Alicia Keys didn’t have to go to the small town near Durban on the eastern coast of South Africa. The HIV/AIDS infection rate there is thought to be twice that of the national average. In this area of South Africa, 40 percent of the inhabitants are infected. However, for the Grammy award winning songwriter and singer, the chance to go there to help get a clinic built was enough of a reason to cross an ocean to confront what seemed to be an insurmountable challenge.

Alicia Keys, The Eagles and Coldplay were leading the pack of nominees when the American Music Awards for 2008 were announced on Tuesday October 14. Keys received five nominations to lead the field. The Eagles and Coldplay were right behind Keys with four each. All three of the top nominees are in contention for Artist of the Year as well as Lil Wayne and Chris Brown.

No official announcement of a tour has been made yet, however over the past week several new dates for Alicia Keys have trickled in. The singing sensation who last month wrapped up her arena tour of North America will hit the road in September again. She will be visiting theaters this time around. So far eight shows have been scheduled by Keys in the US along with one Vancouver date.

Alicia Keys, fresh off her European tour, is now gearing up to do a trek in North America by tweaking her schedule and adding a couple dates. The tour, which will feature Jordin Sparks, “American Idol” winner as the opener, will kick off in Hampton, VA on April 19. From there Keys will be visiting arenas across the US as well as a few in Canada until mid-June. The tour’s grand finale will take place June 18 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

“As I Am” by Alicia Keys moved up back into the top spot of the most recent US album chart. According to Billboard.com, it marks the fourth non-consecutive week that the album has been at No. 1. During the past week in stores, 61,000 copies of “As I Am” were sold. It was enough to swap places on Billboard’s 200 with the soundtrack from “Juno” which sold a total of 55,000 copies. The album chart for Billboard is based on retail reports from Nielsen SoundScan.

Grammy nominees Feist, Brad Paisley and Alicia Keys will be joining the lineup of artists who are scheduled to perform during the Grammy Awards 50th Annual Ceremony set for next month. According to the press release casts from “Across the Universe” and Cirque du Soleil’s “The Beatles LOVE” will also be taking the stage on February 10 at the event.