Sunday, July 17, 2011 3:38am ET by  
Comments (0)

, , , , ,

Alicia Keys reveals past pressures

Alicia Keys has opened up about the difficulty of launching a career within the music industry at the very young age of 16.

The 'Empire State of Mind' singer-songwriter began performing both professionally and under a contract just months after her fifteenth birthday and explained that the pressure was, at times, overwhelming:

"I started in this business so young - I was just a girl. To keep your head together. I felt directionless, like a chicken with its head cut off."

"You feel like everyone wants a piece of you, everything is available to you, and it doesn't matter that you're only 16."

Keys is also set to launch a brand new project, as a producer of a play on Broadway called 'Stick Fly', this autumn and you can watch the superstar perform an acoustic version of her hit 'No One' here: