NewsBreakingOnline

At 30, Alicia Keys is a music industry veteran with 35m albums sold. But, with a young son to look after and the UN’s policy on Aids to be addressed, she’s taking nothing for granted So this is what the backstage dressing room of someone who’s won 14 Grammys looks like. It’s smaller than expected, lit by bare fluorescent tubes and furnished with a table and folding chairs. A platter of chopped vegetables and dip sits on a countertop and a lone burning candle emits a faint whiff of vanilla. Occupying this spartan cubbyhole in London’s Roundhouse is Alicia Keys , who seems to have been born without the chromosome that makes others in her league (35m albums sold in the past 10 years) demand champagne and rose petals backstage. She’s here to host the Black Ball, an annual bash held in both London and New York to raise money for her charity, Keep a Child Alive, which cares for people with HIV/Aids. Keys co-founded KCA in 2003, and the Black Ball, first held in 2004, has become one of the more prominent music-based fundraisers. That’s mainly because Keys has used her celebrity clout to make it so: each year she reels in a string of artists to perform alongside her (to her disappointment, tonight’s star guest, George Michael, has cancelled owing to toothache), and sponsors to donate fancy gifts to be auctioned off (this year’s lot includes holidays in Jamaica and New York). But those who pay up to £2,000 a ticket won’t be allowed to forget why they’re here; when guests arrive this evening, they’ll be greeted by a foyer filled with funeral wreaths and flashing lights spelling out: “30 million dead, 34 million