Alicia Keys As I Am

Alicia Keys As I Am is the artist’s third studio album released on November 13, 2007 on J Records label, selling 742,000 albums during its first week and claiming the number 1 spot on the United States Billboard 200. It went on to sell over 5 million albums worldwide and earned Alicia Keys three Grammy Awards.

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As her third studio album, Alicia Keys As I Am joins three other albums to create a massively successful portfolio for the artist, including her first album Songs in a Minor, her second album The Diary of Alicia Keys, and her fourth and currently most recent The Element of Freedom.

Alicia Aguello Cook was born on January 25, 1981 to Irish-Scottish-Italian mom and African-American dad in New York City. After separating when Alicia was 2 years old, her mother raised her in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York as a single mother.

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She learned to play the piano when she was seven and learned classical music when enrolled in the Professional Performing Arts School when she was twelve, graduating as valedictorian when she was sixteen. Being accepted to Columbia University while at the same time signing a contract with Columbia Records, Keys left CU to pursue her music career full time.

Alicia Keys developed her stage name after her manager had seen it in a visionary dream, and she went on to record her first album with her new name in 2001, selling 236,000 copies in its first week and claiming the number 1 position on the Billboard 200.

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Alicia Keys followed up her debut album with Diary of Alicia Keys in 2003, which also went to number one on the Billboard 200, selling over 618,000 copies during its first week. Her currently most recent final album is the Element of Freedom released in December 2009, which climbed up to the number 2 spot on the Billboard 200 selling 417,000 copies during its first week.

While not legally married in the United States, Keys and record producer and artis Swizz Beatz had a wedding celebration in the French island of Corsica on July 31, 2010, and had a Zulu ceremony union earlier that year in Illovo, South Africa. The couple gave birth to Egypt Daoud Ibarr Dean on October 14, 2010, Key’s first and Beatz’s fourth child.

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In addition to her talent, Alicia Keys is the co-founder and Global Ambassador of Keep a Child Alive, which provides medicine families with HIV and AIDS in Africa. Other philanthropist participation include donating to Frum the Ground Up aiding teenagers with scholarships, aiding those affected during Hurricane Katrina, and performing during the Live Aid event in 2007.

Her scholastic achievements, dedicated talent as a musician and actress, philanthropy and motherhood is certainly a positive inspiration to many young women around the world. Her music is appreciated not only by young kids, but many adults including some of my previous co-workers. There wasn’t even a need to speak with our eldest girl about anything inappropriate with Alicia Keys As I Am or any of her other albums, and I hope she gets to learn some of Keys’ accomplishments and is inspired by them.