iHeartRadio’s Jamar McNeil highlights just some of the reasons why Alicia Keys is #BlackExcellence.
Keys started playing piano at age six and studied classical music and jazz. Her exposure to the music of Billie Holiday Ella Fitzgerald and Thelonius Monk as well as Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin explain her signature style of fusing the classical sound with Black Swag. She wrote her first song at the age of 12 on the piano and shortly after She signed a record deal at 15.
She had a rough start in her professional career. Creative disputes about her songs her look, her hair and her overall presentation made things difficult for her during her relationship with record label. She was able to get attention from the one and only Clive Davis who brought her over to his new label J Records where he allowed her to have creative control of her music and her likeness. Without that support, we might not have gotten the Alicia Keys with her urban wear and her signature Corn rows that let us know that this classic piano virtuoso was keeping it ALL THE WAY REAL
At 20, she released her debut album Songs in A Minor. It's one of my fav albums. A combo of Soul, Classical Piano, Neo Soul and BoomBap east coast hip hop. She’d been working on it since she was only 14. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and earned Keys five Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year for “Fallin’
Keys co-founded Keep a Child Alive, a non-profit organization that supports families with HIV and AIDS in Africa and India. In 2017, she was named by Amnesty International, an award that also went to Canadian Indigenous rights activists.
Alicia Keys over came her rough environment of Hell’s Kitchen Manhattan and the tough pressures of the corporate recording industry to be given titles like, Artist of the decade, one of the 100 Greatest Women in Music, 100 most influential people in the world to name a few.
CREDITS:
Research By Jamar McNeil, John R. Kennedy
Subscribe now!
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.