Fans of Alicia Keys keep calling her number, but only J.D. Turner of Statesboro picks up the phone.
Turner has the same number that Keys references in her love song “Diary.”
“I get 20 to 25 calls a day,” Turner said. “Sometimes at 4:30 a.m., and they say, ‘I want to talk to Alicia Keys.”’
In the song, Keys sings, “Oooo baby, if there’s anything that you fear/ Come forth and call 489-4608 and I’ll be here.”
The number was Keys’ when she lived in New York, her publicist, Lois Najarian, said recently. The New York number, with a 347 area code, is still active and fans can reach a recorded message.
But many people keep calling Turner’s number, which has a 912 area code.
Using the number in the song was “just Alicia inserting herself into her music,” Najarian said. “Certainly she is not targeting this man in Georgia.”
“I don’t want to change my number,” said Turner, a retired pastor. “I’ve had the same number for 14 years.”
Turner now has caller ID, but that doesn’t stop calls from coming in.
A Frontier Telephone company representative suggested he use a service that allows only approved callers to get through.