This girl is on fire! Singer Alicia Keys took to the Grammy stage with Maroon 5 lead singer and yoga devotee Adam Levine to perform live in 2013. Their duet performance on Sunday night had critics and fans both singing their praises long before nightly entertainment newscasters could air video taped segments on Feb. 11. The red-hot singer has been the talk of the town in both Hollywood and New York City for months now. Ever since she sang “Empire State of Mind” at the 12-12-12 charity benefit concert to help the east coast victims of super storm Sandy, people have been buying up her records, downloading her songs on iTunes and have been asking more and more questions about her.
According to Biography.com Alicia Keys was born Alicia Augello Cook in New York, New York on January 25, 1981. She started piano lessons when she was seven years old. She graduated from the Professional Performance Arts School at age sixteen. She was soon chosen by Clive Davis while he was still at Arista Records and left Arista when Davis did. Her first album “Songs in A Minor” went platinum five times over. The album also earned her five Grammy awards.
Keys is married to hip-hop recording artist, record producer Swizz Beatz. The couple has one child, a boy named Egypt Daoud Dean. Joking regularly when other men hit on her that she, “has her man situation handled”, the performer is a beautiful woman — a shining example of both wife and mother in addition to being a heck of a dynamic career girl.
She is the ambassador for Keep a Child Alive, her charity that supports children and families in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The organization does more than offer medications and treatments, but helps provide a better chance of living to the children who are left alone. Keys is a master of fundraising, raising almost six million dollars last November and December alone.
Keys was only 20 when she started to travel to troubled nations. She gained an understanding of the suffering and death from the HIV/AIDS epidemic. She was so moved by the poverty and struggles that she has worked tirelessly toward humanitarian goals ever since.
In December, she raised $2.9 million for AIDS-relief at New York City’s famed Apollo Theater. She had help from Jennifer Hudson and Whoopi Goldberg, according to EOnline News.
In November, she held her eighth annual Black Ball or Keep a Child Alive, raising $3 million in the process, according to Star Pulse. She has the power to draw such stars as wil.i.am, Usher and Norah Jones to her events.
In January, her Eco-friendly husband gifted Keys with her dream car, a $100,000 Fisker Karma, the world’s first luxury Electric Vehicle, says KDHamptons.com.
Her stunning rendition of the National Anthem at the Super Bowl was her latest star turn. She is also scheduled to perform at the NBA All Star halftime show, according to The Economist.