Fantasia Barrino

Fantasia Monique Barrino (born June 30, 1984), or simply Fantasia, is an American R&B/soul singer and Broadway actress who rose to fame as the winner of the third season of the television series American Idol in 2004. After having played the part of Celie in the Broadway musical The Color Purple, Fantasia is cast to be in the movie version of the musical.

Biography

Early life

Fantasia was born and raised in High Point, North Carolina, to Joseph & Diane Barrino. In her autobiography, Life Is Not a Fairytale, Fantasia who is African American explains that a family rumor suggests her father was of Cuban descent, but there are no sources to verify that claim.

The Barrino Family traveled and performed in the Carolinas and elsewhere in the American South and recorded the CD Miracles for a local label. Fantasia's singing style was shaped by the example of Gospel singers like Shirley Caesar and The Clark Sisters. Rhythm & Blues singers such as Patti LaBelle, Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan also left a strong impact on young Fantasia.

She attended T. Wingate Andrews High School in High Point, North Carolina. After she was raped by a classmate , she was left feeling harassed and embarrassed and dropped out of high school. In a later relationship, she became pregnant at age 17, on August 8, 2001, she gave birth to her daughter, Zion Quari Barrino. She broke up with Zion's father for what she has described as physical abuse.

American Idol

Fantasia made an immediate impression on American Idol with her stylized, gospel influenced sound, and her explosive stage presence. Her audition version of 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 praise 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 in the shows history.

Nevertheless, Fantasia'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, La Toya 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 for youth.

For the final performance of the season, Fantasia 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 to ever compete in any competition. This would include the over seventy Idol champions crowned nationally and internationally since the show began its first global incarnations. On the finale, over sixty-five million votes were cast in order to determine the winner on May 26, 2004, up from twenty-four million in 2003. It was the highest finale vote in the show's history until the May 23, 2007 American Idol (season 6) finale. In the end Fantasia defeated runner-up Diana DeGarmo by 1.3 million votes. At age nineteen, Fantasia was the youngest American Idol winner until May 23, 2007, when the 17 year-old Jordin Sparks won the title.

Fantasia 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

2004-2005: Free Yourself

In June 2004, Fantasia released her debut single, "I Believe", which later debuted at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100. This number-one debut made Fantasia the first artist in history to achieve this with a first single. On the sales chart, the single spent eleven consecutive weeks at number one, giving it the longest consecutive stay on top of that chart for an American Idol contestant. The CD single, "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. Barrino also won three Billboard Awards for the single.

Fantasia released her debut studio album, Free Yourself, in November 2004. It debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 pop album chart, selling 240,000 copies in its first week. To date, it has sold over two million copies worldwide, and was certified platinum in the U.S. The singles "Truth Is" and "Free Yourself" became R&B hits, reaching number two and number three respectively on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Tracks chart, while the controversial "Baby Mama" – which critics accused of romanticizing single motherhood – reached the top twenty. Barrino 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, and "Truth Is" spent fourteen weeks at the number one position. Barrino was named the number-one artist of the Adult Urban Contemporary format for 2005 according to the December 13, 2005 Billboard Magazine.

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. She appeared three times as a musical guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. On March 25, 2005, Fantasia performed at the thirty-sixth NAACP Image Awards in honor of Illinois Senator Barack Obama after winning the award for Outstanding Female Artist. In May 2005, Fantasia went on her first tour with her own live band, with soul singers Kem and Rashaan 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, she received good notices as an opening act for Kanye West's Touch the Sky Tour.

September 2005, Fantasia published her memoirs (which she dictated to a freelance writer), Life Is Not a Fairy Tale. The book quickly became a New York Times Bestseller, reaching number seven on the list. In it she revealed that she was functionally illiterate. She discussed this in an interview on ABC's 20/20, saying she only had enough skills to get by, but was unable to recognize unfamiliar words.

2006-2007: Fantasia and The Color Purple on Broadway

In 2006, Fantasia was nominated for four Grammy Awards for her debut album. Though she didn't win any of them, she performed at the 48th annual telecast with several artists including Aerosmith, Joss Stone, John Legend, Maroon 5, and Ciara in an all-star tribute to Sly and the Family Stone during the Grammy Award show.

In August 2006, Fantasia played herself in a Lifetime Television film based on her autobiography Life Is Not a Fairy Tale. The film was directed by Debbie Allen and debuted on the women’s cable network on Saturday, August 19, 2006. The movie received nineteen million viewers throughout its debut weekend. Life Is Not a Fairy Tale: The Fantasia Barrino Story has also become Lifetime's second most viewed program of all time.

Fantasia had many musical collaborations during the Fall of 2006 including a remake of "Endow Me" (originally sung by the Clark Sisters) which featured Faith Evans, Lil Mo and Coko of SWV, a remake with Patti LaBelle & Yolanda Adams for the Happy Feet Movie Soundtrack and most notably her duet with Aretha Franklin which was recorded at that time and later released in 2007. She released her self-titled sophomore effort, Fantasia, on December 12 2006. The album involved production by Missy Elliott, Swizz Beatz, Babyface, Diane Warren & others, and has since spawned the singles "Hood Boy","When I See U" and "Only One U" and went on to be Certified Gold. When I See You became her first single to top the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Tracks chart, remaining at the number one spot for eight consecutive weeks.

February 2007, Fantasia appeared and performed on American Idol, and announced that she would be starring in the lead role of Celie in the Broadway musical The Color Purple, the hit musical based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Alice Walker. After appearing on American Idol and the Oprah Winfrey Show, the musical received a boost of over two million in pre-ticket sales in one week. Leading up to her first performance on April 10 2007 the play garnered a total of 6.5 million in pre-ticket sales.

While in the role, Fantasia earned rave reviews for her performance. Long-time Broadway Critic Clive Barnes of the NY Post went on to say "...there is some elemental quality to Fantasia that is either greatness or something close to it.". Upon her warm welcome to the stage Fantasia was asked to perform at the 2007 Tony Awards in a tribute to the Atlanta Alliance Theater in which the Color Purple musical got its start. In recognition of an outstanding stage debut performance, Fantasia was given the Theater World Award and the Best Replacement Star Broadway.com Award. Fantasia was initially scheduled for a limited six month engagement ending in October 2007 but had her run extended until January 6 2008. The Color Purple Box Office saw a 34 million dollar jump in sales since Fantasia started in the show, a third of the play's 100 million dollar earning since its debut in 2005. NY Post reported, Barrino missed nearly 50 performances in the show, causing the producers to give back tens of thousands of dollars in refunds. In the September 2008 issue of Sister 2 Sister Magazine, Fantasia revealed that the reason for her absences in The Color Purple was because of the development of a cyst on her vocal chords. She was ordered to immediately undergo surgery which later revealed that she in fact had a tumor on her vocal chords. She now reports that after a successful surgery, the tumor was completely removed and she is now well.

2008-Present: New Album & New Movie

Fantasia received three Grammy nominations for her sophomore release, Fantasia and is currently in the studio working on her third album to be released early 2009. She stated on the red carpet of the 2008 Grammy Awards that the style of her new album will be a blending of the avenues she has touched musically, which include, American Idol and Broadway. She also revealed that she will be writing songs and will collaborate again with Missy Elliott, The Underdogs and Midi Mafia, who produced one of her bigger hits, "When I See U."

Fantasia was cast by Oprah Winfrey as Celie in the film adaptation of “The Color Purple” musical, which is to begin production after the release of her third album.

It was recently confirmed that Midi Mafia (When I See U), will be producing majority of Fantasia's next album. Also, hip hop duo, Rock City has been confirmed to be writing on the new project. So far, they have recorded 6 tracks together.

On June 26th, 2008, Entertainment Weekly reported that Fantasia was dropped from 19 Management, but will remain with 19 Recordings and J Records. The reason for releasing Fantasia from their management was because of creative differences.

Fantasia recently appeared on Jennifer Hudson's self titled album, on the song 'I'm His Only Woman.'

Family Ties

Fantasia is the first cousin of music act K-Ci & JoJo of the group Jodeci. She's also related to singers David Hollister and Calvin Richardson.

Discography

Albums

• 2004: Free Yourself
• 2006: Fantasia
• 2009: Untitled Third Album

Singles

• 2004: I Believe
• 2004: Truth Is
• 2005: Free Yourself
• 2005: Baby Mama
• 2005: Ain't Gon' Beg You
• 2006: Hood Boy
• 2007: When I See U
• 2007: Only One U

Awards

Wins

• 2004 Billboard Top selling single of the year, "I Believe"
• 2004 Billboard Top selling R&B/Hip-Hop single of the year, "I Believe"
• 2005 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Female Artist
• 2005 Billboard-American Urban Radio Networks Top R&B/hip-hop single, "I Believe"
• 2006 Groovevolt Music Awards - Best New Artist 2006
• 2006 ASCAP R&B/Hip-Hop Awards - "Free Yourself"
• 2006 ASCAP R&B/Hip-Hop Awards - "Truth Is"
• 2007 Theatre World Award Outstanding Broadway Debut Performance - "The Color Purple"
• 2007 Broadway.com Award for Favorite (Female) Replacement - "The Color Purple"
• 2008 Founder's Appreciation Award from Greensboro sit-ins Organization

Nominations

• 2008 NAACP Image Award for Duo or Group Collaboration for "Put You Up On Game"
• 2008 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for "When I See U"
• 2008 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "When I See U"
• 2008 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album for Fantasia
• 2007 American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist
• 2007 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Female Artist (as Fantasia)
• 2007 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series, or Dramatical Special (as Fantasia Barrino)
• 2006 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Free Yourself"
• 2006 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album for Free Yourself
• 2006 Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for "Summertime"
• 2006 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for Free Yourself
• 2006 Soul Train Music Award for Best Female R&B/Soul Album, Free Yourself
• 2005 Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist, "I Believe"
• 2005 BET Award for Best Female R&B Artist
• 2005 BET Award for Best New Artist
• 2005 American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist
• 2005 American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Free Yourself
• 2005 Vibe Music Award for R&B Voice of the Year

Notes

• Excerpt: "Life Is Not a Fairy Tale", by Fantasia