Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz confirmed late Thursday (May 27) they are engaged and expecting their first child together.The musicians "are expecting a baby and are engaged to be married in a private ceremony later this year," reps for the couple said.
Keys and Swizz Beatz (real name: Kasseem Dean) have had a musical partnership for years, collaborating on Keys' albums and, last year, on Whitney Houston's comeback single "Million Dollar Bill." Swizz spoke with MTV News in July about collaborating with his now-fiancée on Houston's album.
"At the time, I was working on some stuff with Alicia," Swizz said. "I was like, 'We need to bring Whitney back. We need to do some stuff to support Whitney.' Then Alicia was like, 'I love Whitney, she's an icon. I would love to be a part of that.' I started vibing on different things. I didn't want to come with anything that would make her sound too old or too young. That's when I got the vibe to do something that had, like, a disco feel, but still with the hard drums on it — still musical but moving. I wanted to do something that was instant when it came on. Then I played the idea for Alicia to make sure I wasn't bugging out. 'Am I going too far with this?' She was like, 'Nah. That can be a big smash.' "
It will be the first marriage and child for Keys, while Swizz was previously married to singer Mashonda and has two sons, Kasseem Jr. and Prince, from previous relationships.
A couple of years ago, when Swizz announced his divorce, rumors swirled that Keys was behind the breakup. The producer denied those reports when MTV News spoke to him in June 2008. "Everybody can have their fun right now talking that dumb sh-- about my divorce and all that," he said. "I'mma give them something to talk about. People get divorced every f---in' day. They need to worry about more serious things."
