here is the short article about akeys from the music issue [ nov. 2oo2 ] of vanity fair.

“Singer, beat master, writer, producer - Alicia Keys wears many hats, both figuratively and literally. A classically trained pianist, she infuses her music with soul and funk and R&B; stunning enough to be styled like a pop confection, she sticks to her idiosyncratic street-chic style. Before she was out of her teens, she had signed on with and then left two very different institutions both named Columbia - the Ivy League university and the record label. Too busy with music to stay enrolled at the former, too independent to be happy at the latter ( she cites “creative differences” ), Keys found her way to Clive Davis’ J Records in 1999 and soon achieved platinum-record super-stardom with her first release, Songs in A Minor. That album, which put her at the forefront of the so-called neo-soul movement, earned Keys five Grammys in 2001. She’s currently bringing her manifold skills to bear on recording her second album, which is due out sometime in 2003. — Andrea Thompson“