Half African-American, half Italian soul musician Alicia Keys exploded onto the music world with her 2001 debut album, Songs in a Minor. With a pop, gospel, R&B and soul blend, the album, along with its hit single Falling, went platinum five times. Writing songs since she was 14 years old, Alicia Keys also worked on several movie soundtracks, one of which was Men in Black (1997).
On February 6, 2005, Alicia Keys will perform the song America the Beautiful at the Super Bowl, which is to be held in Jacksonville, Florida. Made popular by such musicians as Vikki Carr and Alicia Keys will be accompanied by 150 children from the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind.
"I'm very excited to be playing at the Super Bowl for the first time, especially because I will be singing a song made famous by an artist I admire, miss and respect." Alicia Keys
On a different note, Alicia Keys makes reference to a phone number in her love song, Diary. When fans called the number a Georgia man named J.D. Turner got the calls as he had the same number.
As a humanitarian, Alicia Keys has paid much attention to AIDS pandemic. Alicia and Sean Combs performed on MTV's Saturday concert (2002), which was part of World Aids Day special program. She also starred in the Urban AIDS promotion held in Toronto's Ricoh Coliseum in 2004.
On February 3, 2005, Alicia Keys will be featured in live performances with artists such as Good Charlotte, Kelly Clarkson, Hoobastank and Simple Plan in an effort to support the MTV Asia Aid promotion.