📍Manhattan Plaza, Hell's Kitchen, New York, NY 10036, USA
1981 – 1996“Alicia Keys was born Alicia Augello Cook in Manhattan in January 1981 and grew up with her mother in Manhattan Plaza, a subsidised apartment complex on 43rd Street in Hell's Kitchen, built for people working in the performing arts. Her mother, Terria, was a paralegal and part-time actress who raised her alone, often working several jobs to keep them going. Their building was full of musicians, actors and dancers, and the streets outside, near Times Square, were noisy, gritty and alive in the 1980s. When she was seven, a friend gave the family an old upright piano, and her mother insisted she learn to play it properly. She studied classical piano for years, falling in love with Chopin, and when money was tight and she wanted to quit, her mother refused to let her. At home they listened to jazz and soul, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone and Marvin Gaye, and out on the streets she heard the hip-hop of New York. She began writing songs at twelve. Hell's Kitchen taught her to be tough and street-smart, and she has spoken about how her mother kept her focused while many around her got into trouble. She went to the Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan, where she majored in choir, and graduated as valedictorian at sixteen. She won a place at Columbia University but left to sign with Clive Davis. Her debut album, Songs in A Minor, featuring Fallin', came out in 2001. In 2024 she brought Hell's Kitchen, a musical inspired by her teenage years at Manhattan Plaza, to Broadway, and she has donated generously to her old school's arts programmes.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today