Scots roots instilled a work ethic that helped make me successful, says US singer Alicia Keys

ALICIA KEYS reckons her Scots origins have helped her become the global superstar she is today. The R& B superstar, in the charts with the brilliant Empire State Of Mind Part II, puts her success and how she has coped with it down to her mum Terri, who is part-Scottish, part Italian-Irish.

Born Alicia Augello Cook, she was raised by Terri and her African-American paternal grandmother Virgiel in the tough Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan, after her parents divorced when she was two.
And Alicia insists her mum instilled in her the work ethic that led to her becoming one of the world's most successful music stars of the past decade.

As well as the follow-up to Part I of Empire State Of Mind with Jay Z, her fourth album The Element Of Freedom is also storming the charts.

Having sold a staggering 30million records and won 12 Grammy Awards since her 2001 debut album Songs in A Minor, she says: "I have been to Scotland a couple of times.