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

Jet, August 13, 2001 by Margena A. Christian

"He didn't try to divert me to something else. I want to be who I am. I don't want to be made into what somebody else thinks I should be." Keys has always had a strong sense of self and will quickly point that out. As the daughter of an Italian-Scottish mother and a Black father, she grew up in a single-parent home headed by her mother, a paralegal secretary.

Being biracial was never an issue for Keys, she says. "I was never confused or had issues. I grew up in New York. There's a little bit of everybody there. It really doesn't matter. It was never an issue because I accepted and loved both sides. I claim both sides."

Growing up in the rough Hell's Kitchen district of New York, she shared a one-bedroom apartment in an artists' housing complex with her mother.

"I had my share of things that influenced me negatively. I think we all do, and it helps us to decide whether we want to do that or maybe not do that again. I really credit a lot to my mother. She's very supportive and a strong woman. She showed me how to be a strong woman and how to follow through with what you start. That helped me a lot," explains Keys, who says a piano they were given was used as a divider between her bed room and the living room in their tiny apartment.

The album's next single, A Woman's Worth, showcases how passionate Keys is about the strength of women. The inspiration for the tune came during a Thanksgiving family dinner.

"I was watching TV when a L'Oreal commercial came on. At the end it said, `Because I'm worth it.' I said, `Oh, my goodness! Damn, I'm worth it! That's hot!' Time passed and I played it on the piano and recorded it. I started thinking how important it is to feel like you're worth it. If you know you're worth it, you won't let people treat you any which way. In a relationship you are worth the special things--not just monetarily, but sweet little things. As a woman, you're worth it."