Alicia Keys, photographed in New York City by Atsuko Tanaka in October 2009.

 

Alicia Keys, as featured on The WB’s presentation of Teen People magazine’s “What's Next” television special hosted by singer-songwriter/actress Mandy Moore in NYC and broadcast in November 2001.

This special was to celebrate and showcase some of the hottest new talent in the industry, with picks from Teen People’s next generation of superstar actors and musicians. Alicia, Ja Rule, Craig David and Nelly Furtado covered the December 2001/January 2002 issue of Teen People’s magazine release.

From Manhattan’s Hammerstein Ballroom on 311 West 34th Street, The WB broadcast live performances by N.E.R.D., Michelle Branch, Blu Cantrell, Craig David, Ja Rule and Alicia. 

Here in NY, artists sat around a round table and got to chat and answer questions from host Mandy Moore backed by a live studio audience. 

And with her piano, Alicia gave a performance at the Ballroom of “A Woman’s Worth.” A song that reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and later became one of her most recognizable hits.

During the broadcast, Mandy asks the singer if the sudden fame has been overwhelming at all, in which Alicia responds optimistically: “I try not to look at it like that, like ‘overwhelming’. I try to look at it like something that has been something that I’ve been striving for, for a very long time. Something I’ve been really wanting to do, and so, to just finally see it manifesting is very—it’s a blessing.”

When asked by Shay Haley of N.E.R.D. of what her next album will be like, Alicia comments: “I’m going somewhere real special. I really want to just dig in kind of deep and bring some different topics to the table. So, it’s gonna be interesting.”

Following up, Pharrell of N.E.R.D. comments on Alicia’s cover of Donny Hathaway's 1973 song "Someday We'll All Be Free" that she performed at the America: A Tribute to Heroes televised benefit concert following the September 11 attacks just earlier in the year: “I was in a house full of girls, and every last one of them was in tears.”

 

Alicia Keys, Ja Rule, Craig David and Nelly Furtado, photographed for the cover of the December 2001/January 2002 issue of Teen People magazine's "What's Next" special by Dominique Palombo.

Alicia’s makeup is done by Ayako for Nars Cosmetics. She wears a coat by Andrew Marc, pants by Laundry, and earrings by Nine West Jewelry. 

The four artists featured on The WB’s presentation of Teen People magazine’s “What’s Next” television special hosted by singer-songwriter/actress Mandy Moore in NYC and broadcast in November 2001.

This special was to celebrate and showcase some of the hottest new talent in the industry, with picks from Teen People’s next generation of superstar actors and musicians. 

From Manhattan’s Hammerstein Ballroom on 311 West 34th Street, The WB broadcast live performances by N.E.R.D., Michelle Branch, Blu Cantrell, Craig David, Ja Rule and Alicia. Here in NY, artists sat around a round table and got to chat and answer questions from host Mandy Moore backed by a live studio audience. 

“What’s next is definitely another single, and that’s ‘A Woman’s Worth,’” says Alicia to WB. “And then continuing to do, you know, writing and producing different songs with different artists along with my team KrucialKeys and myself. I just hope that it’s something—that the music is something that [fans] can relate to. I think in part it may be due to that it’s a little different sound or a different style. It feels rewarding to be What’s Next and it feels like a wonderful thing.”

Alicia Keys, as featured on The WB’s presentation of Teen People magazine’s “What's Next” television special hosted by singer-songwriter/actress Mandy Moore in NYC and broadcast in November 2001.

This special was to celebrate and showcase some of the hottest new talent in the industry, with picks from Teen People’s next generation of superstar actors and musicians. Alicia, Ja Rule, Craig David and Nelly Furtado covered the December 2001/January 2002 issue of Teen People’s magazine release.

From Manhattan’s Hammerstein Ballroom on 311 West 34th Street, The WB broadcast live performances by N.E.R.D., Michelle Branch, Blu Cantrell, Craig David, Ja Rule and Alicia. Here in NY, artists sat around a round table and got to chat and answer questions from host Mandy Moore backed by a live studio audience. 

“What’s next is definitely another single, and that’s ‘A Woman’s Worth,’” says Alicia to WB. “And then continuing to do, you know, writing and producing different songs with different artists along with my team KrucialKeys and myself. I just hope that it’s something—that the music is something that [fans] can relate to. I think in part it may be due to that it’s a little different sound or a different style. It feels rewarding to be What’s Next and it feels like a wonderful thing.”

 

Alicia Keys, as featured on MTV’s presentation of Teen People magazine’s “25 Hottest Stars Under 25” television special hosted by MTV VJ's Quddus and Hilarie Burton broadcast in mid 2001.

Sisqó, Pink and JC of N’Sync were additionally among the 25 Hottest Stars Under 25 as they covered the May issue of Teen People’s magazine release in 2001.

Teen People’s Senior Entertainment Editor Gloria Wong speaks on selecting Alicia for the list: “There was no way we couldn’t put Alicia Keys on the list. She’s won all these awards this year. Her music is really solid. And her lyrics are really good, and she’s just a really talented person. It’s that singer-songwriter who is really feeling her emotions and putting it into her music in a way that people can feel too. It’s really exciting.”

When asked about her hot artist status, Alicia remains grounded: “Hot is your own style and you not trying to be like anybody else, you being yourself,” the singer says. “Do I consider myself hot? Well, I mean sure why not? Cause if you don’t consider yourself hot [then] nobody else will!” 

 

Alicia Keys, as featured on MTV’s “Fake ID Club” television program broadcast in late 2001.

The segment, hosted by The Soprano’s Jamie-Lynn Sigler, highlighted known and unknown young performers and individuals under the age of twenty-one, who weren’t even “old enough to buy a bottle of Cristal.”

Alicia’s friend Tiffany is interviewed about her No. 1 Billboard 200 friend: “She’s just a regular person. We talk about clothing. We talk about anything special that’s going on in your life, maybe a boy or something,”

The program then jumps to Alicia, and more of her personal life: “Right around the time that I wrote ‘Butterflyz,’ I was feeling some butterflies,” says the singer. “It was an instant attraction to my first love. And every time I spoke to him, or saw him, I got these crazy butterflies in my stomach. It was like, ridiculous. We talked on the phone all the time. I would sneak on the phone at night, hold the phone underneath the pillow. While my mother was in the other room. ‘Cause if she found out I was on the phone, it was kind of late, she would’ve been mad.”

Tiffany then follows up: “Yeah, we all knew him. Just like, knowing Alicia, I kind of had an idea that ‘Fallin’’ was for Mr. ‘Butterflyz.’”

 

Alicia Keys, photographed for her “Women who Rock” cover story feature alongside Eve and Missy Elliott in the October 30 issue of Rolling Stone magazine by Max Vadukul in New York, September 2003.

The 934th issue cover story of Rolling Stone, titled “Women who Rock,” featured seven spotlight articles of women musicians including Dolly Parton, Missy Elliott, Eve and Lauryn Hill, who “play by their own rules,” and do so “brilliantly.”

In the corresponding interview with celebrity interviewer Jancee Dunn, Alicia’s described as wearing a pair of jeans, a brown/yellow/cream leather jacket and a pair of big sparkly black earrings. She speaks candidly about her forthcoming sophomore album The Diary of Alicia Keys, particularly how the record reflects Sixties and Seventies soul music: “That’s some of the best music ever created, period, end of story. I feel sometimes it’s a lost art—being a true artist, having different angles to offer, experimenting. Long songs that last forever, like eleven minutes—I’m really inspired by things like that.”

Asked about what future changes she would like to see in the music business, the singer answers: “I definitely would love to see a little more substance, and a little more diversity. And more people that aren’t afraid to really stand up and say, ‘Hey, this is how I feel.’ So that we can have a couple of more different opinions and a little more open-mindedness.”

 

Alicia Keys, photographed for her “Women who Rock” cover story feature alongside Eve and Missy Elliott in the October 30 issue of Rolling Stone magazine by Max Vadukul in New York, September 2003.

The 934th issue cover story of Rolling Stone, titled “Women who Rock,” featured seven spotlight articles of women musicians including Dolly Parton, Missy Elliott, Eve and Lauryn Hill, who “play by their own rules,” and do so “brilliantly.”

In the corresponding interview with celebrity interviewer Jancee Dunn, Alicia’s described as wearing a pair of jeans, a brown/yellow/cream leather jacket and a pair of big sparkly black earrings. She speaks candidly about her forthcoming sophomore album The Diary of Alicia Keys, particularly how the record reflects Sixties and Seventies soul music: “That’s some of the best music ever created, period, end of story. I feel sometimes it’s a lost art—being a true artist, having different angles to offer, experimenting. Long songs that last forever, like eleven minutes—I’m really inspired by things like that.”

The singer also expressed her quality of being grounded amongst the stress of public expectation for her new album: “I think we sometimes make things extra heavy for ourselves. And if I find myself feeling like that, I’m like, ‘Go take a walk, go to the movies or something, go see your grandmother, go get with your homegirls and drive around and be silly.’”

 

Alicia Keys, photographed for her “Women who Rock” cover story feature alongside Eve and Missy Elliott in the October 30 issue of Rolling Stone magazine by Max Vadukul in New York, September 2003.

On the cover Alicia wears a jacket and belt by Dolce and Gabbana, pants by Jean Paul Gaultier, corset by Agent Provocateur, hat by Lola, and earrings by Jacob and Company. She is styled by Patti Wilson with hair by Nicole Tucker and makeup by Ayako.

The 934th issue cover story of Rolling Stone, titled “Women who Rock,” featured seven spotlight articles of women musicians including Dolly Parton, Missy Elliott, Eve and Lauryn Hill, who “play by their own rules,” and do so “brilliantly.”

In the corresponding interview with celebrity interviewer Jancee Dunn, Alicia’s described as wearing a pair of jeans, a brown/yellow/cream leather jacket and a pair of big sparkly black earrings. She speaks candidly about her forthcoming sophomore album The Diary of Alicia Keys, particularly how the record reflects Sixties and Seventies soul music: “That’s some of the best music ever created, period, end of story. I feel sometimes it’s a lost art—being a true artist, having different angles to offer, experimenting. Long songs that last forever, like eleven minutes—I’m really inspired by things like that.”

Dunn asks Alicia when she was most happiest in her career, and when she was most unhappiest, she intimately answers: “I’ll tell you what makes me the most happy about what I do: that I can be myself. And this is really important, because often times young women are pushed to be something other than they are, even if it’s just slightly. And the worst was probably dealing with so much upheaval with my first record company. I was like, ‘I don’t even know where I’m going to land.’ That was definitely a very hard, hard time in my life.”

 

Alicia Keys appears on interview television talk show “Charlie Rose” with host and journalist Charlie Rose filmed in 731 Lexington Avenue at the ‘Bloomberg Tower’ in New York City on Wednesday, January 5, 2005.

This was Alicia’s first time on the show. She spoke upon subjects like her latest album “The Diary of Alicia Keys,” her poetry and lyric book released earlier that November “Tears for Water,” founding the nonprofit organization Keep A Child Alive, opening for Sting at Rock in Rio Lisboa earlier in June, and being nominated eight times in the upcoming 47th Grammy Awards.

Following in February at the Grammys, Alicia won R&B Album for Diary, Female R&B Vocal Performance for “If I Ain’t Got You,” R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals for “My Boo,” with Usher, and R&B Song for "You Don't Know My Name," with Kanye West (who also appeared on the Charlie Rose show almost a month after Alicia).

During the interview, Charlie asks the singer about her songwriting process: “I have a million notebooks. I have so many notebooks that it's crazy,” Alicia answers. “But when I travel, I do carry one with me. And you know, with my songwriting, it's not a process in which once one thing ends, then it begins. It's like it continues, you know, it continues through different experiences. I may be speaking to you right now, and there may be one word that you say that will trigger my mind, and suddenly I'm going home and I'm writing.”

 

Alicia Keys’ first single on Columbia Records “Who’s That Girl?” released in 1998 and was taken from her yet untitled forthcoming album through Columbia’s “Young Soul Power II” compilation promo CD in 1998.

Here she is photographed at New Era Studios in SoHo, New York, by Anderson Ballantyne in 1998. This photoshoot featured in the CD’s booklet.

The compilation also featured girl group Blaque and singers Cassie Bonner and Jo Jo Robinson.

"A rarity in today’s music, Alicia Keys is not only a gifted songwriter with a sensational voice, but also a classically trained pianist. Finding her inspiration from great musical storytellers; Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, this young artist has developed a smooth melodic sound along with an ability to write keenly poetic lyrics, demonstrated on her first single, “Who’s That Girl?”

Her debut album was written and produced by Alicia as was her feature track “Dah Dee Dah” on the double platinum Men In Black soundtrack and “Little Drummer Girl” performed on the BET Christmas Special. Hailing from New York City, Alicia Keys promises a soulful trip through the eyes of an intelligent and gifted young woman." Columbia writes of the young star in 1998.