Fantasia Barrino

Fantasia Monique Barrino-Taylor (born June 30, 1984), known professionally by her mononym Fantasia, is an American R&B singer and actress. She rose to fame as the winner of the third season of the reality television series ''American Idol'' in 2004. Following her victory, she released her debut single, " I Believe", which debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Subsequently, she released her debut album, '' Free Yourself'', which went on to be certified Platinum by the RIAA and earned Barrino three Grammy nominations in 2006.

In 2006, she released her second album, '' Fantasia'', which featured the single " When I See U" which topped the ''Billboard'' Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for eight weeks. This 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'', for which she won a 2007 Theatre World Award. Her third studio album, '' Back to Me'', was released worldwide on August 24, 2010, and features the single "Bittersweet", which peaked in the top ten on the R&B chart. The single won her a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. As of February 2012, Barrino has sold 2,842,000 albums and 1,425,000 tracks in the United States. In 2012, VH1 ranked her number 32 out of the 100 Greatest Women in Music.

In April 2013, Barrino returned to ''American Idol'' singing "Lose to Win". Her performance won her fervent praise from the show's judges, an ovation from the live audience and positive reviews from the media. In November 2013, Barrino returned to Broadway in the musical '' After Midnight''. In October 2014, she was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame.

Early life

Barrino was born to Diane and Joseph Barrino and raised in High Point, North Carolina. She began singing at the age of five. R&B duo K-Ci & JoJo are her first cousins. Her uncles, The Barrino Brothers, were a 1970s R&B band.

Despite the travels, she attended Andrews High School in High Point, North Carolina. Feeling embarrassed and harassed after she was raped by a classmate, she dropped out of high school. She became pregnant at 16, and on August 8, 2001, she gave birth to a daughter with her ex-boyfriend Brandel Shouse.

Career

2004–2005: ''American Idol'' and ''Free Yourself''

Barrino's show was a staging of the ''Porgy and Bess'' standard " Summertime" that left her in tears from "feeling the song" and earned praise from the judges and was named amongst the AOL'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 to determine the winner on May 26, 2004, up from 24 million in 2003. Barrino defeated runner-up Diana DeGarmo by 1.3 million votes. At age 19, she was the youngest ''American Idol'' winner until May 23, 2007, when then 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.

Performances

*: When Ryan Seacrest announced the results in the particular night, Barrino was in the bottom two, but declared safe when LaToya London was eliminated.

After winning ''American Idol'', Barrino signed to J Records with 19 Entertainment and began work on her debut album. In June 2004, she released her debut single, " I Believe", which later debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. This number-one debut made Barrino 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. She also won three Billboard Music Awards for the single.

Barrino released her debut studio album, '' Free Yourself'', in November 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—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, and "Truth Is" spent 14 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, Barrino 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, Barrino 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, Barrino 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.

2006–2007: ''Fantasia'', acting debut and Broadway

In 2006, Barrino was nominated for three Grammy Awards for her debut album. Though she did not win any awards, 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, Barrino 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. '' The Fantasia Barrino Story: Life is Not a Fairy Tale'' has also become Lifetime's second most viewed program of all time.

Barrino 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.

"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. The single stayed on the chart for over a year and was named number eight on the Billboard Best of The 2000s R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

In February 2007, Barrino 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, Barrino earned rave reviews for her performance. ''New York Post'' critic Clive Barnes said, "... there is some elemental quality to Barrino that is either greatness or something close to it." Upon her warm welcome to the stage Barrino 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, Barrino was given the Theatre World Award and the Best Replacement Star Broadway.com Award. Barrino 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. 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.

2008–2010: ''Back to Me'' and ''Fantasia for Real''

Barrino received two 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 Barrino's third studio album. 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 which spawned two songs for her third release. KP, Eric Hudson and Raphael Saadiq are a few people that also became involved on the project. Barrino confirmed that about 75 percent 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, Barrino decided to do a great deal of it the "old fashioned way", inviting a live orchestra to record in the studio with her.

On March 5, 2008 Barrino confirmed to MTV News that she had been cast by Oprah Winfrey as Celie in the film adaptation of ''The Color Purple'' musical, which was set to begin production after the release of her third album.

In June 2008, Barrino parted ways with 19 Entertainment, but remained with 19 Recordings and J Records. She said that after the release of her third album, she plans to release a gospel album. She performed with her mother, Diane Barrino, in a Thanksgiving special on BET's '' Bobby Jones Gospel''. Barrino 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.

Barrino reprised the role of Celie in the national tour of ''The Color Purple'' during its Washington D.C., Chicago, Atlanta, and Los Angeles stops.

Barrino 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. The show's first season ended in July 2010 with its second began on September 19, 2010.

"Even Angels", a song from Barrino's third studio album, produced by The Stereotypes and written by Heather Bright, was never released to radio . She performed the song on The Oprah Winfrey Show on February 3, 2010. The album's first official single, "Bittersweet", was released on May 11, 2010, and has gone on to reach number seven on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart as well as number seventy-four on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Barrino's third studio album, '' Back to Me'', was released on August 24, 2010. Barrino cited Tina Turner, Queen and Aretha Franklin as influences, and like musicians she admired from their era, she recorded with a live band. The album has been promoted by appearances on ''Good Morning America'' and '' The Wendy Williams Show'' among others. On March 28, 2010, Barrino also performed "America the Beautiful" at WWE WrestleMania XXVI. To promote the album, Barrino embarked on her first solo concert tour, ''Back to Me Tour'' in the fall of 2010.

Barrino appeared on the track "I Want to Be Your Man" from Charlie Wilson's album '' Just Charlie''.

In the summer of 2010, she appeared as a guest judge alongside Wayne Brady, on episode 11 of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''.

2011–2013: Grammy Award, return to acting, and ''Side Effects of You''

On February 13, 2011, Barrino won her first Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Bittersweet".

In 2011, Barrino was cast in her first film role, playing gospel singer Mahalia Jackson in a biographical film based on the 1993 book ''Got to Tell It: Mahalia Jackson, Queen of Gospel''. It was later reported that the film was fully endorsed by the Mahalia Jackson estate. Barrino also would receive not only the top salary in the project but a percentage of the box office revenue the film creates. Production was originally planned to begin in October 2011 in New Orleans

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