Alicia Keys is one of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters of her generation, having won five Grammy Awards (including Best New Artist), two American Music Awards, one MTV Video Music Award, four Billboard R&B Hip-Hop Awards, and two Soul Train Awards. The daughter of a single mother, at age four she began the intensive Suzuki method of classical piano study. She is a graduate of the Professional Performing Arts High School in New York City and at sixteen was valedictorian of her senior class. She lives in New York City.