' sits in the same place as Songs in A Minor in regards to my heart and soul. Ray Charles & Various Artists - Genius Loves Company In the end, Keys felt she managed to top Songs in A Minor by not trying to (or 'not caring about singles' for that matter, according to Wiggins). 'That's when she poured out her emotions,' Wiggins said. Oftentimes Keys would record the music with her collaborators but lay down the vocals later, alone. 'I experimented with that a lot, too, which was a great thing.' 'It's one of my favorite songs in the world,' Keys said in 2003. I'm seeing her sitting in the chair at the board, half-smiling, singing. 'We started working on it from scratch, and as I'm making the track, she's sitting there singing it. 'I was concerned about combining two melodies, like what key is she gonna do it in, how's it gonna work?' Easy recalled. She loved the way Easy sampled Isaac Hayes' 'Walk on By' on Biggie's 'Warning' and wanted to try the same music. This time around Keys had the idea to put the lyrics to a different familiar melody. 'It was way out there originally, like an alternative-rock thing,' Wiggins said. One of the ideas Keys brought to Easy was remaking Gladys Knight and the Pips' 'If I Were Your Woman,' something she first did with Wiggins years earlier. 'She communicates to make sure it comes out the way she wants. 'There were passionate moments when her eyebrows turned down to her nose,' Easy said.

Still, when it came to the songs, Keys got serious. 'She was running around, jumping around, being playful and wearing jeans and construction boots, with her hair in a ponytail. 'Anyone who wins five Grammys with their first album out, you're expecting diva qualities, but Alicia was so down to earth,' he said. The vibe of the sessions surprised Easy Mo Bee. It was a relaxed atmosphere and it was all about the music.' 'We had live drums, live bass guitars, quite a few live instruments. 'We jammed a lot in the studio,' Harris added. 'It was cool playing with a new artist with an old soul. To capture that sound, Keys stocked her studio with vintage instruments, 'the stuff we were raised on,' Wiggins said. I like to call it 'Back to the Future.' ' A lot of this album feels like that to me. It's just innovative - it's fresh, it's sweet. 'For me, the music that I love the most is the music from the '60s and '70s. 'Kanye is really a soulful brother, so we connected immediately,' Keys said shortly before the album's release in December 2003. Kanye West, Notorious B.I.G./ LL Cool J collaborator Easy Mo Bee and Stokley Williams from Mint Condition. Keys went into the sessions with basic blueprints for several songs, but she welcomed ideas from her collaborators, who also includedД¬heck out everything we've got on the Grammys. 'She'd been held back for so long, she was just ready to go, like a Ferrari in the slow lane.' 'I think she was more anxious than anything, 'cause she has so much to say,' said Wiggins, who first worked with Keys in the late '90s, while she was struggling on Columbia Records. 'Her vibe was very open and inviting, and we fed off of that.' 'She played us the stuff she already had on the album and she seemed very confident,' recalled Andre Harris, from the production duo Dre & Vidal. While her peers expected her to be at least slightly uneasy about following up such a smash, she was actually quite the opposite. The album won five Grammys, including Song of the Year for 'Fallin'.' Keys started work on the album in early 2003, after spending the previous year touring behind her hit debut, Songs in A Minor. It's one of the most genuine things out there' (see 'Kanye Scores 10 Grammy Nominations Usher And Alicia Keys Land Eight'). People can feel the passion and pain in the music. Not many people would put their diaries out there, and I'm shocked that she did. 'It's not one of those premeditated type of albums,' Wiggins, formerly of Tony! Toni! TonГ©!, said. As the title suggests, Diary is Keys doing Keys. The slogan encouraged the more than 50 guest musicians who worked on the album to bring their own styles, but it also served as a sort of mission statement for Keys herself. 'She was always saying, 'Hey man, do you,' ' recalled guitarist D'Wayne Wiggins, who played on two of the tracks.

Bass вЂ“ Artie Reynolds (tracks: 5), Elijah Baker (tracks: 7), Fred Cash, Jr.Alicia Keys had a slogan during the recording sessions for The Diary of Alicia Keys, one of the five Album of the Year nominees at Sunday's Grammy Awards.

Green (tracks: 6, 14, 15), Stockley Carmichael (tracks: 7), Taneisha Smith (tracks: 15) Backing Vocals вЂ“ Andricka Hall (tracks: 9), Cindy Mizelle (tracks: 6, 9), Erika Rose (tracks: 14, 15), Harold Lilly (tracks: 5), Jerimiah 'Jermaine' Paul* (tracks: 7), John Legend (tracks: 5), Katreese Barnes (tracks: 6, 9), Paul L.

Alicia keys diary