Alicia Keys is a 27 year old R&B singer and actress. She has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Her list of awards is rapidly mounting with eleven Grammy Awards, eleven Billboard Music Award, three American Music Awards and fourteen NAACP Image Awards – impressive to say the least.
Keys was born in Harlem and raised in Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan. She graduated at age 16 as Valedictorian of her class. She was accepted at Columbia University but opted to begin a musical career – which seems to have gone as planned for the mega star. She is involved in several philanthropic endeavors including concerts to benefit Hurricane Katrina relief efforts and has served as spokeswoman for the AIDS non profit organization Keep a Child Alive.
Keys sat for an interview with Blender Magazine for their April issue and caused a media stir when she stated that she believes the rivalry between Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur was fueled “by the government and the media, to stop another great black leader from existing.” She also claimed that “Gangsta Rap was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other.” During the interview she revealed that she wears a gold AK-47 pendant around her neck “to symbolize strength, power and killing ’em dead.”
Keys has signed on to appear in a 2008 movie project The Secret Life of Bees, a film adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd‘s critically acclaimed 2003 bestseller. Also slated to appear in the movie are Jennifer Hudson and Queen Latifah.
We’ve got more photos of Alicia’s Blender shoot below. Check out Keys Blender interview HERE.
Photo Credit: Blender Magazine