I virtually had a mini-breakdown!" She confided in her mother and, after counseling with Alicia's piano teacher, Margaret Pine, Terri gave her daughter the advice that we are all thankful for...she told Alicia that she could stop the other creative outlets, but she had too much talent to forgo the piano. In her pre-teens Alicia was part of a 4-girl group calling themselves "Embish'n," rehearsing day and night at the Police Athletic League on 124th Street, with Conrad Robinson as the group's vocal coach. She was the lead singer and she also played the keys. But it soon became evident that the manager she was with at the time wasn't interested in the fact that the girls wrote, played, and sang, but was more driven by the fact that he had four young ladies that were easy on the eyes. Not a moment too soon, Conrad introduced Alicia to his brother and her present manager, Jeff Robinson. All of this excitement and chaos came even before Alicia was old enough to drive. While attending Manhattan's premier Professional Performing Arts High School, Alicia was an 'A' student by day and a performer by night. She played numerous showcases around New York just to get her foot into the door. "We wanted people to see that I played piano and sang." Even with the pressures of trying to make it in the music industry Alicia still managed to graduate as Valedictorian of her high school class at the age of 16. Upon graduation Alicia was signed to Columbia Records. Fairy tale ending right? Not quite. As Alicia got deeper into her record production she began to realize that Columbia Records might not have been the best choice to call home. True ulterior motives were beginning to show. Executives wanted her to conform into their ideals of a 16-year-old in the industry. Alicia, refused to give in to the watered down version of her true self, sited "creative differences" and with a CD of recorded songs, she and Robinson hit the pavement once more in hopes of finding a record label to call home. Although this was a time of doubt, frustration and uncertainty, Alicia was now free to shop around for a new deal, while continuing to perform showcases. One showcase in particular caught the eye of the Arista Music Man himself, Mr. Clive Davis. Alicia was 17 and performing around, including a spot on BET's Teen Summit. Finally, after years of struggle and let downs Alicia, through a supportive Mr. Davis, was given full creative reign of her career. "[Clive Davis] didn't try to divert me to something else. I wanted to be who I am. I didn't want to be made into what somebody else thinks I should be." Alicia now had creative control, but she couldnąt unpack right away.