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This page contains the Bio of famous black actress Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys is a talented American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, composer, pianist, and record producer. Alicia Keys began taking piano lessons at age seven and at the age of 12 she was accepted by the prestigious Professional Performance Arts School of Manhattan, where she majored in choir. Impressed by her exceptional music talent and grades, Alicia was allowed to graduate as valedictorian.

After graduation, at the age of sixteen Alicia was accepted to Columbia University with a scholarship, she decided instead to pursue her musical career. In 1998 she signed with Arista Records, and wrote, produced and recorded her own albums. In 1999 she left Arista to join J Records, headed by legendary music impresario Clive Davis, and her success has been meteoric. Today at the young age of 27 Alicia Keys is one of the hottest singers in the music world and has already sold over twenty-eight million albums and singles worldwide. She also won numerous awards, including nine Grammy Awards, eleven Billboard Music Awards, and three American Music Awards

Besides being a musician, Keys is also an active philanthropist. She is a spokeswoman for Keep a Child Alive, a non-profit organization that provides life-saving AIDS medicines directly to children and families with HIV/AIDS in Africa. Keys and U2 lead singer Bono recorded a cover version of Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush's "Don't Give Up", in recognition of World AIDS Day 2006. Keys and Bono's version of the song has been retitled as "Don't Give Up (Africa)", to show the two musicians' support for helping to raise awareness of people living with HIV and AIDS and acknowledging the twenty-five million Africans (forty million people worldwide) living with the deadly disease.