The term ''empire'' derives from the Latin ''imperium'' (power, authority). Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples (ethnic groups) united and ruled either by a monarch (emperor, empress) or an oligarchy. Geopolitically, the term ''empire'' has denoted very different, territorially-extreme states — at the strong end, the extensive Spanish Empire (16th c.) and the British Empire, at the weak end, the Holy Roman Empire (8th c.–19th c.), in its medieval and early-modern forms.

Aside from the traditional usage, the term ''empire'' can be used in an extended sense to denote a large-scale business enterprise (e.g. a transnational corporation), or a political organisation of either national-, regional- or city scale, controlled either by a person (a political boss) or a group authority (political bosses).

An imperial political structure is established and maintained in two ways: (i) as a ''territorial empire'' of direct conquest and control with ''force'' (direct, physical action to compel the emperor’s goals), and (ii) as a coercive, ''hegemonic empire'' of indirect conquest and control with ''power'' (the perception that the emperor ''can'' physically enforce his desired goals). The former provides greater tribute and direct political control, yet limits further expansion because it absorbs military forces to fixed garrisons. The latter provides less tribute and indirect control, but avails military forces for further expansion. Territorial empires (e.g. the Mongol Empire, the Median Empire) tended to be contiguous areas. The term on occasion has been applied to maritime empires or ''thalassocracies'', (e.g. the Athenian and British Empires) with looser structures and more scattered territories.

Definition

An empire is a state with politico-military dominion of populations who are culturally and ethnically distinct from the imperial (ruling) ethnic group and its culture — unlike a federation, an extensive state voluntarily composed of autonomous states and peoples.

What physically and politically constitutes an empire is variously defined. It might be a state effecting imperial policies, or a particular political structure.

Sometimes an empire is a semantic construction, such as when a ruler assumes the title of “Emperor”. The said ruler's nation logically becomes an “Empire”, despite having no additional territory or hegemony such as Central African Empire or the Korean Empire proclaimed in 1897 when Korea, far from gaining new territory, was on the verge of being annexed by the Empire of Japan, the last to use the name officially. Amongst the last of these empires of the 20th century were the Central African Empire, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Manchukuo, the German Empire, and Korea.

The terrestrial empire’s maritime analogue is the ''thalassocracy'', an empire comprising islands and coasts which are accessible to its terrestrial homeland, such as the Athenian-dominated Delian League.

History of imperialism

Early empires

{| class="toccolours" style="float:right; margin:0 0 1em 1em;" | style="background:#f8eaba; text-align:center;"| |- | |- |} The Akkadian Empire of Sargon the Great (24th century BCE), was an early large empire. In the 15th century BCE, the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, ruled by Thutmose III, was ancient Africa’s major force upon incorporating Nubia and the ancient city-states of the Levant. The first empire comparable to Rome in organization was the Assyrian empire (2000–612 BCE). The Median Empire was the first empire on the territory of Persia. By the 6th century BCE, after having allied with the Babylonians to defeat the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the Medes were able to establish their own empire, the largest of its day, lasting for about sixty years. The successful, extensive, and multi-cultural empire that was the Persian Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BCE) absorbed Mesopotamia, Egypt, part of Greece, Thrace, the rest of the Middle East, much of Central Asia and Pakistan, until it was overthrown and replaced by the brief-lived empire of Alexander the Great.

The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive and powerful empire in ancient India, ruled by the Mauryan dynasty from 321 to 185 BCE. The Empire was founded in 322 BC by Chandragupta Maurya who rapidly expanded his power westwards across central and western India, taking advantage of the disruptions of local powers in the wake of the withdrawal westward by Alexander the Great. By 320 BCE, the empire had fully occupied past northwestern India as well as defeating and conquering the satraps left by Alexander. It has been estimated that the Maurya Dynasty controlled an unprecedented one-third of the world's entire economy, was home to one-third of the world's population at the time (an estimated 50 million out of 150 million humans), contained the world's largest city of the time (Pataliputra, estimated to be larger than Rome under Emperor Trajan) and according to Megasthenes, the empire wielded a military of 600,000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry, and 9,000 war elephants.

Classical period

{| class="toccolours" style="float:right; margin:0 0 1em 1em;" | style="background:#f8eaba; text-align:center;"| |- | |- |} The Roman Empire was the most extensive Western empire until the early modern period. Prior to the Roman Empire the kingdom of Macedonia, under Alexander the Great, became an empire that spanned from Greece to Northwest India. After Alexander's death, his empire fractured into four, discrete kingdoms ruled by the Diadochi, which, despite being independent, are denoted as the "Hellenistic Empire" by virtue of their similarity in culture and administration.

In the East, the term ''Persian Empire'' denotes the Iranian imperial states established at different historical periods of pre–Islamic and post–Islamic Persia. And in the Far East, various Celestial Empires arose periodically in East Asia between periods of war, civil war, and foreign conquests. In India Chandragupta expanded the Mauryan Empire to Northwest India (Modern day Pakistan and Afghanistan). This also included the era of expansion of Buddhism under Ashoka the Great. In China the Han Empire became one of East Asia's most long lived dynasties, but was preceded by the short-lived Qin Empire.

Post-classical period

The 7th century saw the emergence of the Islamic Empire, also referred to as the Arab Empire. The Rashidun Caliphate expanded from the Arabian Peninsula and swiftly conquered the Persian Empire and much of the Byzantine Roman Empire. Its successor state, the Umayyad Caliphate, expanded across North Africa and into the Iberian Peninsula. By the beginning of the 8th century, it had become the largest empire in history at that point, until it was eventually surpassed in size by the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. In the 7th century, Maritime Southeast Asia witnessed the rise of a Buddhist thallasocracy—the Srivijaya Empire—which thrived for 600 years, and was succeeded by the Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit Empire in the 13th to 15th century. In the Southeast Asian mainland, the Hindu-Buddhist Khmer Empire built an empire centered in the city of Angkor and which flourished from the 9th to 13th century. In Eastern Europe the Byzantine Empire had to recognize the Imperial title of the Bulgarian rulers in 917 (through a Bulgarian Tsar). The Bulgarian Empire remained a major power in the Balkans until its fall in the late 14th century. {| class="toccolours" style="float:right; margin:0 0 1em 1em;" | style="background:#f8eaba; text-align:center;"| |- | |- |}

At the time, in the Medieval West, the title “empire” had a specific technical meaning that was exclusively applied to states that considered themselves the heirs and successors of the Roman Empire, e.g. the Byzantine Empire which was the actual continuation of the Eastern Roman Empire, and later the Carolingian Empire, the largely Germanic Holy Roman Empire, the Russian Empire, yet these states were not always technically — geographic, political, military — empires in the modern sense of the word. To legitimise their ''imperium'', these states directly claimed the title of ''Empire'' from Rome. The ''sacrum Romanum imperium'' (Holy Roman Empire) of 800 to 1806, claimed to have exclusively comprehended Christian principalities, and was only nominally a discrete imperial state. The Holy Roman Empire was not always centrally-governed, as it had neither core nor peripheral territories, and was not governed by a central, politico-military élite — hence, Voltaire’s remark that the Holy Roman Empire “was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire” is accurate to the degree that it ignores German rule over Italian, French, Provençal, Polish, Flemish, Dutch, and Bohemian populations, and the efforts of the ninth-century Holy Roman Emperors (i.e. the Ottonians) to establish central control; thus, Voltaire’s “. . . nor an empire” observation applies to its late period.

In 1204, after the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople, the crusaders established a Latin Empire (1204–1261) in that city, while the defeated Byzantine Empire’s descendants established two, smaller, short-lived empires in Asia Minor: the Empire of Nicaea (1204–1261) and the Empire of Trebizond (1204–1461). Constantinople was retaken by the Byzantine successor state centered in Nicaea in 1261, re-establishing the Byzantine Empire until 1453, by which time the Muslim Ottoman Empire (ca.1300–1918), had conquered most of the region. Moreover, Eastern Orthodox imperialism was not re-established until the coronation, in 1682, of Peter the Great as Emperor of Russia. Like-wise, with the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1806, during the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), the Austrian Empire (1804–1867), emerged reconstituted as the Empire of Austria–Hungary (1867–1918), having “inherited” the imperium of Central and Western Europe from the losers of said wars.

The Mongol Empire, under Genghis Khan in the thirteenth century, was forged as the largest contiguous empire in the world. Genghis Khan's grandson, Kublai Khan, was proclaimed emperor, and established his imperial capital at Beijing; however, in his reign, the empire became fractured into four, discrete khanates. Nevertheless, the emergence of the Pax Mongolica had significantly eased trade and commerce across Asia.

In Oceania Tonga Empire was a lonely empire that existed many centuries since Medieval till Modern period.

Colonial empires

European landings in the so-called "New World" (first, the Americas and later, Australia) in the 15th century, proved ripe opportunities for the continent's Renaissance-era monarchies to launch colonial empires like those of the ancient Romans and Carthaginians. In the "Old World", colonial imperialism was attempted, effected and established upon the Canary Islands and Ireland. These conquered lands and peoples became ''de jure'' subordinates of the empire, rather than ''de facto'' imperial territory and subjects. Such subjugation often elicited “client-state” resentment that the empire unwisely ignored, leading to the collapse of the European colonial imperial system in the late-19th century and the early- and mid-20th century. Spanish discovery of the New World gave way to many expeditions led by England, Portugal,France, Holland and Spain. In the 18th century, the Spanish Empire was at its height because of the great mass of goods taken from conquered territory in the Americas (Mexico, parts of the United States, the Caribbean) and the Philippines. During that period the biggest empire was Spain.

Modern period

{| class="toccolours" style="float:right; margin:0 0 1em 1em;" | style="background:#f8eaba; text-align:center;"| |- | |- | |- | |- |}

In general governments styled themselves as having greater size, scope and power than the territorial, politico-military and economic facts allow. As a consequence some monarchs assumed the title of “emperor” (or its corresponding translation: ''tsar'', ''empereur'', ''kaiser'', etc.) and renamed their states as “The Empire of . . . ”.

The French emperors Napoleon I and Napoleon III (See: Second Mexican Empire [1864–1867]) each attempted establishing a western imperial hegemony based in France. The German Empire (1871–1918), another “heir to the Holy Roman Empire” arose in 1871. Europeans began applying the name of “empire” to non-European monarchies, such as the Qing Dynasty and the Mughal Empire as well as Maratha Empire, and then leading, eventually, to the looser denotations applicable to any political structure meeting the criteria of ''imperium''.

Empires accreted to different types of states, although they traditionally originated as powerful monarchies. The Athenian Empire, the Roman Empire and the British Empire developed under elective auspices. The Empire of Brazil declared itself an empire after breaking from the Portuguese Empire in 1822. France has twice transited from being called the French Republic to being called the French Empire, while France remained an overseas empire. To date it still governs colonies (French Guyana, Martinique, Réunion, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, St Martin, St pierre et miquelon, Guadeloupe, TAAF, Wallis and Futuna, Saint Barthélemy, Mayotte) and exerts an hegemony in Francophone Africa (29 francophone countries such as Chad, Rwanda, ''et cetera'').

Historically empires resulted from military conquest, incorporating the vanquished states to its political union. A state could establish imperial hegemony in other ways. A weak state may seek annexation into the empire. For example, the bequest of Pergamon by Attalus III, to the Roman Empire. The Unification of Germany as the empire accreted to the Prussian metropole was less a military conquest of the German states than their political divorce from the Austrian Empire. Having convinced the other states of its military prowess — and having excluded the Austrians — Prussia dictated the terms of imperial membership.

The Sikh Empire (1799–1846) was established in the Punjab. It collapsed when the founder, Ranjit Singh, died and their army fell to the British. During the same period, Maratha Empire or the Maratha Confederacy was a Hindu state located in present-day India. It existed from 1674 to 1818 and at its peak the empire's territories covered much of South Asia. The empire was founded and consolidated by Shivaji. After the death of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb it expanded greatly under the rule of the Peshwas. In 1761, the Maratha army lost the Third Battle of Panipat which halted the expansion of the empire. Later, the empire was divided into a confederacy of Maratha states which eventually were lost to the British in the Anglo-Maratha wars by 1818.

The British also established their first empire in North America by colonizing the northern part that included Canada and the colonies in America. In 1776, the United States declared itself independent from the British empire thus beginning the American Revolution.

Politically it was typical for either a monarchy or an oligarchy, rooted in the original core territory of the empire, to continue to dominate. If government was maintained via control of water vital to the colonial subjects, such régimes were called hydraulic empires. When possible, empires used a common religion or culture to strengthen the political structure.

In time, an empire may metamorphose to another form of polity. To wit, the Holy Roman Empire, a German re-constitution of the Roman Empire, metamorphosed into various political structures (i.e. Federalism), and eventually, under Habsburg rule, re-constituted itself as the Austrian Empire — an empire of much different politics and vaster extension. After the Second World War (1939–1945) the British Empire evolved into a loose, multi-national Commonwealth of Nations; while the French colonial empire metamorphosed to a Francophone commonwealth. The British Empire also colonized China after the opium wars and had major influences in the region via controlling Hong Kong, which was handed back to China in 1997 after 200 years of rule. The Portuguese established its colony in China and had control over the territory of Macau, which was also handed back to China in 1999. Also, the French established its colony in China and had control over the territory of Kwang-Chou-Wan, which was also handed back to China in 1946.

An autocratic empire can become a republic (e.g. the Central African Empire in 1979); or it can become a republic with its imperial dominions reduced to a core territory (e.g. Weimar Germany, 1918–1919 and the Ottoman Empire, 1918–1923). The dissolution of the Austro–Hungarian Empire, after 1918, is an example of a multi-ethnic superstate broken into its constituent states: the republics, kingdoms, and provinces of Austria, Hungary, Transylvania, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechoslovakia, Ruthenia, Galicia, et al.

Empire from 1945 to the present

Etymology and semantics. Contemporaneously, the concept of ''Empire'' is politically valid, yet is not always used in the traditional sense; for example Japan is considered the world’s sole remaining empire because of the continued presence of the Japanese Emperor in national politics. Despite the semantic reference to Imperial power, Japan is a de facto constitutional monarchy, with a homogeneous population of 123 million people that is 97 per cent ethnic Japanese, making it one of the largest nation-states.

American Empire. Characterizing some aspects of American foreign policy and international behavior "American Empire" is controversial but not uncommon. Stuart Creighton Miller posits that the public's sense of innocence about Realpolitik (cf. American Exceptionalism) impairs popular recognition of US imperial conduct. Since it governed other countries via surrogates — domestically-weak, right-wing governments that collapse without US support. G.W. Bush's Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said: “We don’t seek empires. We’re not imperialistic; we never have been” — directly contradicts Thomas Jefferson, in the 1780s, awaiting the fall of the Spanish empire: “. . . till our population can be sufficiently advanced to gain it from them piece by piece”. This indicates that countries' goals can change over 200 years. In turn, Leftist historian Sidney Lens argues that from its inception the US has used every means to dominate other nations.

European Empire ''redux''. Since the European Union began, in 1993, as a west European trade bloc, it established its own currency, the Euro, in 1999, established discrete military forces, and exercised its limited hegemony in parts of eastern Europe and Asia. This behaviour, the political scientist Jan Zielonka suggests, is imperial, because it coerces its neighbour countries to adopt its ''European'' economic, legal, and political structures.

The Age of Nation Empires as the order of the world in the 21st century. In his book review of ''Empire'' (2000) by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Mehmet Akif Okur posits that, since the 11 September 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S., the international relations determining the world’s balance of power (political, economic, military) have been altered. These alterations include the intellectual (political science) trends that perceive the contemporary world’s order via the re-territorrialisation of ''political space'', the re-emergence of ''classical imperialist practices'' (the “inside” vs. “outside” duality, cf. the Other), the deliberate weakening of international organisations, the restructured international economy, economic nationalism, the expanded arming of most countries, the proliferation of nuclear weapon capabilities and the politics of identity emphasizing a state’s ''subjective'' perception of its place in the world, as a nation and as a civilisation. These changes constitute the “Age of Nation Empires”; as imperial usage, ''nation-empire'' denotes the return of geopolitical power from ''global'' power blocs to ''regional'' power blocs (i.e. centred upon a “regional power” state [China, Russia, U.S., et al.]) and regional multi-state power alliances (i.e. Europe, Latin America, South East Asia). Nation-empire regionalism claims sovereignty over their respective (regional) political (social, economic, ideologic), cultural and military spheres.

Timeline of some Eurasian emperors

The chart below shows a timeline of some Eurasian states claiming the imperial title. Dynastic changes are marked with a white line.

ImageSize = width:1000 height:550 PlotArea = width:850 height:450 left:50 bottom:50

DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:-336 till:2009 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:100 start:-300

# there is no automatic collision detection, # so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap

Colors= id:red value:red

Define $dx = 25 # shift text to right side of bar Define $dy = -5 # adjust height

PlotData=

bar:Alexandria color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

from:-336 till:-323 shift:($dx,-2) color:red

bar: China color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize: 7 from:-221 till: 1911 shift:($dx,-2) color: red at:206 mark:(line,white) at:220 mark:(line,white) at:265 mark:(line,white) at:280 mark:(line,white) at:420 mark:(line,white) at:589 mark:(line,white) at:618 mark:(line,white) at:907 mark:(line,white) at:960 mark:(line,white) at:907 mark:(line,white) at:1125 mark:(line,white) at:1279 mark:(line,white) at:1271 mark:(line,white) at:1368 mark:(line,white) at:1644 mark:(line,white)

bar:Roman color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

from:-27 till:476 shift:($dx,-2) color:red at:68 mark:(line,white) at:69 mark:(line,white) at:96 mark:(line,white) at:192 mark:(line,white) at:235 mark:(line,white) at:284 mark:(line,white) at:364 mark:(line,white) at:392 mark:(line,white) at:455 mark:(line,white)

bar:Mauryan color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7 from:321 till:185 shift:($dx,-2) color:red

bar:Byzantine color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

from:306 till:1204 shift:($dx,-2) color:red at:363 mark:(line,white) at:364 mark:(line,white) at:457 mark:(line,white) at:518 mark:(line,white) at:602 mark:(line,white) at:610 mark:(line,white) at:711 mark:(line,white) at:717 mark:(line,white) at:803 mark:(line,white) at:813 mark:(line,white) at:820 mark:(line,white) at:867 mark:(line,white) at:1056 mark:(line,white) at:1057 mark:(line,white) at:1059 mark:(line,white) at:1081 mark:(line,white) at:1185 mark:(line,white) from:1261 till:1453 shift:($dx,$dy) color:red

bar:Bulgarian color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

from:913 till:1018 shift:($dx,-2) color:red at:997 mark:(line,white) at:1280 mark:(line,white) at:1292 mark:(line,white) at:1299 mark:(line,white) at:1300 mark:(line,white) at:1323 mark:(line,white) from:1185 till:1422 shift:($dx,$dy) color:red

bar:Holy-Rоman color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

from:962 till:1024 shift:($dx,-2) color:red from:1027 till:1125 shift:($dx,$dy) color:red from:1133 till:1137 shift:($dx,$dy) color:red from:1155 till:1197 shift:($dx,$dy) color:red from:1209 till:1215 shift:($dx,$dy) color:red from:1220 till:1250 shift:($dx,$dy) color:red from:1312 till:1313 shift:($dx,$dy) color:red from:1328 till:1347 shift:($dx,$dy) color:red from:1355 till:1378 shift:($dx,$dy) color:red from:1433 till:1437 shift:($dx,$dy) color:red from:1452 till:1740 shift:($dx,$dy) color:red from:1742 till:1806 shift:($dx,$dy) color:red at:1745 mark:(line,white) at:1765 mark:(line,white)

bar:Nicaea color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

from:1204 till:1261 shift:($dx,-2) color:red

bar:Latin color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

from:1204 till:1261 shift:($dx,-2) color:red

bar:Trebizond color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

from:1204 till:1461 shift:($dx,-2) color:red

bar:Ottoman color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

from:1299 till:1922 shift:($dx,-2) color:red

bar:Serbian color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

from:1345 till:1371 shift:($dx,-2) color:red

bar:Russian color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

from:1480 till:1917 shift:($dx,-2) color:red at:1598 mark:(line,white) at:1605 mark:(line,white) at:1606 mark:(line,white) at:1610 mark:(line,white) at:1612 mark:(line,white)

bar:Swedish color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

from:1611 till:1718 shift:($dx,-2) color:red

bar: Maratha color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7 from:1647 till:1818 shift:($dx,-2) color:red

bar:French color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

from:1804 till:1814 shift:($dx,-2) color:red at:1815 mark:(line,red) from:1852 till:1870 shift:($dx,-2) color:red

bar:Austrian color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

from:1804 till:1918 shift:($dx,-2) color:red

bar:German color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

from:1871 till:1918 shift:($dx,-2) color:red

bar:British color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7

from:1677 till:1998 shift:($dx,-2) color:red at:1677 mark:(line,white) at:1998 mark:(line,white)

See also

Empire-building

Imperialism

Colonialism

Democratic empire

Linguistic imperialism

Historical powers

Lists:

List of empires

List of largest empires

List of extinct countries, empires, etc.

List of countries spanning more than one continent

References

Notes

Bibliography

Gilpin, Robert ''War and Change in World Politics'' pp. 110–116

Written for the United Nations Research Institute on Development, UNRISD, Geneva.

External links

Index of Colonies and Possessions

Gavrov, Sergey Modernization of the Empire. Social and Cultural Aspects of Modernization Processes in Russia

Mehmet Akif Okur, Rethinking Empire After 9/11: Towards A New Ontological Image of World Order, Perceptions, Journal of International Affairs, Volume XII, Winter 2007, pp.61-93

af:Ryk ar:إمبراطورية ast:Imperiu be:Імперыя bs:Carstvo br:Impalaeriezh bg:Империя ca:Imperi cs:Říše (území) cy:Ymerodraeth da:Imperium de:Reich (Territorium) dv:އަންބަރާޠޫރިއްޔަތު el:Αυτοκρατορία es:Imperio eo:Imperio eu:Inperio fa:امپراتوری fr:Empire gl:Imperio ko:제국 hi:साम्राज्य io:Imperio id:Kekaisaran it:Impero he:אימפריה ka:იმპერია kk:Империя lv:Impērija lt:Imperija hu:Birodalom nl:Rijk (staat) ja:帝国 nn:Imperium nrm:Empire pl:Imperium pt:Império ru:Империя sq:Perandoria simple:Empire sl:Imperij sh:Carstvo sv:Imperium tl:Imperyo ta:பேரரசு th:จักรวรรดิ tr:İmparatorluk (terim) uk:Імперія vi:Đế quốc yi:אימפעריע yo:Ilẹ̀ ọbalúayé zh-yue:帝國 zh:帝国

Coordinates	19°2′2.04″N65°15′45.36″N
name	Alicia Keys
background	solo_singer
birth name	Alicia Augello Cook
alias	Lellow
birth place	January 25, 1981
origin	New York City, New York, United States
instrument	Vocals, piano, keyboards, cello, synthesizer, vocoder, guitar, bass guitar
genre	Soul, R&B;, pop, hip hop, jazz, neo soul, electronic
occupation	singer-songwriter, record producer, actress
years active	1997–present
label	RCA, J, Arista, Columbia
website	}}

Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American R&B; singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Keys was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano. She attended Professional Performing Arts School and graduated at 16 as valedictorian. Keys released her debut album with J Records, having had previous record deals first with Columbia and then Arista Records.

Keys' debut album, ''Songs in A Minor'', was a commercial success, selling over 12 million copies worldwide. She became the best-selling new artist and best-selling R&B; artist of 2001. The album earned Keys five Grammy Awards in 2002, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for "Fallin'". Her second studio album, ''The Diary of Alicia Keys'', was released in 2003 and was also another success worldwide, selling eight million copies. The album garnered her an additional four Grammy Awards in 2005. Later that year, she released her first live album, ''Unplugged'', which debuted at number one in the United States. She became the first female to have an ''MTV Unplugged'' album to debut at number one and the highest since Nirvana in 1994.

Keys made guest appearances on several television series in the following years, beginning with ''Charmed''. She made her film debut in ''Smokin' Aces'' and went on to appear in ''The Nanny Diaries'' in 2007. Her third studio album, ''As I Am'', was released in the same year and sold six million copies worldwide, earning Keys an additional three Grammy Awards. The following year, she appeared in ''The Secret Life of Bees'', which earned her a nomination at the NAACP Image Awards. She released her fourth album, ''The Element of Freedom'', in December 2009, which became Keys' first chart-topping album in the United Kingdom. Throughout her career, Keys has won numerous awards and has sold over 30 million albums worldwide and 25 million singles, which makes her one of the best selling artists of all time. ''Billboard'' magazine named her the top R&B; artist of the 2000–2009 decade, establishing herself as one of the best-selling artists of her time. In 2010, VH1 included Keys on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. ''Billboard'' magazine placed her number ten on their list of Top 50 R&B;/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years.

Life and career

1981–96: Early life

Keys was born Alicia Augello Cook on January 25, 1981, in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan, in New York City, New York. She is the only child of Teresa Augello, a paralegal and part-time actress, and Craig Cook, a flight attendant. Keys' mother is of Italian, Scottish, and Irish descent, and her father is African American; Keys has expressed that she was comfortable with her biracial heritage because she felt she was able to "relate to different cultures". Her parents separated when she was two and she was subsequently raised by her mother during her formative years in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan. In 1985, Keys made an appearance on ''The Cosby Show'' at the age of four, where she and a group of girls played the parts of Rudy Huxtable's sleepover guests in the episode "Slumber Party". Throughout her childhood, Keys was sent to music and dance classes by her mother. She began playing the piano when she was seven and learned classical music by composers such as Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin. Keys enrolled in the Professional Performing Arts School at the age of 12, where she majored in choir and began writing songs at the age of 14. She graduated in three years as valedictorian at the age of 16.

In 1994 Keys met long-term manager Jeff Robinson after she enrolled in his brother's after-school program. The following year Robinson introduced Keys to her future A&R; at Arista Records, Peter Edge, who later described his first impressions to HitQuarters: "I had never met a young R&B; artist with that level of musicianship. So many people were just singing on top of loops and tracks, but she had the ability, not only to be part of hip-hop, but also to go way beyond that." Edge helped Robinson create a showcase for Keys and also got involved in developing her demo material. He was keen to sign Keys himself but was unable to do so at that time due to being on the verge of leaving his present record company. Keys signed to Columbia Records soon after. At the same time as signing a recording contract with Columbia Records, Keys was accepted into Columbia University. At first, Keys attempted to manage both but after four weeks dropped out of college to pursue her musical career fulltime.

1997–2000: Career beginnings

Keys signed a demo deal with Jermaine Dupri and So So Def Recordings, where she appeared on the label's Christmas album performing "The Little Drummer Girl". She also co-wrote and recorded a song entitled "Dah Dee Dah (Sexy Thing)", which appeared on the soundtrack to the 1997 film, ''Men in Black''. The song was Keys' first professional recording; however, it was never released as a single and her record contract with Columbia ended after a dispute with the label. Keys was unhappy with the label because her career had stalled during her two years under contract at Columbia due to executive indecision over her direction and major changes within the company. Keys called Clive Davis, who sensed a "special, unique" artist from her performance and signed her to Arista Records, which later disbanded. Keys almost chose Wilde as her stage name until her manager suggested the name Keys after a dream he had. Keys felt that name represented her both as a performer and person. Following Davis to his newly formed J Records label, she recorded the songs "Rock wit U" and "Rear View Mirror", which were featured on the soundtracks to the films ''Shaft'' (2000) and ''Dr. Dolittle 2'' (2001), respectively.

2001–2002: ''Songs in A Minor''

Keys released her first studio album, ''Songs in A Minor'', in June 2001. It debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200 and sold 236,000 copies in its first week. The album sold over 6.2 million copies in the United States, where it was certified six times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It went on to sell over 12 million copies worldwide, establishing Keys' popularity both inside and outside the United States, where she became the best-selling new artist and best-selling R&B; artist of 2001. The album's lead single, "Fallin'", spent six weeks at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The album's second single, "A Woman's Worth", was released in February 2002 and peaked at number 7 on the ''Billboard Hot 100'' and number three on the ''Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs'', as her second Top 10 single in both charts. The album's third single, "How Come You Don't Call Me", was released in June 2002 and peaked at number 59 on the ''Billboard Hot 100'' and number 30 on the ''Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs''. The album's fourth single, "Girlfriend", was released in November 2002 in UK and peaked at number 82 on the ''Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs''. The following year, the album was reissued as ''Remixed & Unplugged in A Minor'', which included eight remixes and seven unplugged versions of the songs from the original.

''Songs in A Minor'' led Keys to win five awards at the 2002 Grammy Awards: Song of the Year, Best Female R&B; Vocal Performance, and Best R&B; Song for "Fallin'", Best New Artist, and Best R&B; Album; "Fallin'" was also nominated for Record of the Year. Keys became the second female solo artist to win five Grammy Awards in a single night, following Lauryn Hill at the 41st Grammy Awards. That same year, she collaborated with Christina Aguilera for the latter's upcoming album ''Stripped'' on a song entitled "Impossible", which Keys wrote, co-produced, and provided with background vocals. During the early 2000s, Keys also made small cameos in television series ''Charmed'' and ''American Dreams''.

2003–2005: ''The Diary of Alicia Keys'' and ''Unplugged''

Keys followed up her debut with ''The Diary of Alicia Keys'', which was released in December 2003. The album debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling over 618,000 copies its first week of release, becoming the largest first-week sales for a female artist in 2003. It sold 4.4 million copies in the United States and was certified four times Platinum by the RIAA. It sold eight million copies worldwide, becoming the sixth biggest-selling album by a female artist and the second biggest-selling album by a female R&B; artist. The album's lead single, "You Don't Know My Name", peaked at number three on the ''Billboard Hot 100'' and number one on ''Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs'' for eight consecutive weeks, his first Top 10 single in both charts since 2002's "A Woman's Worth ". The album's second single, "If I Ain't Got You", was released in February 2004 and peaked at number 4 on the ''Billboard Hot 100'' and number one on the ''Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs'' for six weeks. The album's third single, "Diary", peaked at number 8 on the ''Billboard Hot 100'' and number two on the ''Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs'' chart, being their third consecutive Top 10 single in both charts. The album's fourth and final single, "Karma", which peaked at number 20 on the ''Billboard Hot 100'' and number 17 on the ''Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs'', first release to fail to achieve top ten status on both charts. "If I Ain't Got You" became the first single by a female artist to remain on the ''Billboard'' Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs chart for over a year. Keys also collaborated with recording artist Usher on the song "My Boo" from his 2004 album, ''Confessions (Special Edition)''. The song topped the ''Billboard Hot 100'' for six weeks and ''Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs'' for three weeks, became her first number-one single in ''Hot 100'' since 2001's "Fallin'".

Keys won Best R&B; Video for "If I Ain't Got You" at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards; she performed the song and "Higher Ground" with Lenny Kravitz and Stevie Wonder. Later that year, Keys released her novel ''Tears for Water: Songbook of Poems and Lyrics'', a collection of unreleased poems from her journals and lyrics. The title derived from one of her poems, "Love and Chains" from the line: "I don't mind drinking my tears for water." She said the title is the foundation of her writing because "everything I have ever written has stemmed from my tears of joy, of pain, of sorrow, of depression, even of question". The book sold over US$500,000 and Keys made ''The New York Times'' bestseller list in 2005. The following year, she won a second consecutive award for Best R&B; Video at the MTV Video Music Awards for the video "Karma". Keys performed "If I Ain't Got You" and then joined Jamie Foxx and Quincy Jones in a rendition of "Georgia on My Mind", the Hoagy Carmichael song made famous by Ray Charles in 1960 at the 2005 Grammy Awards. That evening, she won four Grammy Awards: Best Female R&B; Vocal Performance for "If I Ain't Got You", Best R&B; Song for "You Don't Know My Name", Best R&B; Album for ''The Diary of Alicia Keys'', and Best R&B; Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" for "My Boo" with Usher.

Keys performed and taped her installment of the ''MTV Unplugged'' series in July 2005 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. During this session, Keys added new arrangements to her original songs and performed a few choice covers. The session was released on CD and DVD in October 2005. Simply titled ''Unplugged'', the album debuted at number one on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart with 196,000 units sold in its first week of release. The album sold one million copies in the United States, where it was certified Platinum by the RIAA, and two million copies worldwide. The debut of Keys' ''Unplugged'' was the highest for an ''MTV Unplugged'' album since Nirvana's 1994 ''MTV Unplugged in New York'' and the first ''Unplugged'' by a female artist to debut at number one. The album's first single, "Unbreakable", peaked at number 34 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number four on the Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs. It remained at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot Adult R&B; Airplay for 11 weeks. The album's second and final single, "Every Little Bit Hurts", was released in January 2006, it failed to enter the U.S. charts.

Keys opened a recording studio in Long Island, New York, called The Oven Studios, which she co-owns with her production and songwriting partner Kerry "Krucial" Brothers. The studio was designed by renowned studio architect John Storyk of WSDG, designer of Jimi Hendrix' Electric Lady Studios. Keys and Brothers are the co-founders of KrucialKeys Enterprises, a production and songwriting team who assisted Keys in creating her albums as well as create music for other artists.

2006–2008: Film debut and ''As I Am''

In 2006, Keys won three NAACP Image Awards, including Outstanding Female Artist and Outstanding Song for "Unbreakable". She also received the Starlight Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In October 2006, she played the voice of Mommy Martian in the "Mission to Mars" episode of the children's television series ''The Backyardigans'', in which she sang an original song, "Almost Everything Is Boinga Here". That same year, Keys nearly suffered a mental breakdown. Her grandmother had died and her family was heavily dependent on her. She felt she needed to "escape" and went to Egypt for three weeks. She explained: "That trip was definitely the most crucial thing I've ever done for myself in my life to date. It was a very difficult time that I was dealing with, and it just came to the point where I really needed to—basically, I just needed to run away, honestly. And I needed to get as far away as possible."

Keys made her film debut in early 2007 in the crime film ''Smokin' Aces'', co-starring as an assassin named Georgia Sykes opposite Ben Affleck and Andy García. Keys received much praise from her co-stars in the film; Reynolds said that Keys was "so natural" and that she would "blow everybody away". ''Smokin' Aces'' had a hit moderate performance at the box office, earning only $57,103,895 worldwide during its theatrical run. In the same year, Keys earned further praise for her second film, ''The Nanny Diaries'', based on the 2002 novel of the same name, where she co-starred alongside Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans. ''The Nanny Diaries'' had a hit moderate performance at the box office, earning only $44,638,886 worldwide during its theatrical run. She also guest starred as herself in the "One Man Is an Island" episode of the drama series ''Cane''.

Keys released her third studio album, ''As I Am'', in November 2007; it debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 742,000 copies in its first week. It gained Keys her largest first week sales of her career and became her fourth consecutive number one album, tying her with Britney Spears for the most consecutive number-one debuts on the ''Billboard'' 200 by a female artist. The week became the second largest sales week of 2007 and the largest sales week for a female solo artist since singer Norah Jones' album ''Feels like Home'' in 2004. The album has sold nearly four million copies in the United States and has been certified three times Platinum by the RIAA. It has sold nearly six million copies worldwide. Keys received five nominations for ''As I Am'' at the 2008 American Music Award and ultimately won two. The album's lead single, "No One", peaked at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for fifth consecutive weeks and Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs for ten consecutive weeks, became her first number-one single in ''Hot 100'' since 2004's "My Boo" and becoming Keys' third and fifth number-one single on each chart, respectively. The album's second single, "Like You'll Never See Me Again", was released in late 2007 and peaked at number 12 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number one on the ''Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs'' for seven consecutive weeks. From October 27, 2007, when "No One" reached No. 1, through February 16, 2008, the last week "Like You'll Never See Me Again" was at No. 1, the Keys was on top of the chart for 17 weeks, more consecutive weeks than any other artist in ''Hot R&B;/Hip/Hop Songs'' chart. The album's third single, "Teenage Love Affair", which peaked at number 54 on the '''Billboard Hot 100'' and number three on the ''Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs''. The album's fourth and final single, "Superwoman", which peaked at number 82 on the ''Billboard Hot 100'' and number 12 on the ''Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs''.

"No One" earned Keys the awards for Best Female R&B; Vocal Performance and Best R&B; Song at the 2008 Grammy Awards. Keys opened the ceremony singing Frank Sinatra's 1950s song "Learnin' the Blues" as a "duet" with archival footage of Sinatra in video and "No One" with John Mayer later in the show. Keys also won Best Female R&B; Artist during the show. She starred in "Fresh Takes", a commercial micro-series created by Dove Go Fresh, which premiered during ''The Hills'' on MTV from March to April 2008. The premiere celebrated the launch of new Dove Go Fresh. She also signed a deal as spokesperson with Glacéau's VitaminWater to endorse the product, and was in an American Express commercial for the "Are you a Cardmember?" campaign. Keys, along with The White Stripes' guitarist and lead vocalist Jack White, recorded the theme song to ''Quantum of Solace'', the first duet in Bond soundtrack history. In 2008, Keys was ranked in at number 80 the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists. She also starred in ''The Secret Life of Bees'', a film adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd's acclaimed 2003 bestseller novel of the same name alongside Jennifer Hudson, Dakota Fanning, Paul Bettany and Queen Latifah, released in October 2008 via Fox Searchlight. ''The Secret Life of Bees'' had a hit moderate performance at the box office, earning only $39,947,322 worldwide during its theatrical run. Her role earned her a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards. She also received three nominations at the 2009 Grammy Awards and won Best Female R&B; Vocal Performance for "Superwoman".

In an interview with ''Blender'' magazine, Keys allegedly said "'Gangsta rap' was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other, 'gangsta rap' didn't exist" and went on to say that it was created by "the government". The magazine also claimed she said that Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. were "essentially assassinated, their beefs stoked by the government and the media, to stop another great black leader from existing". Keys later wrote a statement clarifying the issues and saying her words were misinterpreted. Later that year, Keys was criticized by anti-smoking campaigners after billboard posters for her forthcoming concerts in Indonesia featured a logo for the A Mild cigarette brand sponsored by tobacco firm Philip Morris. She apologized after discovering that the concert was sponsored by the firm and asked for "corrective actions". In response, the company withdrew its sponsorship.

2009–2010 ''The Element of Freedom'', marriage and motherhood

Keys and manager Jeff Robinson signed a film production deal to develop live-action and animated projects with Disney. Their first film will be a remake of the 1958 comedy ''Bell, Book and Candle'' and will star Keys as a witch who casts a love spell to lure a rival's fiancé. Keys and Robinson also formed a television production company called Big Pita. Keys and Robinson will develop live-action and animated projects from their company, Big Pita and Little Pita, with Keys as producer, thespian, banner spearheading soundtrack and music supervision.

Keys collaborated with the record producer Swizz Beatz to write and produce "Million Dollar Bill" for Whitney Houston's seventh studio album, ''I Look to You''. Keys had approached Clive Davis for permission to submit a song for the album. Keys also collaborated with the recording artist Jay-Z on the song "Empire State of Mind" from his 2009 album, ''The Blueprint 3''. The song topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and became her fourth number-one single on that chart. At the 53rd Grammy Awards ceremony, "Empire State of Mind" won Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and Best Rap Song. It had also been one of the five nominees for Record of the Year. The following month, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers honored Keys with the Golden Note Award, an award given to artists "who have achieved extraordinary career milestones". She collaborated with Spanish recording artist Alejandro Sanz for "Looking for Paradise", which topped the Hot Latin Songs chart, this was Keys' first number one on all three charts, which also made her the first African-American of non-Hispanic origin to reach #1 on the ''Hot Latin Tracks''. Keys released her fourth studio album, ''The Element of Freedom'', in December 2009. It debuted at number two on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 417,000 copies in its first week. As part of the promotional drive for the album, she performed at the Cayman Island Jazz Festival on December 5, the final night of the three day festival which will be broadcast on Black Entertainment Television (BET). The album's lead single, "Doesn't Mean Anything", has peaked at number 60 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 14 on the ''Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs''. Keys was ranked as the top R&B; recording artist of the 2000–2009 decade by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranked at number five as artist of the decade, while her song, "No One", was ranked at number six on the magazine's songs of the decade. In the United Kingdom, ''The Element of Freedom'' became Keys' first album to top the UK Albums Chart. The album's second single, "Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart", was released in November 2009 and peaked at number 27 on the ''Billboard Hot 100'' and number two on the ''Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs''. The album's third single, "Put It in a Love Song", featuring Grammy-winner Beyoncé, peaked at number 60 on the ''Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs''. The music video for the single, which was filmed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has been postponed several times, and later it was confirmed that Alicia Keys' team made a decision not to release the video. The album's fourth single, "Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down", was released in February 2010 and peaked at number 55 on the ''Billboard Hot 100'' and number 76 on the ''Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs''. The album's fifth single, "Un-Thinkable (I'm Ready)", was released in May 2010 and peaked at number 21 on the ''Billboard Hot 100'' and number one on the ''Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs'', for twelve consecutive weeks and became the album's most successful single, becoming Keys' eighth number-one single on ''Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs'' chart. The album's sixth and final single, "Wait Til You See My Smile", was released in December 2010 in the U.K only.

In May 2009, Swizz Beatz announced that he and Keys were romantically involved, and in May 2010, a representative for Keys and Swizz Beatz confirmed that they were engaged and expecting a child together. During the time of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the couple took part of a union and had the unborn child blessed in a Zulu ceremony, which took place in the Illovo suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Keys and Swizz Beatz were married on the French island of Corsica on July 31, 2010. On October 14, 2010, Keys gave birth to a son, Egypt Daoud Ibarr Dean, in New York City.

2011-Present: Ten Year Celebration, Project 5, Stick Fly and Upcoming New Album

In June 2011, ''Songs in A Minor'' was re-released as deluxe and collector's editions in commemoration of its 10th anniversary. To support the release, Keys embarked on a four-city promotional tour, entitled Piano & I: A One Night Only Event With Alicia Keys, featuring only her piano. Keys is also set to co-produce the Broadway premiere of ''Stick Fly'', which will open in December 2011. On September 26, 2011, was the premiere of ''Project 5'' known as ''Five'', short film that marks the debut of Alicia Keys as a director. It is a documentary of five episodes that tell stories of five women who were victims of breast cancer and how it affected their lives. The production also has co-direction of the actresses Jennifer Aniston, Demi Moore and film director Patty Jenkins.

On September 23, she performed at ''iHeart Music Festival'' and sang her new song "A Place Of My Own", which is present in her fifth studio album. On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding J Records along with Arista Records and Jive Records. With the shutdown, Keys (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) will release her future material on the RCA Records brand.

Musical style

An accomplished pianist, Keys incorporates piano into a majority of her songs and often writes about love, heartbreak and female empowerment. She has cited several musicians as her inspirations, including Prince, Nina Simone, Barbra Streisand, Marvin Gaye, Quincy Jones, Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder. Keys' style is rooted in gospel and vintage soul music, supplemented by bass and programmed drumbeats. She heavily incorporates classical piano with R&B;, soul and jazz into her music. She began experimenting with other genres, including pop and rock, in her third studio album, ''As I Am'', transitioning from neo soul to a 1980s and 1990s R&B; sound with her fourth album, ''The Element of Freedom''. Patrick Huguenin of the ''New York Daily News'' stated that her incorporation of classical piano riffs contributed to her breakout success. ''Jet'' magazine states she "thrives" by touching her fans with "piano mastery, words and melodious voice". ''The Independent'' described her style as consisting of "crawling blues coupled with a hip-hop backbeat", noting that her lyrics "rarely stray from matters of the heart". ''Blender'' magazine referred to her as "the first new pop artist of the millennium who was capable of changing music."

Keys has a vocal range of a contralto, which spans three octaves. She can sing from B flat over an octave below middle C (B₂) to B below soprano C (B₅). Often referred to as the "Princess of Soul", Keys has been commended as having a strong, raw and impassioned voice; others feel that her voice is "emotionally manufactured" at times and that she pushes her voice out of its natural range. Keys' songwriting is often criticized for lack of depth, which has led to her writing abilities being called limited. Her lyrics have been called generic, clichéd and that her songs revolve around generalities. Greg Kot of the ''Chicago Tribune'' feels that she "[pokes] around for multi-format hits rather than trying to project any sort of artistic vision". Diversely, Jon Pareles of ''Blender'' magazine stated that the musical composition of her songs makes up for their lyrical weakness, while Gregory Stephen Tate of ''The Village Voice'' compared Keys' writing and production to 1970s music.

Joanna Hunkin of ''The New Zealand Herald'' reviewed one of Keys' performances, where Kylie Minogue also attended. She described Minogue's reaction to Keys' performance, saying "it was obvious she was just as much of a fan as the 10,000 other people at Vector Arena". She went on to say that Minogue was "the original pop princess bowing down to the modern-day queen of soul". Hunkin characterized Keys' opening performance as a "headbanging, hip-gyrating performance" and her energy as "high-octane energy most bands save for their closing finale". At the end of her two-hour performance, fans "screamed, stomped and begged for a second encore". Hillary Crosley and Mariel Concepcion of ''Billboard'' magazine noted that her shows are "extremely coordinated" with the audience's attention span "consistently maintained". The show ended with a standing ovation and Keys "proved that a dynamic performance mixed with superior musicianship always wins". Throughout her career, Keys has won numerous awards and is listed on the Recording Industry Association of America's best-selling artists in the United States, with 15 million certified albums. She has sold over 30 million albums worldwide and has established herself as one of the best-selling artists of her time.

Philanthropy

Keys is the co-founder and Global Ambassador of Keep a Child Alive, a non-profit organization that provides medicine to families with HIV and AIDS in Africa. Keys and U2 lead singer Bono recorded a cover version of Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush's "Don't Give Up", in recognition of World AIDS Day 2005. Keys and Bono's version of the song was retitled "Don't Give Up (Africa)" to reflect the nature of the charity it was benefiting. She visited African countries such as Uganda, Kenya and South Africa to promote care for children affected by AIDS. Her work in Africa was documented in the documentary ''Alicia in Africa: Journey to the Motherland'' and was available in April 2008.

Keys has also donated to Frum tha Ground Up, a non-profit organization that aids children and teenagers with scholarships. She performed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as part of the worldwide Live 8 concerts to raise awareness of the poverty in Africa and to pressure the G8 leaders to take action. In 2005, Keys performed on ''ReAct Now: Music & Relief'' and ''Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast'', two benefit programs that raised money for those affected by Hurricane Katrina. In July 2007, Keys and Keith Urban performed The Rolling Stones' 1969 song "Gimme Shelter" at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey at the American leg of the Live Earth concerts.

Keys performed Donny Hathaway's 1973 song "Someday We'll All Be Free" at the ''America: A Tribute to Heroes'' televised benefit concert following the September 11 attacks. She participated in the Nobel Peace Prize Concert which took place at the Oslo Spektrum in Oslo, Norway, on December 11, 2007, along with other various artists. She recorded a theme song for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. She joined Joss Stone and Jay-Z on the effort, which served as a theme song for Obama's campaign. For her work, Keys was honored at the 2009 BET Awards with the Humanitarian Award. Keys performed the song "Prelude to a Kiss", retitled "Send Me an Angel", from her 2007 album ''As I Am'' for the "Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief" telethon in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Discography

''Songs in A Minor'' (2001)

''The Diary of Alicia Keys'' (2003)

''As I Am'' (2007)

''The Element of Freedom'' (2009)

''TBA'' (2012)

;Live albums

''Unplugged'' (2005)

Tours

{|class="wikitable" ! style="background:darkGrey;"| Year !! style="background:darkGrey;"| Title !! style="background:darkGrey;"| Number ofperformances |- style="background:#dcdcdc;" | style="text-align:center; width:5px;;"| 2001/2002 || style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center;"| ''Songs in A Minor Tour'' || style="background:#dcdcdc;"| 58 |- style="background:#dcdcdc;" | style="text-align:center; width:5px;;"| 2004|| style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center;"| ''Verizon Ladies First Tour'' || style="background:#dcdcdc;"| 25 |- style="background:#dcdcdc;" | style="text-align:center; width:5px;;"| 2005 || style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center;"| ''The Diary Tour'' || style="background:#dcdcdc;"| 36 |- style="background:#dcdcdc;" | style="text-align:center; width:5px;;"| 2008 || style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center;"| ''As I Am Tour'' || style="background:#dcdcdc;"| 94 |- style="background:#dcdcdc;" | style="text-align:center; width:5px;;"| 2010 || style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center;"| ''The Freedom Tour'' || style="background:#dcdcdc;"| 50 |- style="background:#dcdcdc;" | style="text-align:center; width:5px;;"| 2011 || style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center;"| ''Piano & I: A One Night Only Event With Alicia Keys'' || style="background:#dcdcdc;"| 5 |}

Filmography

Television
!Year	!Title	!Role	!Notes
1985	''The Cosby Show''	Maria
2001	''Charmed''	P3 VIP Patron (uncredited)
	''American Dreams''	Fontella Bass	"Rescue Me" (season 2, episode 6)
''The Proud Family''	Herself (voice)
2005	''Sesame Street''	Herself	Season 36
2006	''The Backyardigans''	Mommy Martian (voice)
		Herself	"One Man Is an Island" (season 1, episode 7)
''Elmo's Christmas Countdown''	Herself	Christmas television special
2008		Alex	Starred in all five episodes
2010	American Idol (season 9)	Herself	Mentor
Film
!Year	!Title	!Role	!Notes
	''Smokin' Aces''	Georgia Sykes	Debut filmMain role
	Lynette	Support role
2008		June Boatwright	Main role
Director
!Year	!Title	!Type	!Notes
	2004		Music video	MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B; Video
2011	''Project 5''	Short film/Documentary

See also

List of artists who reached number one in the United States

List of awards and nominations received by Alicia Keys

List of honorific titles in popular music

References

Further reading

External links

Alicia Keys at Billboard.com

Alicia Keys at Discogs

Alicia Keys at Metacritic

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Coordinates	19°2′2.04″N65°15′45.36″N
name	August Burns Red
landscape	yes
background	group_or_band
origin	Lancaster, Pennsylvania
genre	Metalcore
years active	2003–present
associated acts	Bells
label	Solid State, CI
website	www.augustburnsred.com
current members	Jake LuhrsJB BrubakerBrent RamblerDustin DavidsonMatt Greiner
past members	Jon HersheyJosh McMannessJordan Tuscan }}

August Burns Red is an American, Christian metalcore band, from Manheim, Pennsylvania. Formed in March 2003, the band began their first performances while a majority of the members were still attending high school, and soon began playing shows around Lancaster. The band claims that their name is inspired by an incident involving their first vocalist, Jon Hershey.

The band is primarily known for their heavy breakdowns and odd-meter riffs. They state Between the Buried and Me, Misery Signals and Hopesfall as their main influences.

History

Formation and ''Thrill Seeker'' (2003-2006)

August Burns Red was founded in 2003. They recorded their first EP titled ''Looks Fragile After All'' with label CI Records in 2004. After about a year of playing shows with a new vocalist the band was signed to Solid State Records in 2005. Original vocalist Jon Hershey would later go on to form instrumental post-rock band Bells. August Burns Red released ''Thrill Seeker'', their first full-length album, on November 8 of that year. In 2006, drummer Matt Greiner was endorsed by Truth Custom Drums.

''Messengers'' (2007-2009)

Their second album, ''Messengers'', was released on June 19, 2007. The album had sold over 108,000 copies as of May 2011 and peaked at number 81 on the ''Billboard'' 200.

Throughout 2008, August Burns Red toured with several acts across North America and Europe to promote ''Messengers''. From April to May they toured with As I Lay Dying and Misery Signals across the United States and Canada. In September and October of that same year, they headlined a tour with A Skylit Drive, Sky Eats Airplane, Greeley Estates, and This or the Apocalypse in the United States. The band also visited Europe for a month-long headlining tour in November, playing in Germany, Finland, Norway, Sweden, The United Kingdom, Republic Of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and France.

After this series of tours, the band recorded two covers of popular songs. They recorded an instrumental version of the classic song, "Carol of the Bells" for the X Christmas compilation album, which was featured in trailers for the movie ''The Spirit'', released Christmas Day 2008. They also recorded a cover of "...Baby One More Time" by pop singer Britney Spears for the ''Punk Goes Pop 2'' compilation album, released in March 2009.

On February 24, 2009, the band released their second EP, entitled ''Lost Messengers: The Outtakes''. It contains outtakes and material that was not included in ''Messengers''. August Burns Reds' first trip to the Middle East took place on March 6, 2009 with the band playing at the Dubai Desert Rock Festival. The band's last tour before their next album release took place in the United States, where they toured with metalcore band All That Remains in April and May.

''Constellations'' (2009-2011)

To promote their upcoming album, August Burns Red released several new tracks and a music video during June 2009. The tracks ''Thirty and Seven'', ''Existence'', and ''Ocean of Apathy'' were all released on the 15th, 21st, and 29th, respectively. A music video for the song ''Meddler'' was also released during this month. On July 7, a week before the album's release, August Burns Red began streaming the full album on their Myspace profile for a limited time. August Burns Red released their third full-length album, ''Constellations'', on July 14, 2009. During the week of August 1, 2009, the album charted at spot 24 on the Billboard 200. Another United States tour was organized with August Burns Red headlining and support from Blessthefall, Enter Shikari, All Shall Perish, and iwrestledabearonce. After this tour, the band joined a short tour in Australia with Architects in support of Australian band Parkway Drive. August Burns Red toured alongside Underoath and Emery in November and December 2009 as well.

The band released their first live CD/DVD, Home, on September 28, 2010. The group co-headlined an Alternative Press tour throughout November.

On February 23, 2010, ''Constellations'' was nominated for the Dove Award for "Best Rock Album".

August Burns Red toured Australia and New Zealand in December 2010 on the No Sleep Til Festival. The band played alongside Parkway Drive, A Day To Remember, Suicide Silence, We Came As Romans, NOFX, Dropkick Murphys, Megadeth, Descendants, GWAR and many others.

''Leveler'' (2011-present)

On July 27, 2010, JB Brubaker stated that the band would be taking time off tour to write their next record. On February 12, 2011, the band announced via their official Facebook page that they had completely finished writing their new record and that they would be entering the studio on Valentine's Day.

On March 16, 2011, the band announced via their official Facebook page that the record is finished, and that it's time for mixing. On the 31st of March, August Burns Red revealed their website which has a countdown to the 4th album release date which is June 21, 2011. On the 5th of April, August Burns Red revealed the name of this upcoming record on their website and Facebook as ''Leveler''. On May 16, 2011, the band released the song "Empire" on their Facebook page and on iTunes as a preview of the album. They later released three other songs: "Internal Cannon", "Divisions", and "Poor Millionaire", on May 31, June 6, and June 14, respectively.

The album was released on June 21, 2011. The deluxe version of Leveler contains four extra songs, including an acoustic version of the song "Internal Cannon". Leveler sold around 29,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 11 on The Billboard 200 chart.

August Burns Red played on the Vans Warped Tour 2011. They played along with Attack Attack!, Miss May I, A Day To Remember, The Devil Wears Prada, Paramore and others.

Christian faith

August Burns Red is a Christian band. JB Brubaker mentioned in an interview with Shout!, an online magazine, that "Christianity is a religion, not a style of music" and he would "rather just let the music speak for itself." However, Brent Rambler commented on the fact that "It is important to us that people know that we are indeed Christians...without having us stand up there and ram it down people's throats."

Band name

The group explained the origin of the band's name revolves around an incident involving the group's founding vocalist, Jon Hershey. “We had our name because in high school, one of our best friends, Jon Hershey, was also our vocalist at the time. But, right before he joined the band, he was dating this girl named August. The relationship got a bit out of hand, and he really wanted to end it. So, he ended the relationship and instead of just getting sad about it, she got really, really, really angry, and Jon at the time had a dog named Redd. It was an Irish setter and it had red fur and everything. So, she got really mad, went up to his house, and burned his dog Redd alive, in his dog house. The name and everything comes from, because the next day, the headline of the newspaper in the local news was 'August Burns Red', and then we just kind of went with it. It really affected Jon, so when we were picking a band name, that was one that stuck in his head, so he decided to use it. So, our name doesn’t mean anything, it just had a really weird and kind of gross meaning.”

Band members

;Current

JB Brubaker − lead guitar (since 2003)

Brent Rambler − rhythm guitar (since 2003)

Matt Greiner − drums, keyboards, piano, programming (since 2003)

Dustin Davidson − bass guitar, backing vocals (since 2006)

Jake Luhrs − lead vocals (since 2006)

;Former

Josh McManness − lead vocals (2005–2006)

Jordan Tuscan − bass guitar (2003–2005)

Jon Hershey − lead vocals (2003–2004)

Discography

;Studio albums

Year	Title	Label	Chart peaks
			! width="50"	! width="50"	! width="50"	! width="50"
2005	''Thrill Seeker''	rowspan="4"
2007
2009
2011

References

External links

Category:Heavy metal musical groups from Pennsylvania Category:American metalcore musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 2003 Category:Solid State Records artists Category:Christian alternative metal groups Category:American Christian metal musical groups Category:People from Lancaster, Pennsylvania Category:Musical quintets

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