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Fantasia Barrino

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Fantasia Barrino
Background information

<tr><td>Birth name</td><td colspan="2">Fantasia Monique Barrino</td></tr><tr><td>Born</td><td colspan="2">June 30 1984 (age 25)</td></tr><tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">High Point, North Carolina</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">R&B, Soul</td></tr><tr><td>Occupation(s)</td><td colspan="2">Singer, Actress, Author</td></tr><tr><td>Years active</td><td colspan="2">2004-present</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">Label(s)</td><td colspan="2">J Records</td></tr><tr><td>Website</td><td colspan="2">FantasiaBarrinoOfficial.com</td></tr>

Fantasia Monique Barrino (born June 30, 1984), or simply Fantasia, is an American soul singer who rose to fame as the winner of the third season of the television series American Idol in 2004. Her debut album Free Yourself was a commercial success garnering four Grammy nominations. Fantasia was also named the #1 artist of the Adult Urban Contemporary format for 2005 according to the December 13th, 2005 Billboard Magazine. Her sophomore album titled Fantasia will be released on Tuesday, December 12th, 2006.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Born and raised in High Point, North Carolina, to an African American mother and an Afro-Trinidadian father, Fantasia began singing in her church at the age of five as a member of a singing group with her parents and siblings. The Barrino Family travelled 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. R&B legends such as Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, and Chaka Khan also left a strong impact on young Fantasia.

After a sexual assault that left her feeling embarrassed and harassed, Fantasia dropped out of high school. In a later relationship Fantasia became pregnant. At age 17, on August 8, 2001, Fantasia gave birth to Zion Quari' Barrino. Fantasia and her boyfriend tried to make life as a family work, but the rocky relationship did not last. Fantasia was left as an unemployed single teenage mother.

Fantasia's grandfather, Curtis Barrino, was a gospel singer in the 1950's and early 1960's with a group called the Emanuel Harmonizers. Fantasia's uncles Perry, Nate and Julius Barrino formed the Barrino Brothers in the early seventies. The group recorded two albums for the Invictus label, a Motown offshoot that also gave Parliament their first break.

Fantasia's father is the youngest Barrino brother. Joe Barrino sang in a gospel group called Little Cedric and the Hailey Singers. Fantasia's cousins are Cedric and Joel Hailey, better known as R&B singers K-Ci and JoJo who along with the DeGrate brothers formed singing group Jodeci in 1990.

Fantasia's brothers Ricco and JoJo formed the group Infinite 3 and became driving forces behind the Othaz Records label in Greensboro, NC. In July 2006 Othaz Records signed a distribution deal with Universal Music Group. Ricco Barrino is a backup singer in Fantasia's touring band.

[edit] American Idol

Image:Galpic 12.jpg
Main article: American Idol (Season 3)

Fantasia Barrino 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, she also performed A Fool In Love on the live show which was another Tina Turner hit. 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. [1]

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 [2]. It is still the highest finale vote in the show's history. In the end Fantasia beat out runner-up Diana DeGarmo by 1.3 million votes. [3]

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.

[edit] Post-Idol career

[edit] 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. [4] 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. Fantasia also won 3 Billboard Awards for the single.

[edit] 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 [5] [6] – 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 [7], and "Truth Is" spent 14 weeks at number 1.

[edit] 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 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. [8]

In the late summer of 2005, Fantasia collaborated with Lyfe Jennings on his single "Hypothetically".

[edit] Life is Not a Fairy Tale

In September 2005, Fantasia published her memoir (which she dictated to a freelance writer), Life Is Not a Fairy Tale. The book quickly became a New York Times Bestseller, peaking at #7 on the list. In it she revealed that she was functionally illiterate. She discussed this in an interview on ABC's 20/20 [9], 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.
Image:FantasiaGrammys.jpg

As of 2005, she was being taught to read by tutors, so she can read to her daughter and read contracts. [10] She was also pursuing her GED. [11]

Barrino played herself in a Lifetime Television movie based on her autobiography The Fantasia Barrino Story: Life Is Not A Fairy Tale. The movie was directed by Debbie Allen and debuted on the women’s cable network on Saturday, August 19, 2006 at 9:00pm ET/PT. The movie received 19 million viewers throughout its debut weekend. This made it the most viewed basic cable program on television. Life Is Not A Fairy Tale: The Fantasia Barrino Story has also become Lifetime's second most viewed program of all time.[12]

[edit] 2006 Grammy Awards

In 2006, Fantasia was nominated for four Grammy Awards, making her the first Idol to receive that many nominations. Fantasia performed with several well-known 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 Awards.

[edit] Sophomore Album: "Fantasia"

In Summer 2006, Fantasia discontinued work with 19 Management and fired all of her advisors from the American Idol company.[13] Fantasia has moved on from American Idol and their management team (19 Entertainment) to find a new home with the R&B and Hip Hop heavy weight Violator Management.

In November "Hood Boy" (produced by Tone Mason and written by Johntà Austin) was released as the first single of Fantasia's self-titled sophomore album with a video shot by Ray Kay

The album "Fantasia" will be released Tuesday, December 12, 2006. Among the producers contibuting tracks are Missy Elliott ("Bump What Your Friends Say"), Swizz Beatz ("Surround U") and Dre & Vidal ("I Nominate U", "Baby Makin Hips"). Dianne Warren contributed the balled "I Feel Beautiful".

[edit] Upcoming Projects & More

Fantasia appeared on soul legend & Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Sam Moore's new album Overnight Sensational on a remake of the Diane Warren penned hit "Blame It On The Rain." Fantasia also appears along with Faith Evans and Lil Mo on Coko of SWV's new gospel album Grateful on a remake of The Clark Sisters classic "Endow Me." She is also featured on the Happy Feet soundtrack where she duets with Patti LaBelle and Yolanda Adams on a remake of Stevie Wonder's "I Wish." Fantasia will also be featured on Aretha Franklin's new album A Woman Falling Out Of Love (due out January 2007) on a duet with Franklin entitled "Let Me Put You Up On Game." In the same month Fantasia will be featured on the nationally televised UNCF's An Evening Of Stars: Tribute To Aretha Franklin where she is scheduled to perform "Baby, I Love You" and Rock Steady".[14]

Fantasia is scheduled to tour with Jamie Foxx on 10 dates of his upcoming tour. She will join Foxx for his arena dates in Madison Square Garden, California, Philadelphia and more. Their first tour date together being December 29th in Sacramento, CA.[15]

[edit] Awards

[edit] 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"

[edit] Nominations

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Album Statistics Singles
200px Free Yourself
  • Released: November 23 2004
  • Peak Chart Positions
  • #8 U.S.
  • #2 U.S. Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
  • Worldwide Sales: 2.1 Million
  • U.S. Sales: 1.7 Million
  • RIAA Certification: Platinum
Singles Released
Image:Fantasiacover.jpg Fantasia Singles Released

[edit] Singles

Year Title Chart Positions Album
US US Sales US R&B/Hip-Hop Sales US R&B/Hip-Hop US Adult R&B Hot Dance Music/Club Play Hot Ringtones
2004 "I Believe" #1 (1) #1 (11) #1 (6) #12 - - - Free Yourself
2004 "Truth Is" #21 - - #2 #1 (14) - - Free Yourself
2005 "Baby Mama" #60 - - #16 - - #34 Free Yourself
2005 "Free Yourself" #41 - - #3 #1 - - Free Yourself
2005 "It's All Good (Scumfrog & N. Skaten Mixes)" - - - - - #21 - Free Yourself
2005 "Ain't Gon' Beg You" - - - #37 - - - Free Yourself
2006 "Hood Boy" ft. Big Boi - - - #50 - - - Fantasia

[edit] Guest Contributions

[edit] Filmography

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Fan Sites

[edit] Notes


Preceded by:
Ruben Studdard 		American Idol
Winner
Season 3 (2004) 		Succeeded by:
Carrie Underwood


American Idol Season 3
Fantasia Barrino | Diana DeGarmo | Jasmine Trias | LaToya London | George Huff | John Stevens
Jennifer Hudson | Jon Peter Lewis | Camile Velasco | Amy Adams | Matthew Rogers | Leah LaBelle
American Idol winners
Kelly Clarkson | Ruben Studdard | Fantasia Barrino | Carrie Underwood | Taylor Hicks
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