Born on June 30, 1984 in High Point, North Carolina and given the name Fantasia Monique Barrino. Her career started when she won American Idol in 2004. She now goes just by Fantasia and everyone who watched her TV movie since winning Idol knows what a struggle it was for her to get to where she is today.
Living in Carolina she held deep gospel roots and this is where she found her strength. She went to T. Wingate Andrews High School in High Point, North Carolina and soon after that she was sexually harassed and ended up quitting school. Later in a relationship she was in she became pregnant and gave birth to her little girl, Zion Quari' Barrino. This was just before she went on American Idol.
She was an immediate hit on American idol with her gospel influenced sound. When she performed “Proud Mary†this made her an early favorite of many fans. When she sang “Summertime†it brought her to tears and this put her on the Emmy Awards 2004 list of the greatest television moments. Randy Jackson said that was the best performance in the shows history. Being one of the final two after two African Americans were already voted off brought many racial comments. Then the fact she was a single mother brought even more controversy. Many said that wasn’t a good role model. Never the less it was America that voted and she beat out Diana DeGarmo by 1.3 million votes. This made her the youngest American idol at age 19, until last year when Jordin Sparks won it at 17.
Fantasia has gone on to make her debut single, “I Believe†which topped the charts at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. This makes her the first artist in history to achieve this with her first single. Her album “Free Yourself†was released in November of 2004. This sold 240,000 in its first week and now has gone certified double platinum.
Fantasia has published her memoirs, “Life Is Not a Fairy Taleâ€, and then made a Lifetime Movie based on it titled, The Fantasia Barrino story. This was the second most viewed movie on Lifetime. She was on the Oprah show telling about her newest role in the Broadway Musical-The Color Purple. She is currently in her second of three years signed with the show.
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