Keys was born Alicia Augello Cook on January 25, 1981, in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan, in New York City.[12][13][14] She is the only child of Teresa (Augello), a paralegal and part-time actress, and Craig Cook, a flight attendant.[15][16][17][18] Keys' father is African American and her mother is of half-Italian and half-British (English and Scottish) and Irish descent.[19] Keys has expressed that she was comfortable with her biracial heritage because she felt she was able to "relate to different cultures".[13][20] Her parents separated when she was two and she was subsequently raised by her mother during her formative years in Hell's Kitchen,