Fantasia Barrino

Fantasia Barrino
Barrino in The American Idol Experience motorcade at Walt Disney World.
Background information
Birth name	Fantasia Monique Barrino
Also known as	Fantasia
Born	June 30, 1984 (1984-06-30) (age 26) High Point, North Carolina, United States
Genres	R&B, soul, funk, hip-hop soul
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress, author
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2004–present
Labels	J/19 (2004–present)
Associated acts	Missy Elliott
Website	Official website

Fantasia Monique Barrino (born June 30, 1984) commonly known as Fantasia, is an American R&B/soul singer, Broadway and television actress who rose to fame as the winner of the third season of the television series American Idol in 2004. She has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards. After playing the part of Celie in the Broadway musical The Color Purple, she has been cast to be in the film adaptation of the musical.

In 2004, she released her debut single, "I Believe", which debuted at the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100. Subsequently, she released her debut album, Free Yourself, which went on to be certified Platinum by the RIAA and garnered Barrino four Grammy nominations in 2006. In 2006, she released her second album, Fantasia, which featured the number-one R&B hit "When I See U". The album was certified Gold by the RIAA and received three Grammy nominations in 2008. She then played the part of Celie in the Broadway musical The Color Purple. Her third studio album, Back to Me, will be released on August 24, 2010 and features the top-ten R&B hit "Bittersweet".

Early life and American Idol

Fantasia Barrino was born and raised in High Point, North Carolina, to Joseph and Diane Barrino. Fantasia, who is African-American descent, is the first cousin of K-Ci & JoJo of the group Jodeci.

The Barrino family traveled and performed in the Carolinas and elsewhere in the American South and recorded the CD Miracles for a local label. Barrino's singing style was shaped by the example of gospel singers like Shirley Caesar and The Clark Sisters, and by rhythm & blues singers such as Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan.

She attended Andrews High School in High Point, North Carolina. After she was raped by a classmate,^[1] she was left feeling harassed and embarrassed and dropped out of high school. She became pregnant at age 16, and on August 8, 2001, gave birth to her daughter, Zion Quari Barrino.^[2] Barrino then briefly moved to neighboring Greensboro, North Carolina before trying out for the American Idol Auditions in Atlanta.

Barrino's 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 of the Porgy and Bess standard "Summertime" that left her in tears from "feeling the song" and earned praise from the judges - Randy Jackson has called it the best performance in the show's history - and was named the Emmy Awards's 2004 list of greatest television moments.

For the final performance of the season, Barrino offered a second performance of "Summertime" that again drew praise from the judges; Simon Cowell remarked that she was the best contestant to ever compete in any competition, including the more than seventy 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.^[3] It was the highest finale vote in the show's history until the May 23, 2007 season-six finale. Barrino defeated runner-up Diana DeGarmo by 1.3 million votes.^[4] At age 19, she was the youngest American Idol winner until May 23, 2007, when the 17-year-old Jordin Sparks won the title.

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 as well.

Barrino's brother auditioned for the eighth season of American idol but failed to make it to the Hollywood round.^[5]

Barrino is one of only three winners, the others being Ruben Studdard, and most recently, Kris Allen, to have landed in the bottom three or two, which she did twice, making her the only winner of the series who landed in the bottom group on more than one occasion.

Performances

Post-Idol career

2004–2005: Free Yourself

After winning American Idol, Fantasia signed to J Records with 19 Entertainment and began work on her debut album. In June of 2004, she 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.^[6] 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 Music Awards for the single.

Fantasia released her debut studio album, Free Yourself, in November of 2004. It debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200, 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 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, while the controversial "Baby Mama" - which critics accused of romanticizing single motherhood^[7] - reached the top twenty. Barrino did even better on the Billboard Hot Adult R&B Airplay, where she was the first artist of any kind to simultaneously hold the top two spots of the top three,^[8] 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 issue of Billboard magazine.

Through the 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 of 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 of 2005, she received good notices as an opening act for Kanye West's Touch the Sky Tour.^[9]

2006–2007: Fantasia and The Color Purple on Broadway

In 2006, Barrino 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 of 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 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.^[10]

Fantasia had many musical collaborations during the fall of 2006 including a remake of The Clark Sisters' "Endow Me" which featured Faith Evans, Lil' Mo, and Coko of SWV, a remake of Stevie Wonder's 1976 song "I Wish" with Patti LaBelle and Yolanda Adams for the soundtrack to the 2006 computer-animated film Happy Feet, and most notably her duet with Aretha Franklin which was recorded at that time and later released in 2007.

She released her self-titled second effort, Fantasia, on December 12, 2006. The album involved production by Missy Elliott, Swizz Beatz, Babyface, Diane Warren, and others, and has since spawned the singles "Hood Boy" produced by Tone Mason, "When I See U", and "Only One U" and went on to be certified gold.^[11] "When I See You" became her first single to top the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, remaining at the number one spot for eight consecutive weeks.

In 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 1982 novel of the same name 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 playing the role, Fantasia earned rave reviews for her performance. Long-time Broadway critic Clive Barnes of the New York 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 Atlanta's Alliance Theater in which The Color Purple got its start. In recognition of an outstanding stage debut performance, Fantasia was given the Theatre 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 thirty-four-million-dollar jump in sales since Barrino started in the show, a third of the play's 100 million dollar earning since its debut in 2005. The New York Post reported that Barrino missed nearly fifty performances in the show, causing the producers to give back tens of thousands of dollars in refunds.^[12] In the September 2008 issue of Sister 2 Sister magazine, Barrino revealed that the reason for her absences in The Color Purple was because of the development of a cyst on her vocal cords. She was ordered to immediately undergo surgery which later revealed that she in fact had a tumor on her vocal cords. She now reports that after a successful surgery, the tumor was completely removed and she is now well.^[13]

2008–present: Back to Me, Reality TV and Film

Fantasia received three Grammy nominations for her sophomore release, Fantasia and subsequently began work on her third studio album in 2008. She stated on the red carpet of the 2008 Grammy Awards that the style of the new album would be a blending of the avenues she has touched musically, which include American Idol and Broadway. She also revealed that she would be writing some of the album's songs and would collaborate again with Missy Elliott, The Underdogs, and Midi Mafia, who produced one of her biggest hits, "When I See U".

Midi Mafia produced the majority of Fantasia's third studio album.^[14] Also, hip hop duo Rock City were confirmed to be writing for the new project. At the time, they had recorded four songs together. She also worked with songwriter/producer Rich King (Brandy "1st and love", Randy Jackson Music club vol.1, John Legend's "Quickly"), which spawned two songs with for her third release. KP, Eric Hudson and Raphael Saadiq are a few people that also became involved on the project. Fantasia confirmed that about 75% of the album was complete by mid-2009, and that fans should've expected a new single by the fall of 2009, with the album due to be released in early 2010. This was later delayed, and while recording her new album, Fantasia decided to do a great deal of it the "old fashioned way," inviting a live orchestra to record in the studio with her.^[15]

Fantasia was then 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, as Fantasia confirmed to MTV News on March 5, 2008.^[16]

In June of 2008, Entertainment Weekly reported that Fantasia was dropped from 19 Entertainment because of creative differences, however, she will remain with 19 Recordings and J Records. She also revealed that after the release of her third album, she plans to release a gospel album.^[17] She performed with her mother, Diane Barrino, in a Thanksgiving special on BET's Bobby Jones Gospel. Fantasia also appeared on Jennifer Hudson's self-titled album, on the song "I'm His Only Woman", which was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award, though it did not win.

Fantasia reprised the role of Celie in the national tour of The Color Purple during its Washington D.C., Chicago, Atlanta, and Los Angeles stops.^[18]

Fantasia also stars in a reality show produced by World of Wonder. Titled Fantasia for Real, it premiered on January 11, 2010, on VH1 to rave reviews and ratings.^[19] The show's first season ended in July of 2010 with its second set to begin on October 2, 2010.

On February 2, 2010, "Even Angels", produced by The Stereotypes and written by Heather Bright, was released as the first single from Fantasia's third studio album. She performed the song on The Oprah Winfrey Show on February 3, 2010.^[20] Regardless, the single failed to chart and was dubbed a promo single and not the official lead single from the album. The album's first official single, "Bittersweet", was released on May 11, 2010 and has gone on to reach number eight on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart as well as number seventy-nine on the Billboard Hot 100.^[21] The album's second single, "Man Of the House", was released as the album's second single on August 10, 2010.^[22]

Fantasia's third studio album, Back to Me, is scheduled to be released on August 24, 2010.^[23] The album has been promoted by appearances on Good Morning America and The Wendy Williams Show among others. On March 28, 2010, Fantasia also performed "America the Beautiful" at WWE WrestleMania XXVI.

Personal life

In 2006, following the release of her autobiography, Life Is Not a Fairy Tale, Barrino's father sued her for $10 million after she said unflattering things about him in the book that he claimed were false.^[24]

On December 9, 2008, The Charlotte Observer reported that Barrino's home in Charlotte's Glynmoor Lakes at Piper Glen community was in foreclosure and would be up for auction. Her 4,500-square-foot home, also in Piper Glen, is unaffected.^[25][26] On January 8, 2010 an agreement was reached to not auction Barrino's home.^[27]

Fantasia has three brothers, youngest brother Xavier is in high school. Older brothers Joseph, known as "Teeny", and Kassim known as "Ricco", the eldest, both sing.

An August 2010 divorce filing in Mecklenburg County District Court alleges that Barrino has had a year-long relationship with Antwaun Cook, who was married.^[28]

On August 9, 2010, Barrino was hospitalized in Pineville, North Carolina^[29] due to overdosing on aspirin and an unknown sleep aid. Her manager, Brian Dickens, said, "'Her injuries are not life threatening...she was dehydrated and exhausted at the time."^[30] The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department classified the incident as a suicide attempt.^[30] In transcript segments released the day before an August 24, 2010, interview on the VH1 series Behind the Music, Barrino confirmed the incident was a suicide attempt, saying, "I didn't care about anything. I just wanted out. At that moment I wanted out. I wanted it to be over with...."^[31]

Autobiography and illiteracy

In September 2005, Barrino published a memoir, dictated to a freelance writer, titled Life Is Not a Fairy Tale. The book became a New York Times best-seller, reaching number seven on the list. In it, she revealed she is functionally illiterate and was unable to read the text of contracts she signed or to read to her then four-year-old daughter.^[32]

Filmography

• American Idol (2004)
• The Simpsons (2005) She plays Clarissa Wellington in the episode A Star is Torn.
• Life Is Not a Fairy Tale (2006) as herself
• An Evening of Stars: Tribute to Patti LaBelle (Herself; tribute performer singing "Lady Marmalade" and "Somebody Loves You Baby (You Know Who It Is)")
• Soul Train Awards (2009;Tribute to Chaka Khan singing "Tell Me Something Good")
• Celebration of Gospel (2010)
• Fantasia for Real (2010-present)
• Wrestlemania 26 (2010) (singing America The Beautiful)

Theatre

• The Color Purple (2007) as Celie

Discography

Albums

• Free Yourself (2004)
• Fantasia (2006)
• Back to Me (2010)

Awards

References

External links

• Official Fantasia Barrino official website
• Fantasia Barrino at the Internet Movie Database
• Fantasia Barrino at the Internet Broadway Database
• Excerpt, Life Is Not a Fairy Tale
• "Fantasia's Memoirs Reveal Experiences With Illiteracy, Rape", ABC News, September 30, 2005