In the early 2000s, you couldn't mention soul or R&B music without bringing Alicia Keys into the conversation. Her 2001 debut album Songs in A Minor, and its '03 follow-up Diary of Alicia Keys, earned the artist universal acclaim and a collection of Grammy awards.
She returned home to New York City in 2005 to record her MTV Unplugged show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. When people talk about having your audience in the palm of your hand, this is exactly the type of thing they mean. Once she started the famous piano riff from her Grammy-award winning song "If I Ain't Got You," the audience had officially gotten what they came for.
Alicia Keys is 42 years old today.
