Debi Starnes has served EMSTAR Research, Inc., in Atlanta, Georgia, as president since founding the program evaluation firm in 1988. In 1993 she expanded her professional activities by establishing the Sugar Magnolia Bed and Breakfast, also in Atlanta. Away from work, Debi Starnes enjoys listening to a variety of music, from The Eagles to Alicia Keys.
Singer-songwriter Alicia Keys has released five studio albums and a pair of live records since her 2001 debut, Songs in A Minor. That LP, anchored by No. 1 single Falling, sold more than six million copies in the United States and, as of 2008, over 12 million copies worldwide. Subsequent albums The Diary of Alicia Keys, As I Am, The Element of Freedom, and Girl on Fire have combined to move over 20 million units. Four of her five records, including Songs in A Minor, debuted or peaked at No. 1 on the US album charts.
Keys' live albums compare favorably to her studio releases. In 2005 her performance on MTV Unplugged was put out as an album. Alicia Keys Unplugged premiered at No. 1 and sold 1.5 million copies, the most successful MTV Unplugged release since Nirvana in 1994. Her second live album, VH1 Storytellers, came out in 2013.
Over the last 15 years Keys has enjoyed four No. 1 singles. Beginning with Falling in 2001, she released successful singles like A Woman’s Worth and You Don’t Know My Name before reaching the No. 1 position for a second time with My Boo in 2004. Her most recent No. 1 single as a solo artist came in 2007, the triple platinum No One, before the 2009 Jay Z collaboration Empire State of Mind brought Keys a fourth No. 1 hit. She has enjoyed a number of additional No. 1 songs on different charts and in other countries.
