Alicia Keys is all about hard work and timing. (Alex Urosevic, SUN)

Alicia Keys says going acoustic on her latest album, MTV Unplugged: Alicia Keys, was familiar territory for her.

The 24-year-old neo-soul singer-songwriter and pianist, who has won nine Grammys and sold 17 million albums, recorded the album July 14 at Brooklyn Academy Of Music with a band that included a string quartet. The record's in stores Oct. 11.

"My essence has always been playing in smaller places, very heavily piano-based, and dependent upon myself, a few jokes, and my hands. So this was like going home for me, a homecoming, and it felt, and feels, wonderful," said the New York-born Keys yesterday in Toronto during an interview with about a dozen journalists in a hotel boardroom.

Keys said she fought to do an MTV Unplugged recording because she liked the intimate, unassuming feel of the format, and had enjoyed the earlier work of such artists on the program as Lauryn Hill, Alanis Morissette, Eric Clapton and Nirvana.

Still, the most spontaneous thing that happened while Keys was recording and filming the event had to do with her shoes.

"The whole thing was really loose, but the problem was I had these really high heels on. I didn't realize they were that high until I put them on -- and that was like three minutes before I had to go on," she said. "So every time I tried to walk from one place to the next, I had to lean against the piano. It was really pathetic. So I kept cracking jokes about it all night. The whole night, the whole crowd was laughing about the damn, stupid heels I was in."

The filmed version of the concert, which was broadcast on MTV in the U.S. earlier this month, airs Saturday night at 7 on CTV.

Fans should get used to seeing more of Keys' gorgeous mug, because coming up are two confirmed film roles -- with more in the offing, she hinted.

"It runs through the blood," said Keys of her move into film. "My mother is an actress. I grew up in the theatre. I am an actress. I acted before I even sang, in fact. And it's perfect for me. I feel the connection between music and film is very close. Both are very passionate and very much about evoking an emotion from people, and so that is my plan."

Keys, a graduate of Manhattan's Professional Performance Arts School, starts rehearsals on Oct. 3 for Smokin' Aces, in which she plays a female assassin along with Jeremy Piven, Ray Liotta, and Andy Garcia. The movie starts shooting on Nov. 4 under the direction of Joe Carnahan (Narc).

"He has a very, dark, gritty style," said Keys of Carnahan. "He's his own man -- but I sometimes compare him to Quentin Tarantino in the sense that he's very out there."

The second film role is the lead in Compositions In Black And White, Halle Berry's adaptation of Phillipa Schuyler's life as a bi-racial piano prodigy who encountered racism in the '50s and '60s in New York. The movie is still in the writing phase and is not expected to begin filming until at least next year.

"It's perfect for me," said Keys. "It's a period piece, and I'm totally in love with period pieces. And that it is about this woman who was a classical prodigy, who grew up in Harlem, where I grew up, who is obviously half-black and half-white, like I am, who studied classical (music), like I did. But the twist comes in for me, obviously, because the time period had so much tension."

Keys is also involved in various charities, including her own Keep A Child Alive, which provides anti-viral AIDS drugs to Africa. She is planning another African pilgrimage after the holidays from Dec. 27 until Jan. 10.

"It's a long fight," she said of the battle against AIDs. "It's something that's going to take years and I'm definitely dedicated to it completely."

Her visits to Africa have changed her forever, she said. The upcoming trip is so she can continue exposing the issue to people unfamiliar with it, and to "show them how serious and deep and devastating it is. But, at the same time, it is possible to change the course of AIDS history, forever, really."

As for Keys' next studio album -- 2003's The Diary Of Alicia was the last one -- it's still in the gestation period and she doesn't expect to start work on it until early next year. But she has definite ideas about how she wants it to sound.

"It is definitely moving into a new direction," Keys said. "I feel it will be more raw, more aggressive, more in your face. You can picture Joe Cocker and Janis Joplin -- very gorgeous, strong songs."

She's 'Wild' for this Stones song

Alicia Keys almost had Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and Bruce Springsteen as guests on her new album, MTV Unplugged: Alicia Keys, which still features a killer version of the Stones classic Wild Horses.

"It's so hard to pull schedules together, it really is," said Keys yesterday in Toronto. "They were both very interested and totally trying to make it work. So that was like a really big honour for me, to even try to make that work with Bruce Springsteen and Keith Richards was crazy!"

Keys said the 61-year-old Richards, who played Rogers Centre earlier this week, was already in Toronto rehearsing for the band's forthcoming world tour when she did the MTV Unplugged performance.

"Keith Richards, he was so into it, but the day of my show was the day of their first rehearsal for the Stones tour, so I guess he had to be loyal to the Stones."

As for Wild Horses, Keys is a longtime fan. "I love the song," she said. "The image of wild horses dragging someone away and that wouldn't even stop you is for me a beautiful vision. I've always loved that song and I wanted to turn it into my own and take it away from the guitar base and make it more piano based."

Keys' version of Wild Horses is a duet with Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine. "Him on guitar, me on piano, nice and simple, nice and beautiful, and the song was born."

Clearance issues prevented it from being released as a single to radio. "Of course I would have loved for it to be a single. (But) I'm not that disappointed because I have a plethora of other incredible songs that we can release," she said with a smile.

BORN: Alicia Augello Cook on Jan. 25, 1981 in Manhattan, N.Y.

PARENTS: Italian mother, Terri Augello, and a Jamaican father, Craig Cook. Keys' mother and father separated during her early childhood and Alicia was raised by her mother in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City.

EARLY YEARS: Keys started playing piano -- classical music by composers such as Beethoven and Chopin -- when she was 7.

EDUCATION: At 16 years old, Keys graduated as valedictorian from the Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan. She briefly attended Columbia University before dedicating herself to music.

TURNING PRO: Joined mentor Clive Davis in 1998 on his J Records label. Keys exploded on the music scene with her debut album Songs In A Minor in 2001. Debuted at No. 1 on Billboard selling over 235,000 copies in its first week and going on to sell more than 10 million units.