Alicia Keys on Motherhood and life
This week singer and mum-to-be Alicia Keys wowed millions of people with her World Cup-opening performance. But she says nothing compares with the feeling she gets from helping children with Aids.
For most performers it doesn’t get much better than headlining the World Cup concert in front of a TV audience of a billion.
But Alicia Keys reveals that the greatest memory of her trip to South Africa will be the faces of children she met in orphanages and Aids clinics.
It made an even greater impact on her because she is pregnant, expecting her first child with fiancé producer Swiss Beatz. Clearly thrilled, Alicia, 29, says: “I can’t wait to become a mum. No question. It’s the most beautiful gift in the world. Truly a gift from God.
“I have an amazing mother – she is a best friend to me. And I would like to be the same to my child.”
Swizz Beatz, 31, who is considered one of the hottest hit-makers in the industry after producing smashes for Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and Whitney Houston, is equally delighted.
The divorced father-of-two, whose real name is Kasseem Dean, says: “Everyone says we’ll make a great family.”
Away from the glamour of the World Cup concert, which also featured A-listers such as the Black Eyed Peas and Shakira, Alicia devoted her time to visiting poverty-stricken townships, in the shadow of the immaculate, multi-million pound stadiums.
In what she admits was a truly emotional experience, she saw victims of the terrible Aids epidemic which has ravaged the continent.
She made the visits after cofounding her own charity Keep A Child Alive, which has helped 250,000 of Africa’s young people affected by Aids.
She is so moved by the plight of the young people robbed of their parents and potential by Aids that, should she and Swizz ever wish to extend their family, Alicia might follow Angelina Jolie and Madonna by adoping an African child. Alicia says: “Adopting is denitely not out of the question. I would love to figure out the ways that could work for me. I felt I wanted to scoop up the children I met in Africa and take them home. At this point I kinda feel I have amazing brothers and sisters in Africa. Hopefully I can be their big sister who they know they can depend on and will always be there, fighting for them.”
Alicia’s own upbringing was filled with love, but not money. Born Alicia Cook, her part-Scottish mum Terri brought her up single-handedly after her dad left when she was two and worked two jobs as a legal secretary and actress, often until 3am, to pay for her music lessons. “Mom was ultra-supportive. She told me, ‘You can quit anything else but you can never give up your piano lessons’,” says Alicia.
She was raised in a one-room apartment in the notoriously dangerous area of Hell’s Kitchen in New York, rife with drug dealers and prostitutes. She admitted carrying a knife for protection.
Fortunately, Alicia’s musical talent paved her way out of poverty. She was a piano prodigy who could confidently play difficult classical pieces by the age of seven.
By 13 she had won a place at the prestigious Performing Arts School of Manhattan, immortalised in the TV series Fame. And by the age of 14 her classical teacher said she had nothing left to teach her. She graduated aged 16, two years early in all academic subjects, as the school’s highest ranking student. Alicia won a scholarship to Columbia University but, only four weeks into her course, was lured away from her studies by a record deal. The move would see her sell 30 million records and win 12 Grammys.
Her earnings may be sky high but Alicia’s feet remain firmly on the ground.
“The way I was raised gives me an understanding of how it feels to come from nothing, or very little,” she says.
“It gives me a different perspective and makes me more empathetic. So when I go to Africa I go to touch, talk, work and deal with people face-to-face, heart-to-heart. That’s how I am. It gives me a greater sense of purpose.”
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