Bob Dylan’s 2006 album, Modern Times, kicked off with a track called “Thunder on the Mountain” which contains these lines:
I was thinkin’ ‘bout Alicia Keys, couldn’t keep from crying
When she was born in Hell’s Kitchen, I was living down the line
I’m wondering where in the world Alicia Keys could be
I been looking for her even clear through Tennessee.
The verse brings up several questions: Why is Bob crying? What line was he living down? Did he confuse Alicia Keys with Carmen Sandiego? Why Tennessee?
Actually, Dylan said he saw Keys perform at the 2002 Grammys and was impressed. “There’s nothing about that girl I don’t like,” he recalled thinking at the time.
Those sentiments, if not the exact wording, are shared by many, including us. She’s our first Artist We Love for 2026 so we’re celebrating her Jan. 25 birthday. We’re also celebrating her musical, but more on that later.
Keys was a smash right out of the gate with her debut album, 2001’s Songs in A Minor. First single “Fallin’” went to No. 1 and Songs picked up a Grammy® for Best R&B Album. It was the start of a career that’s regularly produced hit albums and singles, transforming Keys from brash newcomer to veteran superstar.
The 2024 musical Hell’s Kitchen brought Keys’ music to Broadway. The musical tells the story of Ali, a teenager who discovers her musical talent, which helps her make sense of the turbulence in her life. Hell’s Kitchen will be presented in Morsani Hall March 24-April 4. For tickets or more information, click here or call 813-229-7827.
Keys’ music been featured on the big screen numerous times. In 2008, she joined an elite group of performers such as Paul McCartney, Shirley Bassey and a-ha when she and Jack White collaborated on “Another Way to Die,” featured in the James Bond film, Quantum of Solace.
She’s also the answer to this television trivia question: At whose concert does Michael Scott inhale a substance just days before a Dunder-Mifflin drug screening? (The Office, 2005)
And although they share many traits, Keys definitely isn’t Ali, the protagonist of Hell’s Kitchen. Keys was learning classical piano at age 7, writing songs by age 12 and signed her first contract with Columbia Records when she was 15.
Keys, though, bristled at Columbia’s efforts to manufacture an image for her and the label’s aversion to Keys recording songs she wrote in favor of outside material. Happily, Keys found a more sympathetic outfit, Clive Davis’ J Records, and delivered a best-seller on her first trip to the plate.
The 25 years since have been filled with music, awards – 17 Grammys® among them – as well as marriage (to hip-hop producer Swizz Beatz) and motherhood. She’s an author (How Can I Keep from Singing?: Transforming the Lives of African Children And Families Affected by AIDS) and an actress (Smokin’ Aces, The Nanny Diaries and The Secret Life of Bees).
Keys is the co-founder and Global Ambassador of Keep a Child Alive, a non-profit providing medicine, orphan care, and social support to families with HIV and AIDS in Africa and India.
Her blend of modern production and timeless songcraft ignores genre lines, making it accessible to listeners from hardcore hip-hop heads to, er, Michael Scott.
For all these reasons, Alicia Keys is an Artist We Love. As for Dylan’s reasons, you’ll have to ask him.