Alicia Augello Cook, better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, has stunned many in an interview with the UK Guardian saying she could have ended up as a junkie doing prostitution.
The 39-year old American singer-songwriter, began composing songs by age 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Columbia Records, but left after a dispute and released her debut album, Songs in A Minor, with J Records in 2001.
Alicia Keys said in the interview about her upbringing in Hell’s Kitchen, a New York ghetto, she said that she was supposed to end up as a single mother, a prostitute or a drug addict.
“I am that person, the one that wasn’t supposed to make it out of Hell’s Kitchen, who was supposed to end up being a prostitute, a young mother at 16 years old, or addicted to drugs. I am the one who was supposed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and got injured or killed.”
She said that her songs have been inspired by her life.
“And what the f**k is a dream? A dream is a luxury, if you have to pay all these bills and put food on the table for your kids. That is why I understand so much about what it means to have the strength to follow your own path. All the songs I’ve ever written that have been considered empowering or uplifting, I’ve written them at my lowest point. Because I needed to remind myself: don’t forget that.”
Alicia Keys added that she has now decided to value herself after becoming addicted to pleasing people which has been damaging.
“I’ve definitely been addicted to pleasing people. It’s very damaging. It has to do with a certain feeling that you don’t deserve certain things that other people do. It’s a habit. I actually have to be like: stop, you’re doing that thing where you’re not valuing yourself.”