Kerry Brothers, Jr.

Kerry "Krucial" Brothers

Kerry Brothers, Jr. (born October 1, 1970) better known as "Krucial", "Krucial Keys" or, as Alicia Keys often refers to him--"K"--is a multi-Grammy Award winning producer and an American songwriter, executive producer and record producer.

He has worked on four of Alicia Keys' multi-platinum albums: Songs in A Minor (2001), The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003), As I Am (2007) and The Element of Freedom (2009).^[1] In addition to Keys, Brothers has worked with R&B and hip hop artists including Mario, Rakim, Angie Stone, Nas, Keyshia Cole, Goapele, Drake and K'naan. Brothers entered into a prolific musical partnership with Keys in the mid 1990s, which resulted in his co-writing and producing a number of tracks for her debut and sophomore albums, Songs in A Minor and The Diary of Alicia Keys, respectively, which have both sold over 30 million copies worldwide. Brothers has produced, written, arranged and composed songs that have appeared on motion picture soundtracks such as Dr. Dolittle, Drumline, Shaft, and Ali.^[2] His collaborative work with Keys, earned him two Grammy Awards: Best R&B Album (Songs in A Minor) and Best R&B Song ("No One").

Production discography

Songs Written with Alicia Keys

Brothers, Jr. co-wrote and co-produced songs from Alicia Keys's albums. Additional writers and producers are listed below.

Songs in A Minor

• "Troubles"
• "Rock wit U" (Taneisha Smith)
• "The Life" (Taneisha Smith)
• "Ghettoman" (Syl Johnson, Jimmy Jones, Bernard "Doss" Malik, Glenn Watts)
• "I Won't (Crazy World)"
• "Juiciest (Mixtape Version)" (James Mtume)
• "Typewriter"

The Diary of Alicia Keys

• "Karma" (Taneisha Smith)
• "Diary"
• "Wake Up"
• "When You Really Love Someone"

Unplugged

• "Stolen Moments" (Lamont Green, Wah Wah Watson)

As I Am

• "As I Am" (Intro)
• "Go Ahead" (Mark Batson, Marsha Ambrosius)
• "No One" (George D. Harry)
• "Like You'll Never See Me Again"
• "Where Do We Go from Here" (Mary Frierson, Johnnie Frierson)
• "Tell You Something (Nana's Reprise)" (Novel Stevenson, Ron Haney, Paul L. Green, Steve Mostyn)

The Element of Freedom

• "Doesn't Mean Anything"
• "Un-Thinkable (I'm Ready)" (Aubrey "Drake" Graham, Noah "40" Shebib)
• "Love Is My Disease" (Toby Gad, Melini Smith)
• "This Bed" (Mostyn)
• "Distance and Time" (Mostyn)
• "How It Feels to Fly"

Other Songs

• "Fight" (from Ali Ali Original Soundtrack)
• "Rear View Mirror" (LaShawn Daniels, Green, Fred Jenkins, Rodney Jenkins) (from Dr. Dolittle 2 Original Soundtrack)

References

1. "Alicia Collaborator Krucial Goes Solo". Rolling Stone. December 7, 2005. Retrieved 2007-09-02.
2. "Artist Profile - Kerry Brothers, Jr". EMI Music Publishing. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-09-02.