Alicia Keys' Rise to Stardom
May 30 -- With the refrain "I keep fallin' in love with you," singer Alicia Keys came across like a stroke of lightning in the pop-music world.
After that first hit, "Fallin,'" the 21-year-old singer was a sudden star. But for Keys, music had already been a longtime passion.
A musical prodigy, Keys started playing the piano at 7, banging out "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," before graduating to classical music. At age 14, she was writing her own songs.
The five-time Grammy Award-winning musician grew up in a small apartment in New York's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, not far from Times Square. Her mom got a piano for the apartment, even though it took up a good amount of their cramped living space.
"It ended up being the divider between the living room and my bedroom," Key recalled.
It also became a focal point of her life.
Choosing Music Over Ivy League
Keys finished high school early, graduating at age 16, and then won a scholarship to Columbia University. But she decided to pursue a music career, and chose Columbia Records instead.
Still, it wasn't until J Records and famed producer Clive Davis took her on that Keys' career truly took off. There, the independent-minded musician had a chance to come into her own.
"Alicia writes all her own material. She's a visionary," Davis said. "It's like if you're dealing with Patti Smith, when I signed Bruce Springsteen. You know, they have the creative goods there, so you just let her develop. You know, let her songwriting develop."
It developed right into a multi-platinum album, Songs in A Minor, which won five Grammy Awards, and made Keys into an overnight sensation. Her Grammy acceptance speech, delivered with astonishing poise, featured words of wisdom from a young woman who helped reshape soul, hip-hop and pop music at the age of 21.
"I'd like to dedicate this to just thinking outside the box and not being afraid of who you are no matter what you do," Keys said.
Keys performs live on Good Morning America Friday morning, kicking off the show's summer concert series.
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