner Kerry “Krucial” Brothers.
Keys and Brothers are also the co-founders of KrucialKeys Enterprises which is a production and songwriting panel working on her albums along with the projects with other artists.
Over the years, she has also been the spokesperson for many brands. She appeared in a commercial micro-series for Dove endorsing the brand’s Go Fresh line in 2008. Additionally, she also appeared in an American Express commercial and entered into a pact to promote VitaminWater.
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