Fantasia Barrino
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Fantasia Monique Barrino (born June 30, 1984 in High Point, North Carolina), or simply Fantasia, is an American, Grammy Award-nominated, R&B/Soul singer, who rose to fame as the winner of the third season of the television series American Idol. Since her victory, Fantasia has become a highly respected musician, winning seven awards, three of which were Billboard Awards. She has also been nominated for more than 20 awards, including four Grammy Award nominations. After the release of her debut album, Free Yourself, Fantasia began working on her sophomore album which she claims will be completely different than Free Yourself. She has also taken greater creative control with her sophomore effort. The first single is set to be released during August.
Early life
Barrino began singing in her church at the age of five. She was a member of The Barrino Family, a group that travelled and performed in The Carolinas and elsewhere in the American South.She dropped out of high school due to a sexual assault that left her feeling embarrassed and harassed. Barrino has a young daughter, Zion Quari' Barrino, whom she had as a teenage single mother on August 8, 2001. The incident is not related to her subsequently giving birth to her daughter.
Her cousins are R&B singers K-Ci (Cedric Hailey) and Jo-Jo (Joel Hailey) who formed the singing group Jodeci along with the DeGrate brothers in 1990.
American Idol
-->Fantasia Barrino made an immediate impression on American Idol with her stylized, gospel-influenced sound, and her explosive stage presence. Her audition version of John Fogerty/Tina Turner's "Proud Mary" made her an early favorite in the competition. Her standout performance during the course of the show was a heartfelt staging, begun seated, of the Porgy and Bess standard "Summertime" that left her in tears from "feeling the song" and earned raves from the judges, as well as landing her on the Emmy Awards's 2004 list of greatest television moments. "Summertime," was also labeled by idol judge, Randy Jackson, as the best performance he had ever heard in the show's history.
Nevertheless, Barrino's rise to the final two on American Idol was plagued with controversies, including accusations of racism when she and two other well-praised African American female singers in the competition, LaToya London and Jennifer Hudson, all landed in the bottom three of that week's voting. Guest artist Elton John labeled the outcome "racist". Other concerns were raised over her as a single mother being a poor role model [link] and charges of rigged voting and busy telephone signals.
In the final performance of the season that formed the basis upon which America voted, Barrino offered a second performance of "Summertime" that again drew enormous praise from the judges—including Simon Cowell's remarks that she was the best contestant among the over 70 Idol champions crowned nationally and internationally since the show began its first global incarnations. On the finale, over 65 million votes were cast in order to determine the winner on May 26, 2004, up from 24 million in 2003 [link]. It is still the highest finale vote in the show's history. In the end Fantasia beat out runner-up Diana DeGarmo by a margin of 2% (1.3 million votes). [link]
Barrino participated in the U.S. tour with the other American Idol finalists and appeared in the 2004 Christmas special, Kelly, Ruben and Fantasia: Home For the Holidays.
Post-Idol career
The cover of Fantasia's first single, "I Believe".
I Believe
Now billed as just Fantasia, she released her first single in June 2004 on the RCA record label. The single included "I Believe" – cowritten by former Idol contestant Tamyra Gray (who also sang backup on it) – which Fantasia performed on the finale of Idol, the Aretha Franklin hit "Chain of Fools" (released before on an American Idol compilation), and her signature version of "Summertime". The single entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number one, the first artist to do so with her first record. [link] On the sales chart, the single spent 11 consecutive weeks at number one (10 weeks in Canada), giving it the longest consecutive stay at #1 on that chart for an American Idol contestant. The CD, "I Believe", went on to become the top selling single of 2004 in the U.S and has since been certified double platinum by the CRIA.Free Yourself
Fantasia released an album, Free Yourself, in November 2004. It debuted at #8 on the Billboard 200 pop album chart, selling 240,000 copies in its first week. Just two months after its release, it sold over one million copies and went platinum. To date, it has sold over 2 million copies in the U.S. The singles "Truth Is" and "Free Yourself" became huge R&B hits, reaching #2 and #3 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Tracks chart, while the controversial "Baby Mama" – which critics charged romanticized single motherhood [link] [link] – reached the top 20. Fantasia did even better on the Billboard Adult R&B Airplay, where she was the first artist of any kind to simultaneously have two of the top three songs [link], and where "Truth Is" set a record stay at #1 by a female with 14 weeks. However, none of these singles has repeated "I Believe"'s success on the more-pop-oriented Hot 100, where "Truth Is" reached the highest at #21.2005-Present
Through Spring and Winter of 2005, Fantasia made many television appearances to promote her album. She played Aretha Franklin in an episode of the series American Dreams, singing "Respect", guest voiced on The Simpsons episode "A Star is Torn", and guest starred as herself in a cameo role on the sitcom All Of Us. Fantasia appeared three times as a musical guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
On March 25, 2005, Fantasia performed at the 36th NAACP Image Awards in honor of Illinois Senator Barack Obama after winning the award for Most Outstanding Female Artist. In May and June 2005 Fantasia went on her first tour with her own live band, supporting soul singers Kem and Rahsaan Patterson. She also appeared as a headliner at several music festivals including the Saint Lucia Jazz Festival and the Reggae Sumfest in Jamaica. In October 2005, Fantasia received good notices as an opening act for Kanye West's Touch the Sky Tour. [link]
In the late summer of 2005, Fantasia collaborated with Lyfe Jennings on his single "Hypothetically".
Life is Not a Fairy Tale a.k.a LINAFT
In September 2005, Fantasia published her memoir (which she dictated to a freelance writer), Life Is Not A Fairy Tale. In it she revealed that she is functionally illiterate. She discussed this in an interview on ABC's 20/20 [link], saying she hadn't been able to read contracts, and she simply memorized the songs she was told to perform and sing on her records.
As of 2005, she was being taught to read by tutors, so she can read to her daughter and read contracts. [link] She was also pursuing her GED. [link]
In 2006, Fantasia was nominated for four Grammy Awards, making her the first Idol to receive that many nominations, although she did not win any of those awards. Fantasia performed with several well-known artists including Steven Tyler, Joss Stone, John Legend, and Ciara in an all-star tribute to Sly and the Family Stone during the Grammy Awards.
Sophomore Album
Fantasia recently had an interview with MTV, and she stated that she expects the first single off of her sophomore album, to hit airwaves in August. She also stated in the interview, that this album will be much different than her last, and will have a "Young Girl, Old Soul" affect. Missy Elliott will return as one of the writers on her second album, and Ne-Yo will be writing a song or two for Fantasia as well. It has been confirmed that famed song-writer and producer Diane Warren will be working with Fantasia on her new album.[link] It has also been confirmed that Fantasia will be collaborating with her very own American Idol, Aretha Franklin, on her next album.[link] The Fantasia/Aretha Franklin collabo will be produced by The Underdogs (Ain't Gon' Beg You).Upcoming Projects & More
Barrino will play herself in an upcoming Lifetime Television movie based on her autobiography, entitled Life Is Not A Fairy Tale: The Fantasia Barrino Story. The movie will be directed by choreographer/director, Debbie Allen, and is scheduled to air on the women’s cable network on Saturday August 19th, 2006 at 9:00pm et/pt.Barrino has received critical lauds from a variety of respected and noted individuals including Oprah Winfrey, Dallas Austin, Diane Warren, Anita Baker, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, Patti LaBelle, and others.
Fantasia Barrino currently resides in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Awards
Wins
- 2004 Billboard single of the year, "I Believe"
- 2004 Billboard Top selling R&B/Hip-Hop single of the year, "I Believe"
- 2005 Billboard-American Urban Radio Networks Top R&B/hip-hop single (sales), "I Believe"
- 2005 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Female Artist
- 2006 Groovevolt Music Awards- Best New Artist
- 2006 ASCAP R&B/Hip-Hop Awards, "Free Yourself"
- 2006 ASCAP R&B/Hip-Hop Awards, "Truth Is"
Nominations
- Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, "Free Yourself"
- Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, Free Yourself
- Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance "Summertime"
- Grammy Award for Best R&B Song, "Free Yourself"
Discography
Albums
| Album | Statistics | Singles |
|---|---|---|
| Free Yourself
| Singles Released
|
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Hot 100 | Billboard Hot 100 Single Sales | US R&B/Hip-Hop Single Sales | US R&B/Hip-Hop Tracks chart | US Adult R&B Airplay | Hot Ringtones | |||
| 2004 | "I Believe" | #1 (1 week) | #1 (11 weeks) | #1 (6 weeks) | #12 | - | - | Free Yourself |
| 2004 | "Truth Is" | #21 | - | - | #2 | #1 (14 weeks) | - | Free Yourself |
| 2005 | "Baby Mama" | #60 | - | - | #16 | - | #34 | Free Yourself |
| 2005 | "Free Yourself" | #41 | - | - | #3 | #1 | - | Free Yourself |
| 2005 | "Ain't Gon' Beg You" | - | - | - | #37 | - | - | Free Yourself |
Guest contributions
- "Hypothetically" (with Lyfe Jennings), from Lyfe 268-192 (2004)
- "Til My Baby Comes Home," from (2005)
- "4 My Man" (with Missy Elliott), from The Cookbook (2005)
- "Blame It on the Rain" (with Sam Moore), from Overnight Sensational (2006)
Filmography
- American Dreams (2004)
- The Simpsons (2005)
- Life Is Not A Fairy Tale: The Fantasia Barrino Story (2006)
See also
- List of number-one hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
- List of artists who debuted at number-one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
External links
- [Fantasia Barrino's official site]
- [Fantasia on All Music Guide]
- [Official LINAFT Movie Website]
- [Official Fantasia MySpace Page]
- [Fan-tasia.net]
- [Fan-tasia.net Myspace Page]
- [Excerpt: Life is Not a Fairy Tale, by Fantasia]
|- style="text-align: center;"
| American Idol winners | |
| Kelly Clarkson | Ruben Studdard | Fantasia Barrino | Carrie Underwood | Taylor Hicks | |
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