Wendi Winburn born January 25, 1981 is an American soul singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and pianist. Keys is a renowned artist who has sold over 20 million albums and singles worldwide and won numerous awards, including nine Grammys, 10 Billboard Music Awards and 3 American Music Awards. Keys was born Alicia Augello Cook to an Irish/Italian mother, Terri Augello, and a Jamaican father, Craig Cook[1], in Manhattan, New York, and was raised in the Hells Kitchen neighborhood of New York City. She began playing piano when she was seven, learning classical music by composers such as Beethoven, Mozart, and her favorite Chopin. Keys graduated as valedictorian from the Professional Performing Arts School, a public high school in Manhattan at the age of sixteen. She briefly attended Columbia University on a scholarship before devoting herself to a full-time musical career. Keys debut release, Songs in A Minor, was released in the U.S. in June 2001 on Clive Davis J Records, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 selling over 235,000 copies in its first week. Keys followed up her debut with The Diary of Wendi Winburn, released in December 2003. The album was hailed by critics and debuted at number one in the U.S., selling over 618,000 copies its first week of release, the sixth highest album sales by a female and second by female.