NEW SINGER Alicia Keys SITTING PRETTY WITH SMASH DEBUT ALBUM `Songs In A Minor'

Jet, August 13, 2001 by Margena A. Christian

One listen to new singer Alicia Keys and you're hooked. Add a dash of classical piano, a pinch of blues and a sprinkle of R&B and you've captured the essence of the talented artist who's sitting pretty as one of music's fastest-rising stars.

The 20-year-old singer-songwriter is living up to all of the hype surrounding her smash debut album, Songs in A Minor, which has remained No. 1 on music charts for at least five weeks since it was released a couple of months ago.

She wrote, arranged and played piano on all of the songs on the album. Her renditions of Prince's How Come You Don't Call Me? and Brian McKnight's Never Felt This Way, one of the first songs she put on her demo, were the only songs she didn't write. She also served as a co-executive producer on the album.

When her first single, Fallin', hit music airwaves, fans immediately fell in love with the biracial beauty with the cornrows and husky voice. On the ballad, Keys tickles the ivories by weaving in a portion of Beethoven's Fur Elise before cascading into a bluesy, soul-stirring tale about a woman riding an emotional roller coaster of love.

The tune has become so popular that it's now being used in commercials for some of TV's best-loved soap operas.

"Isn't it crazy? I think it's crazy," she says to JET about the song's impact. "In fact it kind of sounds like a soap opera song. I was thinking, `Hey, wait a minute!'"

A classically trained pianist who studied the very disciplined Suzuki method for 12 years, Keys has ushered in a marriage between classical and soul music.

"I am truly blessed that people are really into it. But I really didn't know that I was doing it," she admits. "It was kind of something that comes natural to me, studying classical for so long and having a love of soul and R&B music. It's kind of something that fused together by itself. I think people are always ready for something different."

Ready or not, Keys has been striking all the right chords with her impressive debut album. Known for her trademark cornrows, the powerhouse vocalist says some people are a bit surprised when they see her.

"People who don't know me ask me if I'm an MC," she chuckles. "They always ask me, `Do you rhyme?' I say, `Well, I could rhyme if I wanted to.' They get a kick out of it. I think classical music has a notorious reputation for being a little stuffy, and I think this just kind of brings it down to earth."

Lauded by fans, music critics and industry bigwigs alike, Keys has put a spell on virtually everyone who hears her perform.

During a recent appearance on "Oprah" where she shared the stage along with a few of music's other rising new women singers, including Jill Scott and India.Arie, Keys wowed the audience. She even had talk show giant Oprah Winfrey gushing and singing along while listening to her fiery performance.

A later appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno' had the same affect. But this time the show's celebrated host, Jay Leno, couldn't wait to hear her perform during the actual taping of the show. He came to watch her perform--donning jeans and sneakers-during the sound check!

Humbled by all of the hoopla surrounding her, Keys doesn't quite see herself as a "star." At least not yet. "I wonder, do [fans] do that for everybody? That's what I wondered at first," she says. "But, I think it's definitely wonderful for them to be so gracious. That is very nice."

Fans will be happy to know that they will be able to see her perform live when she embarks upon her first major tour as the opening act for Maxwell. The tour recently started.

Success appears to have taken hold of Keys overnight. She knows that's not exactly the case.

"This is something I have been working at for a long time and through a lot of different situations. Now that it's finally tangible, it's something I really and truly appreciate."

While still in high school at the prestigious Professional Performance Arts School in New York, where she majored in choir, Keys landed a record deal with Columbia Records. But by the time she graduated at 16, she had a record deal in one hand and an acceptance letter from Columbia University in the other. She made an attempt to do both for a short while, but the pressures of demanding studies and late-night studio sessions proved to be too much for the teen. She left college because things were happening for her as a musician.

Under the guidance of hip-hop music mogul Jermaine Dupri, in 1996 Keys performed The Little Drummer Girl on So So Defs Christmas album. A year later she did a song for the Men In Black soundtrack, Dah Dee Dah (Sexy Thing).

"I have always been working toward this. When it was finally looking like it was jumping off, I was like I see an opportunity to really do this ... I think school is important and I want to definitely go back even if I have to do an Internet college course."

Creative differences eventually made her part ways with Columbia Records. Then she hooked up with Clive Davis at Arista Records in 1998 and did the song Rock Wit You with Isaac Hayes for the Shaft soundtrack. A short while later, when Davis left Arista to form J Records, Keys followed Davis to the new label.