Exploring the Net Worth, Wealth, And Fortune of 'If I Ain't Got You' Singer Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys is a renowned figure in the music industry who has won five Grammys in her career so far. Let's take a minute to explore more details about her net worth, early life, wealth, and fortune.

By Sweta Choudhury

Published on Apr 25, 2024 | 04:02 PM IST | 299.8K

Alicia Keys - Getty Images

Alicia Keys is a well-known figure in the music industry. Also known as Alicia Cook, she rose to fame with the release of her debut album, Songs in A Minor, in 2001. Since then, there has been considerable interest in her net worth. Notably, in 2023, Rolling Stone magazine recognized Keys' talent by ranking her at number 185 on their prestigious list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. Let's take a minute and explore more details about the singer's wealth, fortune, net worth and early life background.

1. Early Life

Alicia Augello Cook, was born in Manhattan, New York City, on January 25, 1981 and she is the only child of her mother, Teresa Augello. Her father was Craig Cook. He left when Alicia was two years old. Alicia's mother raised her as a single parent in Hell's Kitchen, New York City.

Alicia was singing from quite an early age, performing in pre-school and school days onstage. After a friend gave her an old piano, she started taking her lessons seriously, and by the time she was seven, she was already taking proper piano training. She then enrolled in the Professional Performing Arts School when she was twelve, where she took classes in music, dance, theater, and choir.

Then, when Keys was 13 years old, she met manager Jeff Robinson through the youth organization Teens in Motion and he began mentoring her, taking her to meetings and teaching her how to interact with clients and all. He introduced her to A&R executive Peter Edge, and they helped her put together some song demos to showcase to label executives. In the ensuing bidding war that erupted, Columbia Records eventually won after offering her a $26,000 white baby grand piano.

After signing with Columbia, Keys continued her education, graduating early from high school at the age of 16 as a valedictorian. She then attended Columbia University on a scholarship. After struggling to balance the demanding time schedule of her university course load in addition to working in the recording studio, she dropped out of college and started focusing on her music full-time.

2. Music Career

After Keys started pursuing music as a full-time career, she was extremely frustrated with the lack of control she had over her music, as Columbia tried to create a certain image for her and force her to work with producers she did not like. Eventually, with the help of Robinson and the president of Arista Records, Clive Davis, Keys negotiated out of her Columbia contract and signed with Arista in late 1998.

After Davis was ousted from Arista in 2000, her album was once again put on hold, but he started his own label, J Records, and immediately signed her to it. Then, at J Records, Keys began to promote her upcoming debut with performances on shows like The Tonight Show and The Oprah Show. Keys went on to win five Grammys in the following categories: Song of the Year, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song, Best New Artist, and Best R&B Album.

Her following albums, The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003) and As I Am (2007), both performed well on the charts, and she won two awards for the song No Alicia Keys performed One (from her album "As I Am") at the 2008 Grammy Awards. Her other albums include The Element of Freedom (2009), Girl on Fire (2012), Here (2016), and Alicia (May 2020). She released her ninth studio album, Keys (2021), which was the last under her contract with RCA Records. Her Christmas album, Santa Baby (2022), was her first independent release distributed exclusively on Apple Music and peaked at number 148 on the Billboard 200.

3. Acting and Television Career

Alicia Keys' first movie was in the 2007 crime movie Smokin Aces. After that, she was in The Nanny Diaries and The Secret Life of Bees in 2008. Keys also appeared on TV shows like Saturday Night Live, Empire, and The Late Late Show with James Corden. She has also been a judge, coach, or musical guest on shows like The X Factor Australia, The Voice, and The Voice Germany.

4. Other Projects

If you thought Keys only accomplished herself as a musician, then you probably might have to read again, The singer also does multiple other projects She released her book Tears for Water: A Songbook of Poems and Lyrics in 2005. It has unreleased poems from her journals and lyrics and made it onto The New York Times bestseller list that year. Her memoir More Myself: A Journey" was released in March 2020. And she became the co-owner of The Oven Studios, a recording studio on Long Island, along with her production and songwriting partner, Kerry Krucial Brothers. Keys and Brothers also co-founded KrucialKeys Enterprises, a production and songwriting team that works on Keys' albums as well as projects with other artists.

Keys has also been the spokesperson for several brands over the years. In 2008, she starred in a commercial micro-series for Dove promoting the brand's Go Fresh line. In 2023, it was revealed that Alicia Keys was making a musical, Hell's Kitchen, off Broadway, which is said to be inspired by her own story.

5. Personal Life

When it comes to her personal life, Keys was in a relationship with longtime collaborator and friend Kerry Brothers until 2008. Then, after they split, she began dating hip hop artist and producer Swizz Beatz. The duo announced their engagement in 2010 and got married in July, and Keys gave birth to their son in October of that same year. She gave birth to their second son in December 2014. An interesting fact about the duo is that they own an impressive fleet of automobiles, but she's most often seen behind the wheel of Mercedes Benz models, as she is an ambassador for the brand.

6. Net Worth

Alicia Keys' net worth is the result of years of hard work before she ever made it big and a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears. The actress has a net worth of $150 million. This is the combined net worth that she shares with her husband, producer Swizz Beatz. Their net worth is almost equally divided. The singer, however, credits the universe itself for a lot of her success.

"I've always been somebody who understands the fight of defying the odds," she told NPR in 2020. "I think that drives me a lot with what I sing about, and what I write about really talks about kind of this idea of potential and possibility because, as well, at one time, there was nothing but a potential or possibility. There was no reason why it should happen or not happen. I do believe it's definitely hard work; it's definitely tenacity and grit; and surely, you know, determination. But it's also: Destiny and fate are a part of it to some degree."

7. Real Estate

In 2013, Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz purchased a lavish mansion in Englewood, New Jersey, for $10.4 million. The property spans 5.4 acres and boasts 25,000 square feet of living space. The seller of this impressive estate was none other than actor Eddie Murphy.

In 2015, the duo further expanded their property holdings by acquiring an adjoining property for $1.7 million. However, in the same year, they decided to list the entire estate for sale, initially setting the asking price at $14.9 million. In 2016, they adjusted the asking price to a reduced $9.9 million. Finally, in April 2022, they accepted an offer of $6 million for the property.

Previously, the couple owned a New York City apartment that they purchased from Lenny Kravitz in 2010 for $12.75 million. They sold it in 2013 for a small loss. They also formerly owned a home in Phoenix, Arizona, which they sold in 2021 for $3.1 million.

In September 2019, Alicia and Swizz paid $20.8 million for an opulent mansion in La Jolla, California, that had previously been listed for $30 million.

Disclaimer: All amounts mentioned in the article are sourced from public platforms. In some cases, celebrities or their teams give their inputs too, which we incorporate if provided by them. We take all efforts to share possible accurate numbers, however unless otherwise mentioned they are all approximates. We are open to feedback and suggestions on editorial@pinkvilla.com.

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