Alicia Keys

O2, Dublin Tonight 7pm 76.25/€65.70/€49.20/44.20 0818-719300

O2, Dublin Tonight 7pm 76.25/€65.70/€49.20/44.20 0818-719300

Unassuming music stars are often the best kind, and in the area of urban soul/pop there is no one more unassuming than Alicia Augello Cook.

She has many strings to her bow (singer, songwriter, producer, actress, author, poet, philanthropist) but the one she is best known for is her position as the modern-day queen of soul.

Something of a prodigy, from the age of four Keys was sent to music and dance classes. She was playing pieces by Mozart, Chopin and Beethoven by seven and writing pop songs by the time she was a teenager. Still in teens, she recorded her debut album, Songs in A Minor(2001), which sold more than 12 million copies.

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And so it has continued: more albums, movie appearances ( Smokin' Aces, The Nanny Diaries, The Secret Life of Bees), a James Bond song with Jack White (for Quantum of Solace), a namecheck in a Bob Dylan song and, most coveted of all, commercial success and credibility. And tonight, Ticketreaders, she's just for you.

Can't see that? Catch this

Rihanna Sat/Wed, Dublin; Mon, Belfast

Tony Clayton-Lea

Tony Clayton-Lea

Tony Clayton-Lea is a contributor to The Irish Times specialising in popular culture