Alicia Keys launches storytelling app for kids

[October 25, 2012]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Alicia Keys, after giving birth to her son two years ago, said she wanted to create tools for children. Now she's launching an app for kids.

"The Journals of Mama Mae and LeeLee" is about a young New York City girl's relationship with her wise grandmother. Keys produced music for the interactive app, which will be released Thursday for $3.99.

"It's a new adventure for me, and I'm really enjoying it," the Grammy Award winner said in an interview Wednesday.

The app is loosely based on Keys' relationship with her grandmother. It's centered in LeeLee's bedroom, and it allows users to read books, play music and write in a journal.

"It does remind me of my world," the New York-born singer said. "The piano, the journal, music's such a big part of my life, the city, all of that."

Keys is launching the app through her company AK Worldwide and Bento Box Interactive. She said raising her 2-year-old son, Egypt, was part of the app's inspiration.

"I was just getting introduced to kind of the TV shows and the DVDs and all the things you start kind of introducing your kids to, and I thought how cool it would be to be a part of something that really allows them to hear music from different places, different cultures, different sounds," she said. "That's what we're able to do with this."

Keys is a 14-time Grammy winner. Her fifth album, "Girl On Fire," is out Nov. 27. Maxwell, Jamie xx, Bruno Mars and John Legend are among the featured acts and songwriters.

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Online:

http://www.mamamae.com/

[Associated Press; By MESFIN FEKADU]

Follow Mesfin Fekadu on Twitter at http://twitter.com/musicmesfin.

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