Her first album, Songs In A Minor, was released on J Records in 2001, and earned her five Grammys: the second time a woman had won that many in a single ceremony. “And then once he was gone, it kind of made it difficult to find another advocate.” Unsure if the label got who she wanted to be without him, her team began the lengthy process of extricating her from her contract. He was 100 per cent behind it,” Keys tells me. It was Columbia Records that signed her at just 15: she graduated high school at 16 as a straight-A student, and attended Columbia University on a scholarship for a month, before dropping out to focus on her music.Īt Columbia (the record label, not the Ivy League school), “the head of black music” was a man named Michael Malden, who helped open doors for Keys, introduced her to working with Jermaine Dupri and helped organise her first performances and recordings. Convinced to try her luck as a solo artist, Keys would perform before different labels as part of a burgeoning bidding war. Jeff went on to become her first manager.
She was part of a girl group called EmBishion and a vocal coach called Conrad Robinson brought down his brother, Jeff, to see them perform at a Harlem Police Athletic League centre. The next few years of Alicia’s career – the years that precede her first album, Songs In A Minor – are somewhat soupy, a malaise of record-label staff changes, contracts and bidding wars. “And as a black woman it's so cool to see a reflection and to see people who can do what you really want to do.” Miss Aziza taught her about arrangements, confidence, “about the strength of a woman, and just being who you are. “It was so cool to be able to ingest what she had as a young, aspiring artist who's also playing piano,” Keys recalls.
She started attending the Professional Performing Arts School just eight blocks from her home – “so I was always late” – where she found a mentor in “Miss Aziza”, the composer and arranger L Aziza Miller. Charlotte posted a cover of Shallow on YouTube in 2020, followed by a music video.Keys started studying classical piano at seven at 14, with her teacher unsure what there was left to teach her, she picked up jazz.