Alicia was 7 years old when she started studying piano, and at some point she begged her mom to let her quit.
There wasn’t much money at home. Terria Joseph, who raised her alone in Hell’s Kitchen, New York, said no. A friend gave them an old upright piano, and she insisted that her daughter learn to play it. Alicia would write her first song on that instrument, dedicating it to her late grandfather.
Years later, in the VH1 special ‘Dear Mama’ in May 2016, at age 35, she told the story this way: “She found me a piano teacher, found the money to pay for it, and even found a piano”. And she added a question that brought smiles: who manages to fit a piano into a one-bedroom apartment?
Then she sat down and sang ‘If I Ain’t Got You’ with the lyrics changed to address her mom, holding back tears.
Terria couldn’t know whether her daughter would become a star. She only knew that money wouldn’t be the reason she stopped playing.
