For a lot of musicians, performing in front of a packed Apollo Theater crowd is a dream come true. Newcomer [artist id="3139042"]Melanie Fiona[/artist] was able to scratch one more dream off her list after performing there with Alicia Keys on Thursday night.

"I've admired Alicia Keys since before I got into the music industry, just everything she represents as a female artist," said Fiona, who is gearing up to tour North America with her role model. "I feel like us collaborating on a tour is going to be really strong, really empowering and what a great show, so I'm really excited."

The songstress has ridden the success of her single "It Kills Me" to #1 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, a [article id="1627480"]Grammy nomination[/article] and now Keys' Freedom Tour this spring, which will make stops around the U.S. and Fiona's native Canada.

Fiona said her achievements thus far have left her overwhelmed. "Forever, I get to say, 'I was a Grammy-nominated artist, and I had a #1 record with Billboard for two weeks,' " she marveled.

"It's a dream come true," Fiona continued. "You hope that you could get to a point as a new artist where you feel like you are with the people you've admired for so long, and you're fitting in with a certain realm or caliber of artist that you admire. I definitely admired Alicia Keys, what she represented as a woman, as an artist and just through her music that has been so successful. I'm now going to be on tour with her, exposed to her audience. The least I could say is, it's a dream come true."