Fantasia Barrino

Fantasia Monique Barrino (born June 30, 1984 in High Point, North Carolina), 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. During 2005 Fantasia distinguished herself as one of the most exciting live acts in America, leading to a number of high profile appearances in award shows and an invitation to join Kanye West as the opening act on his 2006 tour. Her sophomore album, tentatively titled "Young Girl, Old Soul", will be released on Tuesday November 7, 2006.

Early life

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.

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 Godric 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 brother 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.

American Idol

Fantasia Barrino, the winner of season three of 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 [1] 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 [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.

Post-Idol career

Fantasia with Soul Legend Patti Labelle, December 2004

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" â€" cowritten by former Idol contestant Tamyra Gray (who also sang backup on it) â€" 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.

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" â€" which critics charged romanticized single motherhood [5] [6] â€" 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 where "Truth Is" set a record stay at #1 by a female with 14 weeks.

More than any other former American Idol Fantasia has won the respect and support of some of the biggest names in the music & entertainment industry, including Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Chaka Khan, Mary J. Blige, Kanye West, Denzel Washington, Smokey Robinson, Jamie Foxx, Alicia Keys, Ben Stiller, Tommy Hilfiger, Sheryl Crow, and many others.

2005-Present

Fantasia performing on American Idol's fourth season

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. [8]

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

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 (sometimes referred to as LINAFT). The book quickly became a New York Times Bestseller, peaking at #7 on the list. In it she revealed that she is 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.

Fantasia performing at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards.

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]

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 Steven Tyler, Joss Stone, John Legend, Maroon 5 and Ciara in an all-star tribute to Sly and the Family Stone during the Grammy Awards.

Sophomore Album

In interviews in the Summer of 2006 Fantasia has said the first single off of her next album is to hit airwaves in September. She has also stated that her sophomore effort will be much different from Free Yourself and will have a "young girl, old soul" effect. Work on the album continued in late July 2006. In Summer 2006, Fantasia discontinued work with 19 Management and fired all of her advisors from the American Idol company.[12] This could mean that Fantasia is distancing herself from the American Idol image.

Missy Elliott will return as one of the writers on her second album. Ne-Yo, Kayne West, Sean Garrett, Tweet, Tank, Diane Warren and Maroon 5's Adam Levine have also been mentioned as contributors. Production duo Midi Mafia, best known for their 50 Cent hit '21 Questions', claims to have contributed five tracks to the project. One highly anticipated track is Fantasia's duet with Aretha Franklin. 'It's going to be an event record,' according to producer Harvey Mason Jr. 'They're both going at it back and forth. It's great.' [13]

Fantasia's background singer Aseelah said in an interview 'Fantasia has called on some Dirty South rappers to put their thing down on some songs' and that Ricco Barrino and background singer Tamara 'have written songs on the album'. Aseelah: 'She's matured a lot as an artist and has had a lot of control over the vocal arrangements for the new songs. Her voice texture and tone is ridiculous and I really believe that her fans will be pleased.'

During a Lifetime interview, Fantasia confirmed that her favorite song from her new album is, "I Feel Beautiful," a song that Fantasia and Diane Warren wrote.

The album is scheduled for release November 7, 2006.

Upcoming Projects & More

Barrino played herself in a Lifetime Television movie based on her autobiography Life Is Not A Fairy Tale: The Fantasia Barrino Story. The movie was directed by Debbie Allen and is scheduled to air on the women's cable network on Saturday August 19th, 2006 at 9:00pm et/pt.

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

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