Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B and RnB, is a genre of popular African-American music that originated in the 1940s.^[1] The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a heavy, insistent beat" was becoming more popular.^[2]

The term has subsequently had a number of shifts in meaning. In the early 1950s, the term rhythm and blues was frequently applied to blues records.^[3] Starting in the mid-1950s, after this style of music contributed to the development of rock and roll, the term "R&B" became used to refer to music styles that developed from and incorporated electric blues, as well as gospel and soul music. By the 1970s, rhythm and blues was used as a blanket term for soul and funk. In the 1980s, a newer style of R&B developed, becoming known as "Contemporary R&B".

Etymology[link]

Jerry Wexler of Billboard magazine coined the term "rhythm and blues" in 1948 as a musical marketing term in the United States.^[4] It replaced the term "race music", which originally came from within the black community, but was deemed offensive in the postwar world.^[5][6] The term "rhythm and blues" was used by Billboard in its chart listings from June 1949 until August 1969, when its "Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles" chart was renamed as "Best Selling Soul Singles".^[7]

Writer/producer Robert Palmer defined rhythm & blues as "a catchall term referring to any music that was made by and for black Americans".^[8] He has used the term "R&B" as a synonym for jump blues.^[9] However, Allmusic separates it from jump blues because of its stronger, gospel-esque backbeat.^[10] Lawrence Cohn, author of Nothing but the Blues, writes that "rhythm and blues" was an umbrella term invented for industry convenience. According to him, the term embraced all black music except classical music and religious music, unless a gospel song sold enough to break into the charts.^[11] Well into the 21st Century, the term R&B continues in use (in some contexts) to categorize music made by black musicians, as distinct from styles of music made by other musicians.^[12]

In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, the bands usually consisted of piano, one or two guitars, bass, drums, and saxophone. Arrangements were rehearsed to the point of effortlessness and were sometimes accompanied by background vocalists. Simple repetitive parts mesh, creating momentum and rhythmic interplay producing mellow, lilting, and often hypnotic textures while calling attention to no individual sound. While singers are emotionally engaged with the lyrics, often intensely so, they remain cool, relaxed, and in control. The bands dressed in suits, and even uniforms, a practice associated with the modern popular music that rhythm and blues performers aspired to dominate. Lyrics often seemed fatalistic, and the music typically followed predictable patterns of chords and structure.^[13]

History[link]

T-Bone Walker, American Folk Blues Festival 1972 (Heinrich Klaffs Collection 46)

Precursors[link]

Louis Jordan, New York, N.Y., ca. July 1946 (William P. Gottlieb 04721)

The migration of African Americans to the urban industrial centers of Chicago, Detroit, New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere in the 1920s and 1930s created a new market for jazz, blues, and related genres of music, often performed by full-time musicians, either working alone or in small groups. The precursors of rhythm and blues came from jazz and blues, which overlapped in the Late-1920s,1930s through the work of musicians such as The Harlem Hamfats, with their 1936 hit "Oh Red", as well as Lonnie Johnson, Leroy Carr, Cab Calloway, Count Basie, and T-Bone Walker. There was also increasing emphasis on the electric guitar as a lead instrument, as well as the piano and saxophone.^[14]

Late 1940s[link]

Big Joe Turner, Hamburg 1974 (Heinrich Klaffs Collection 86)

In 1948, RCA Victor was marketing black music under the name "Blues and Rhythm". In that year, Louis Jordan dominated the top five listings of the R&B charts with three songs, and two of the top five songs were based on the boogie-woogie rhythms that had come to prominence during the 1940s.^[15] Jordan's band, the Tympany Five (formed in 1938), consisted of him on saxophone and vocals, along with musicians on trumpet, tenor saxophone, piano, bass and drums.^[16][17] Lawrence Cohn described the music as "grittier than his boogie-era jazz-tinged blues".^[18] Robert Palmer described it as "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a heavy, insistent beat".^[2] Jordan's cool music, along with that of Big Joe Turner, Roy Brown, Billy Wright, and Wynonie Harris, is now also referred to as jump blues. Also in 1948, Wynonie Harris' remake of Roy Brown's 1947 recording "Good Rockin' Tonight" hit the charts in the #2 spot, following band leader Sonny Thompson's "Long Gone" at #1.^[19][20]

In 1949, the term "Rhythm and Blues" replaced the Billboard category Harlem Hit Parade.^[11] Also in that year, "The Huckle-Buck", recorded by band leader and saxophonist Paul Williams, was the #1 R&B tune, remaining on top of the charts for nearly the entire year. Written by musician and arranger Andy Gibson, the song was described as a "dirty boogie" because it was risque and raunchy.^[21] Paul Williams and His Hucklebuckers' concerts were sweaty riotous affairs that got shut down on more than one occasion. Their lyrics, by Roy Alfred (who later co-wrote the 1955 hit "(The) Rock and Roll Waltz"), were mildly sexually suggestive, and one teenager from Philadelphia said "That Hucklebuck was a very nasty dance".^[22][23] Also in 1949, a new version of a 1920s blues song, "Ain't Nobody's Business" was a #4 hit for Jimmy Witherspoon, and Louis Jordan and the Tympany Five once again made the top 5 with "Saturday Night Fish Fry".^[24] Many of these hit records were issued on new independent record labels, such as Savoy (founded 1942), King (founded 1943), Imperial (founded 1945), Specialty (founded 1946), Chess (founded 1947), and Atlantic (founded 1948).^[14]

Afro-Cuban rhythmic influence[link]

African American music began incorporating Afro-Cuban rhythmic motifs in the 1800s with the popularity of the Cuban contradanza (known outside of Cuba as the habanera). The habanera rhythm can be thought of as a combination of tresillo and the backbeat.

The habanera rhythm shown as tresillo (lower notes) with the backbeat (upper note).

For the more than quarter-century in which the cakewalk, ragtime and proto-jazz were forming and developing, the Cuban genre habanera was a consistent part of African American popular music.^[25] Jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton considered the tresillo/habanera rhythm (which he called the Spanish tinge) to be an essential ingredient of jazz.^[26] There are examples of tresillo-like rhythms in some African American folk musics such as the hand clapping and foot stomping patterns in ring shout, post-Civil War drum and fife music, and New Orleans second line music.^[27] Wynton Marsalis considers tresillo to be the New Orleans "clave" (although technically, the pattern is only half a clave).^[28] Tresillo is the most basic duple-pulse rhythmic cell in Sub-Saharan African music traditions, and its use in African American music is one of the clearest examples of African rhythmic retention in the United States.^[29] The use of tresillo was continuously reinforced by the consecutive waves of Cuban music, which were adopted into North American popular culture. In 1940 Bob Zurke released "Rhumboogie," a boogie woogie with a tresillo bass line, and lyrics proudly declaring the adoption of Cuban rhythm:

"Harlem's got a new rhythm, man it's burning up the dance floors because it's so hot! They took a little rhumba rhythm and added boogie woogie and now look what they got! Rhumboogie, it's Harlem's new creation with the Cuban syncopation, it's the killer! Just plant your both feet on each side. Let both your hips and shoulder glide. Then throw your body back and ride. There's nothing like rhumbaoogie, rhumboogie, boogie woogie. In Harlem or Havana, you can kiss the old Savannah. It's a killer!" Watch: The Andrews Sisters performing "Rhumboogie" (1940).

Although originating in the metropolis at the mouth of the Mississippi River, New Orleans blues, with its Afro-Caribbean rhythmic traits, is distinct from the sound of the Mississippi Delta blues.^[30] In the late 1940s, New Orleans musicians were especially receptive to Cuban influences precisely at the time when R&B was first forming.^[31] The first use of tresillo in R&B occurred in New Orleans. Robert Palmer recalls:

Fats Domino 1956

New Orleans producer-bandleader Dave Bartholomew first employed this figure (as a saxophone-section riff) on his own 1949 disc "Country Boy" and subsequently helped make it the most over-used rhythmic pattern in 1950’s rock ‘n’ roll. On numerous recordings by Fats Domino, Little Richard and others, Bartholomew assigned this repeating three-note pattern not just to the string bass, but also to electric guitars and even baritone sax, making for a very heavy bottom. He recalls first hearing the figure – as a bass pattern on a Cuban disc" (1995).^[32]

In a 1988 interview with Palmer, Bartholomew (who had the first R&B studio band),^[33] revealed how he initially superimposed tresillo over swing rhythm:

"I heard the bass playing that part on a 'rumba' record. On 'Country Boy' I had my bass and drums playing a straight swing rhythm and wrote out that 'rumba' bass part for the saxes to play on top of the swing rhythm. Later, especially after rock ‘n’ roll came along, I made the 'rumba' bass part heavier and heavier. I’d have the string bass, an electric guitar and a baritone all in unison."^[34]

Bartholomew referred to the Cuban son by the misnomer rumba, a common practice of that time. Listen: "Country Boy" by Dave Bartholomew (1949). Fats Domino's "Blue Monday," produced by Bartholomew, is another example of this now classic use of tresillo in R&B. Listen: Fat's Domino's "Blue Monday" (1956). On Bartholomew's 1949 tresillo-based "Oh Cubanas" we clearly hear an attempt to blend African American and Afro-Cuban music. The word mambo, larger than any of the other text, is placed prominently on the 45' label.

In his composition "Misery," New Orleans pianist Professor Longhair (Henry Roeland Byrd) plays a habanera-like figure in his left hand. The deft use of triplets is a characteristic of Longhair's style.

"Misery" by Professor Longhair (1957).

Gerhard Kubik notes that with the exception of New Orleans, early blues lacked complex polyrhythms, and there was a "very specific absence of asymmetric time-line patterns (key patterns) in virtually all early twentieth century African American music . . . only in some New Orleans generes does a hint of simple time line patterns occasionally appear in the form of transient so-called 'stomp' patterns or stop-time chorus. These do do not function in the same way as African time lines."^[35] In the late 1940s this changed somewhat when the two-celled time line structure was brought into the blues. New Orleans musicians such as Bartholomew and Longhair incorporated Cuban instruments, as well as the clave pattern and related two-celled figures in songs such as "Carnival Day," (Bartholomew 1949) and "Mardi Gras In New Orleans" (Longhair 1949). While some of these early experiments were awkward fusions, the Afro-Cuban elements were eventually integrated fully into the New Orleans sound.

Robert Palmer reports that, in the 1940s, Professor Longhair listened to and played with musicians from the islands and "fell under the spell of Perez Prado's mambo records."^[36] He was especially enamored with Afro-Cuban music. Michael Campbell states: "Professor Longhair’s influence was . . . far reaching. In several of his early recordings, Professor Longhair blended Afro-Cuban rhythms with rhythm and blues. The most explicit is 'Longhair’s Blues Rhumba,' where he overlays a straightforward blues with a clave rhythm."^[37] Longhair's particular style was known locally as rumba-boogie.^[38] In his "Mardi Gras in New Orleans," the pianist employs the 2-3 clave onbeat/offbeat motif in a rumba boogie "guajeo" (below).^[39] 2-3 clave is written above the piano excerpt for reference.

Piano excerpt from the rumba boogie "Mardi Gras in New Orleans" (1949) by Professor Longhair. 2-3 clave is written above for rhythmic reference.

The syncopated, but straight subdivision feel of Cuban music (as opposed to swung subdivisions) took root in New Orleans R&B during this time. Alexander Stewart states that the popular feel was passed along from "New Orleans—through James Brown's music, to the popular music of the 1970s," adding: "The singular style of rhythm & blues that emerged from New Orleans in the years after World War II played an important role in the development of funk. In a related development, the underlying rhythms of American popular music underwent a basic, yet generally unacknowledged transition from triplet or shuffle feel to even or straight eighth notes.^[40] Concerning the various funk motifs, Stewart states: "This model, it should be noted, is different from a time line (such as clave and tresillo) in that it is not an exact pattern, but more of a loose organizing principle."^[41]

Johnny Otis released the R&B mambo "Mambo Boogie" in January 1951, featuring congas, maracas, claves, and mambo saxophone guajeos in a blues progression.^[42] Listen: "Mambo Boogie" by Johnny Otis (1951).

Saxophone guajeo in blues progression. "Mambo Boogie" by Johnny Otis (1951).

Ike Turner recorded "Cubano Jump" (1954) an electric guitar instrumental, which is built around several 2-3 clave figures, adopted from the mambo. Listen: "Cubano Jump" by Ike Turner (1954). The Hawketts, in "Mardi Gras Mambo" (1955) (featuring the vocals of a young Art Neville), make a clear reference to Perez Prado in their use of his trademark "Unhh!" in the break after the introduction.^[43] Listen: "Mardi Gras Mambo" by the Hawketts (1955).

Ned Sublette states: "The electric blues cats were very well aware of Latin music, and there was definitely such a thing as rhumba blues; you can hear Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf playing it."^[44] He also cites Otis Rush, Ike Turner and Ray Charles, as R&B artists who employed this feel.^[44]

The use of clave in R&B coincided with the growing dominance of the backbeat, and the rising popularity of Cuban music in the U.S. In a sense, clave can be distilled down to tresillo (three-side) answered by the backbeat (two-side).^[45]

3-2 clave written in two measures in cut-time.

Tresillo answered by the backbeat, the essence of clave in African American music.

The "Bo Diddley beat" (1955) is perhaps the first true fusion of 3-2 clave and R&B/rock 'n' roll. Watch: "Hey Bo Diddley" performed live by Bo Diddley (1965). Bo Diddley has given different accounts of the riff's origins. Sublette asserts: "In the context of the time, and especially those maracas [heard on the record], 'Bo Diddley' has to be understood as a Latin-tinged record. A rejected cut recorded at the same session was titled only 'Rhumba' on the track sheets."^[46] Johnny Otis' "Willie and the Hand Jive" (1958) is another example of this successful blend of 3-2 clave and R&B. Watch: "Hand Jive" performed by Johnny Otis. The Johnny Otis Show. Otis used the Cuban instruments claves and maracas on the song.

Bo Diddley's "Bo Diddley beat" is a clave-based motif.

Afro-Cuban music became the conduit through which African American music was "re-Africanized," through the adoption of two-celled figures like clave and Afro-Cuban instruments like the conga drum, bongos, maracas and claves. According to John Storm Roberts, R&B became the vehicle for the return of Cuban elements into mass popular music.^[47] Ahmet Etregun, producer for Atlantic Records, is reported to have said that "Afro-Cuban rhythms added color and excitement to the basic drive of R&B."^[48] As Ned Sublette points out though: "By the 1960s, with Cuba the object of a United States embargo that still remains in effect today, the island nation had been forgotten as a source of music. By the time people began to talk about rock and roll as having a history, Cuban music had vanished from North American consciousness."^[49]

Early to mid 1950s[link]

Ray Charles in 1971. Photo: Heinrich Klaffs.

Johnny Otis, who had signed with the Newark, New Jersey-based Savoy Records, produced many R&B hits in 1951, including: "Double Crossing Blues", "Mistrustin' Blues" and "Cupid's Boogie", all of which hit number one that year. Otis scored ten top ten hits that year. Other hits include: "Gee Baby", "Mambo Boogie" and "All Nite Long".^[50] The Clovers, a vocal trio who sang a distinctive sounding combination of blues and gospel, had the #5 hit of the year with "Don't You Know I Love You" on Atlantic Records.^[50][51][52] Also in July 1951, Cleveland, Ohio DJ Alan Freed started a late-night radio show called "The Moondog Rock Roll House Party" on WJW-AM (850).^[53] Freed's show was sponsored by Fred Mintz, whose R&B record store had a primarily African American clientele. Freed began referring to the rhythm and blues music he played as "rock and roll".

In 1951, Little Richard Penniman began recording for RCA Records in the jump blues style of late 1940s stars Roy Brown and Billy Wright. However, it wasn't until he prepared a demo in 1954, that caught the attention of Specialty Records, that the world would start to hear his new, uptempo, funky rhythm and blues that would catapult him to fame in 1955 and help define the sound of rock 'n' roll. A rapid succession of rhythm and blues hits followed, beginning with "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally", which would influence performers such as James Brown,^[54] Elvis Presley,^[55] and Otis Redding.^[56]

Ruth Brown on the Atlantic label, placed hits in the top 5 every year from 1951 through 1954: "Teardrops from My Eyes", "Five, Ten, Fifteen Hours", "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" and "What a Dream". Faye Adams's "Shake a Hand" made it to #2 in 1952. In 1953, the R&B record-buying public made Willie Mae Thornton's original recording of Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog" the #3 hit that year. Ruth Brown was very prominent among female R&B stars. Ruth Brown’s popularity most likely derived because of “her deeply rooted vocal delivery in African American tradition”^{[57] [58]} That same year The Orioles, a doo-wop group, had the #4 hit of the year with "Crying in the Chapel".^[59]

Fats Domino made the top 30 of the pop charts in 1952 and 1953, then the top 10 with "Ain't That a Shame".^[60] Ray Charles came to national prominence in 1955 with "I Got a Woman". Big Bill Broonzy said of Charles' music: "He's mixing the blues with the spirituals... I know that's wrong."^[61]

In 1954 The Chords' "Sh-Boom" became the first hit to cross over from the R&B chart to hit the top 10 early in the year. Late in the year, and into 1955, "Hearts of Stone" by The Charms made the top 20.^[62]

At Chess Records in the spring of 1955, Bo Diddley's debut record "Bo Diddley"/"I'm A Man" climbed to #2 on the R&B charts and popularized Bo Diddley's own original rhythm and blues clave-based vamp that would become a mainstay in rock and roll.

At the urging of Leonard Chess at Chess Records, Chuck Berry had reworked a country fiddle tune with a long history, entitled "Ida Red". The resulting "Maybellene" was not only a #3 hit on the R&B charts in 1955, but also reached into the top 30 on the pop charts. Alan Freed, who had moved to the much larger market of New York City in 1954, helped the record become popular with white teenagers. Freed had been given part of the writers' credit by Chess in return for his promotional activities; a common practice at the time.^[63]

Late 1950s[link]

Della Reese

In 1956, an R&B "Top Stars of '56" tour took place, with headliners Al Hibbler, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and Carl Perkins, whose "Blue Suede Shoes" was very popular with R&B music buyers. Some of the performers completing the bill were Chuck Berry, Cathy Carr, Shirley & Lee, Della Reese, the Cleftones, and the Spaniels with Illinois Jacquet's Big Rockin' Rhythm Band. Cities visited by the tour included Columbia, SC, Annapolis, MD, Pittsburgh, PA, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo, NY, into Canada, and through the mid Western US ending in Texas. In Columbia the concert ended with a near riot as Perkins began his first song as the closing act. Perkins is quoted as saying, "It was dangerous. Lot of kids got hurt. There was a lot of rioting going on, just crazy, man! The music drove 'em insane." In Annapolis 70,000 to 50,000 people tried to attend a sold out performance with 8,000 seats. Roads were clogged for seven hours.^[64] Film makers took advantage of the popularity of "rhythm and blues" musicians as "rock n roll" musicians beginning in 1956. Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Big Joe Turner, The Treniers, The Platters, The Flamingos, all made it onto the big screen.^[65]

Two Elvis Presley records made the R&B top five in 1957: "Jailhouse Rock"/"Treat Me Nice" at #1, and "All Shook Up" at #5, an unprecedented acceptance of a non-African American artist into a music category known for being created by blacks.^[66] Nat King Cole, a former jazz pianist who had had #1 and #2 hits on the pop charts in the early 1950s ("Mona Lisa" at #2 in 1950 and "Too Young" at #1 in 1951), had a record in the top 5 in the R&B charts in 1958, "Looking Back"/"Do I Like It".

In 1959, two black-owned record labels, one of which would become hugely successful, made their debut: Sam Cooke's Sar, and Berry Gordy's Motown Records.^[67] Brook Benton was at the top of the R&B charts in 1959 and 1960 with one #1 and two #2 hits. Benton had a certain warmth in his voice that attracted a wide variety of listeners, and his ballads led to comparisons with performers such as Cole, Sinatra and Tony Bennett.^[68] Lloyd Price, who in 1952 had a #1 hit with "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" regained predominance with a version of "Stagger Lee" at #1 and "Personality" at #5 for in 1959.^[69][70]

The white bandleader of the Bill Black Combo, Bill Black, who had helped start Elvis Presley's career, was popular with black listeners. Ninety percent of his record sales were from black people, and his "Smokey, Part 2" (1959) rose to the #1 position on black music charts. He was once told that "a lot of those stations still think you're a black group because the sound feels funky and black." Hi Records did not feature pictures of the Combo on early records.^[71]

1960s and later[link]

Sam Cooke's #5 hit "Chain Gang" is indicative of R&B in 1960, as is Chubby Checker's #5 hit "The Twist".^[72][73] By the early 1960s, the music industry category previously known as rhythm and blues was being called soul music, and similar music by white artists was labeled blue eyed soul.^[74] Motown Records had its first million-selling single in 1960 with The Miracles' "Shop Around", and in 1961, Stax Records had its first hit with Carla Thomas' "Gee Whiz! (Look at His Eyes)".^[75][76] Stax's next major hit, the Mar-Keys' instrumental "Last Night" (also released in 1961) introduced the rawer Memphis soul sound for which Stax became known.^[77] In Jamaica, R&B influenced the development of ska.^[78][79][80]

By the 1970s, the term rhythm and blues was being used as a blanket term for soul, funk, and disco. Around the same time, earlier R&B was an influence on British pub rock and later, the mod revival. Now the term R&B is almost always used instead of the full rhythm and blues, and mainstream use of the term usually refers to contemporary R&B, which is a newer version of soul and funk-influenced pop music that originated as disco faded from popularity.

British rhythm and blues[link]

Eric Burdon & the Animals (1964).

British rhythm and blues developed in the early 1960s, largely as a response to the recordings of American artists, often brought over by African American servicemen stationed in Britain during the Cold War, or merchant seamen visiting ports such as London, Liverpool, Newcastle on Tyne and Belfast.^[81] Many bands, particularly in the developing London club scene, tried to emulate black rhythm and blues performers, resulting in a "rawer" or "grittier" sound than the more popular "beat groups".^[82] Initially developing out of the trad jazz, skiffle and folk club scenes, early artists tended to focus on major blues performers and standard forms, particularly Alexis Korner, who acted as a mentor to members of The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Manfred Mann, the Graham Bond Organisation and The Kinks.^[82] Although this "purist" interest in the blues would have an impact on major British rock musicians, including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Peter Green and Jimmy Page, other artists adopted an interest in a wider range of rhythm and blues styles.^[82]

Most successful were the Rolling Stones, whose first eponymously titled album in 1964 largely consisted of rhythm and blues standards. They soon established themselves as the second most popular UK band (after The Beatles) and led a second wave of the "British Invasion" of the US pop charts.^[82] In addition to Chicago blues numbers, the Rolling Stones also covered songs by Chuck Berry and Bobby and Shirley Womack, with the latter's "It's All Over Now", giving them their first UK number one in 1964.^[83] Blues songs and influences continued to surface in the Rolling Stones' music in later years. Other London-based bands included the Yardbirds, the Kinks, Manfred Mann and the Pretty Things, beside more jazz-influenced acts like the Graham Bond Organisation, Georgie Fame and Zoot Money.^[82] Bands to emerge from other major British cities included The Animals from Newcastle on Tyne, The Moody Blues and Spencer Davis Group from Birmingham, and Them from Belfast.^[82] None of these bands played exclusively rhythm and blues, but it remained at the core of their early albums.^[82]

The British Mod subculture was musically centred on rhythm and blues and later soul music, performed by artists that were not available in small London clubs around which the scene was based.^[84] As a result a number of bands emerged to fill this gap, including Small Faces, The Creation, and most successfully The Who.^[84] The Who's early promotional material tagged them as producing "maximum rhythm and blues", but by about 1966 they moved from attempting to emulate American R&B to producing songs that reflected the Mod lifestyle.^[84] Many of these bands enjoyed national success in the UK, but found it difficult to break into the American market.^[84]

The British R&B bands produced music which was very different in tone from that of African American artists, often with more emphasis on guitars and sometimes with greater energy.^[82] They have been criticised for exploiting the massive catalogue of African American music, but it has also been noted that they both popularised that music, bringing it to British, world and in some cases American audiences, and helping to build the reputation of existing and past rhythm and blues artists.^[82] Most of these bands rapidly moved on from recording and performing American standards to writing and recording their own music, often leaving their R&B roots behind.^[82] Many helped pioneer psychedelic, and eventually progressive and hard rock, having a major influence of the nature and sound of rock music and meaning that rhythm and blues would be a major component of that sound.^[82]

See also[link]

R&B and Soul Music portal

• Chitlin' circuit
• List of artists who reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart
• List of number-one rhythm and blues hits (United States)
• Music of the United States
• Rhythm and Blues Foundation
• Urban contemporary gospel

References[link]

Alicia Keys
Keys in South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup kick-off concert.
Background information
Birth name	Alicia Augello Cook
Also known as	Lellow
Born	(1981-01-25) January 25, 1981 (age 31)
Origin	New York City, United States
Genres	Soul, R&B, blues, hip hop, jazz, neo soul, electronic
Occupations	singer-songwriter, record producer, actress
Instruments	Vocals, piano, keyboards, cello, synthesizer, vocoder, guitar, bass guitar
Years active	1997–present
Labels	RCA, J, Arista, Columbia
Website	aliciakeys.com

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.^[1] She became the best-selling new artist and best-selling R&B artist of 2001.^[2] The album earned Keys five Grammy Awards in 2002, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for "Fallin'".^[3] Her second studio album, The Diary of Alicia Keys, was released in 2003 and was also another success worldwide, selling eight million copies.^[4] The album garnered her an additional four Grammy Awards in 2005.^[5] Later that year, she released her first live album, Unplugged, which debuted at number one in the United States.^[6] She became the first female to have an MTV Unplugged album to debut at number one and the highest since Nirvana in 1994.^[2]

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.^[7] Billboard magazine placed her number ten on their list of Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years.^[8] As of January 2012, Keys has sold 60 million records worldwide.

Life and career[link]

1981–2001: Early life and Career Beginnings[link]

Keys was born Alicia Augello Cook on January 25, 1981, in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan, in New York City.^[9][10][11] She is the only child of Teresa Augello, a paralegal and part-time actress, and Craig Cook, a flight attendant.^{[12][13][14][15]} Keys' mother is of Italian, Scottish, and Irish descent, and her father is African American;^[16] Keys has expressed that she was comfortable with her biracial heritage because she felt she was able to "relate to different cultures".^[10][17] Her parents separated when she was two and she was subsequently raised by her mother during her formative years in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan.^[18] 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".^[19][20] Throughout her childhood, Keys was sent to music and dance classes by her mother.^[21] She began playing the piano when she was seven and learned classical music by composers such as Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin.^[12] 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.^[13][22] She graduated in four years as valedictorian at the age of 16.^[23]

In 1994 Keys met long-term manager Jeff Robinson after she enrolled in his brother's after-school program.^[24] 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."^[25] 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.^[25] 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.^[23][26]

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.^[26] 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.^[25] Keys called Clive Davis, who sensed a "special, unique" artist from her performance and signed her to Arista Records, which later disbanded.^[9][10] 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.^[27] Following Davis to his newly formed J Records label, she worked with Kerry "Krucial" Brothers and 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.^[28][29]

[edit] 2001–2002: Songs in A Minor

	"Fallin" (2001) noicon "Fallin'" is a gospel-influenced piano ballad.[30] Often considered her signature song, it describes the "ins and outs" of being in a relationship.[31]
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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.^[32] The album sold over 6.2 million copies in the United States,^[33] where it was certified six times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).^[34] It went on to sell over 12 million copies worldwide,^[35] 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.^[2] The album's lead single, "Fallin'", spent six weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.^[36] 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.^[37] 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.

Keys performing in Frankfurt, Germany, 2002

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.^[38] 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.^[39] During the early 2000s, Keys also made small cameos in television series Charmed and American Dreams.^[12]

[edit] 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.^[40] It sold 4.4 million copies in the United States and was certified four times Platinum by the RIAA.^[34][41] It sold eight million copies worldwide,^[42] becoming the sixth biggest-selling album by a female artist and the second biggest-selling album by a female R&B artist.^[43] 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, her 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.^{[44][45][46][47][48]} 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.^[49][50] 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."^[51] 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".^[52] The book sold over US$500,000 and Keys made The New York Times bestseller list in 2005.^[53][54] The following year, she won a second consecutive award for Best R&B Video at the MTV Video Music Awards for the video "Karma".^[55] 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.^[56] 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.^[57]

Keys performed and taped her installment of the MTV Unplugged series in July 2005 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.^[58] During this session, Keys added new arrangements to her original songs and performed a few choice covers.^[59] 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.^[60] The album sold one million copies in the United States, where it was certified Platinum by the RIAA, and two million copies worldwide.^[12][34][61] 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.^[2] 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.^[62] It remained at number one on the Billboard Hot Adult R&B Airplay for 11 weeks.^[63] 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.^[64] 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.^[65]

[edit] 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".^[66] She also received the Starlight Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame.^[67] 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".^[68] 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."^[69][70]

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.^[71][72] 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.^[73] She also guest starred as herself in the "One Man Is an Island" episode of the drama series Cane.^[74]

Keys performing live, March 20, 2008

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.^[75][76] 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.^[77] The album has sold nearly four million copies in the United States and has been certified three times Platinum by the RIAA.^[78][79] It has sold nearly six million copies worldwide.^[80] Keys received five nominations for As I Am at the 2008 American Music Award and ultimately won two.^[81] The album's lead single, "No One", peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for five 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.^[82] 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.^[83] 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.^[83] 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.^[83][84]

Keys performing at the 2008 Summer Sonic Festival in Tokyo, Japan

"No One" earned Keys the awards for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song at the 2008 Grammy Awards.^[85] 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.^[86] Keys also won Best Female R&B Artist during the show.^[87] 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.^[88] She also signed a deal as spokesperson with Glacéau's VitaminWater to endorse the product,^[89] and was in an American Express commercial for the "Are you a Cardmember?" campaign.^[90] 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.^[91] In 2008, Keys was ranked in at number 80 the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists.^[92] 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.^[93] Her role earned her a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards.^[94] She also received three nominations at the 2009 Grammy Awards and won Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Superwoman".^[95]

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".^[22] Keys later wrote a statement clarifying the issues and saying her words were misinterpreted.^[96] 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.^[97]

[edit] 2009–2010 : The Element of Freedom, marriage and motherhood

Keys on the red carpet at the 2009 American Music Awards.

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.^[98] Keys and Robinson also formed a television production company called Big Pita.^[99] 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.^[100]

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.^[101] 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.^[102] 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.^[103]

Keys during the As I Am Tour in Lisbon.

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".^[104] 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.^[105] Keys released her fourth studio album, The Element of Freedom, in December 2009.^[106] It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 417,000 copies in its first week.^[107] 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).^[108] 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.^[106] 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.^{[109][110][111]} In the United Kingdom, The Element of Freedom became Keys' first album to top the UK Albums Chart.^[112] 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.

Keys at the Walmart Shareholders Meeting 2011.

In May 2009, Swizz Beatz announced that he and Keys were romantically involved, while he was still married to his first wife^[113] and in May 2010, a representative for Keys and Swizz Beatz confirmed that they were engaged and expecting a child together.^[114] 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.^[115] Keys and Beatz were married on the French island of Corsica on July 31, 2010.^[116][117] On October 14, 2010, Keys gave birth to a son, Egypt Daoud Ibarr Dean, in New York City.^[118]

2011–present: Other ventures and upcoming album[link]

In June 2011, Songs in A Minor was re-released as deluxe and collector's editions in commemoration of its 10th anniversary.^[119] 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.^[120] 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.^[121]

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.^[122][123] 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 RCA Records.^[124][125] On Saturday February 18, 2012, Alicia performed "Send Me an Angel" at Whitney Houston's memorial at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey.^[126]

Artistry[link]

Musical style[link]

	"If I Ain't Got You" (2003) noicon Keys often incorporates piano into her songs
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An accomplished pianist, Keys incorporates piano into a majority of her songs and often writes about love, heartbreak and female empowerment.^[10][53] She has cited several musicians as her inspirations, including Prince, Nina Simone, Barbra Streisand, Marvin Gaye, Quincy Jones, Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder.^{[127][128][129]} Keys' style is rooted in gospel and vintage soul music, supplemented by bass and programmed drumbeats.^[130] She heavily incorporates classical piano with R&B, soul and jazz into her music.^[131][132] She began experimenting with other genres, including pop and rock, in her third studio album, As I Am,^{[130][133][134]} transitioning from neo soul to a 1980s and 1990s R&B sound with her fourth album, The Element of Freedom.^[135][136] Patrick Huguenin of the New York Daily News stated that her incorporation of classical piano riffs contributed to her breakout success.^[44] Jet magazine states she "thrives" by touching her fans with "piano mastery, words and melodious voice".^[137] 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".^[138] Blender magazine referred to her as "the first new pop artist of the millennium who was capable of changing music."^[139]

Songwriting, voice and achievements[link]

Keys playing the piano while performing, surrounded by three backing vocalists

Keys has a vocal range of a contralto, which spans three octaves.^[44][140] She can sing from B flat over an octave below middle C (B♭₂) to B below soprano C (B₅). Often referred to as the "Princess of Soul",^[30][138] Keys has been commended as having a strong, raw and impassioned voice;^[141][142] others feel that her voice is "emotionally manufactured" at times and that she pushes her voice out of its natural range.^[141][142] Keys' songwriting is often criticized for lack of depth, which has led to her writing abilities being called limited.^[141] Her lyrics have been called generic, clichéd and that her songs revolve around generalities.^[130][141] 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".^[142] Diversely, Jon Pareles of Blender magazine stated that the musical composition of her songs makes up for their lyrical weakness,^[133] while Gregory Stephen Tate of The Village Voice compared Keys' writing and production to 1970s music.^[143]

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.^[144] She has sold over 30 million albums worldwide and has established herself as one of the best-selling artists of her time.^{[19][143][145]}

Philanthropy[link]

Keys performing at the Live Earth concert

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.^[146] 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.^[147][148] She visited African countries such as Uganda, Kenya and South Africa to promote care for children affected by AIDS.^{[149][150][151]} Her work in Africa was documented in the documentary Alicia in Africa: Journey to the Motherland and was available in April 2008.^[152]

Keys has also donated to Frum tha Ground Up, a non-profit organization that aids children and teenagers with scholarships.^[153][154] 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.^[155] 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.^[156][157] 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.^[158][159]

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.^[160] 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.^[161] 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.^[162] For her work, Keys was honored at the 2009 BET Awards with the Humanitarian Award.^[163] 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.^[164]

Discography[link]

• Songs in A Minor (2001)
• The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003)
• As I Am (2007)
• The Element of Freedom (2009)
• TBA (2013)

Live albums

• Unplugged (2005)

Tours[link]

Keys at Tokyo Summer Sonic 2008.

Filmography[link]

See also[link]

• 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[link]