Anastacia

Birth name Anastacia Lyn Newkirk
Born September 17
Origin Chicago, Illinois, United States
Genre(s) Pop, dance, rock, Blue-eyed soul RnB, Disco
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter
Years active 2000–present
Label(s) Epic Records , Daylight Records
Website Anastacia.com

Anastacia (born Anastacia Lyn Newkirk on September 17, 1968 or 1973) is an American pop singer and songwriter. She has been highly successful in Europe, Oceania, and South Africa but has not had as much success in her native United States. Despite the lack of American success, she has sold over 25 million records worldwide.

She is known for her powerful, raspy voice, and she is a dramatic soprano and is famous for her ability to hit high notes in her chest voice. Her vocal sound and style has sometimes led her to be initially mistaken for an African-American singer.

She became famous for her trademark glasses (often darkly tinted), but had surgery to correct her vision permanently in August 2005. She also made headlines when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003.

Her nickname is "the little lady with the big voice", she received this title as being only 5'3", people found it very unusual that she had such a powerful strong voice that has been compared to Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin.

Career

Not That Kind

Anastacia was born in Chicago, Illinois into a showbiz family: her father Robert Newkirk was a club-singer and her mother Diane Hurley an actress in Broadway musical theatre. After her father left the Newkirk family, they moved to New York City when she was a teenager. Then she enrolled at the Professional Children's School in Manhattan.

Anastacia soon became interested in dance despite being diagnosed with Crohn's disease when she was thirteen years old. She first gained prominence stealing the show from D.L. Hughley while he was hosting BET's Comic View, singing Oleta Adams' "Get Here" in 1992. During the early 1990s, she appeared regularly on Club MTV and in a couple of videos for rappers Salt-N-Pepa. In 1999, she attracted the interest of record labels after making the finals of MTV talent show The Cut. Anastacia signed a contract with Daylight Records, a custom label of Sony BMG's Epic Records in March 1999. The Cut was hosted by Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of R&B and hip-hop group TLC. A then-unknown Anastacia finished in second place, but impressed Lopes and the show's three judges so much that she scored herself a record deal anyway.

Her debut album Not That Kind was released in 2000. Anastacia wrote 75% of it[citation needed] and because of her voice the album leaned towards R&B. The album was a huge success, reaching the top ten in eight countries in Europe, Asia, and Oceania. It went triple platinum in Australia spurred by the success of her debut smash "I'm Outta Love" which was the most popular single of the year in that country for 2000. "Cowboys & Kisses" was released as the third single off the album, charting in the top 40 in some European countries. As the last single, the only promotional meant single "Made for Lovin' You" charted in the UK (27) and France (72).

While "I'm Outta Love" was a Top 10 song on the Hot Dance Club Play, "Not That Kind" did not chart high on the Billboard Hot 100, and she was poorly promoted in the U.S. due to her busy schedule outside North America.[citation needed]

Freak Of Nature

Her second album, 2001's Freak of Nature achieved respectable sales although it did not match the level of international success of Not That Kind. She released the singles "Paid My Dues", "One Day in Your Life", "Why'd You Lie to Me" and "You'll Never Be Alone" which reached #28 on the Adult Contemporary chart in the U.S. The second single, "One Day in Your Life", was the album's biggest hit and was a top 10 single in several countries and also was a #1 hit on the dance charts. When the album was finally released in the United States in May 2002, she dedicated the album to Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, who had died in a car wreck the month before. Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes was partly responsible for Anastacia's success, since Lisa hosted MTV's The Cut where Anastacia got her first break. Soon after she released a double disc edition featuring two bonus hits, remixes for three of the tracks on the album and two live tracks taken from the Japan gig that was performed on the 13th September 2002.

Anastacia joined Shakira, Cher and Celine Dion for VH1's Divas Live in 2002 and she also contributed the song "Love Is a Crime" to the Chicago soundtrack. The song peaked at #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart and enjoyed moderate airplay on Rhythmic/Dance format. Anastacia was selected to sing the theme from 2002 FIFA World Cup: "Boom".

"Anastacia" album

Health scare

In January 2003, Anastacia decided to have her breasts reduced due to back strain. From a routine mamogram for the surgery she discovered she had breast cancer. She immediately successfully completed surgery and radiotherapy. Anastacia subsequently established a fund through the "Anastacia Fund"[3] to promote awareness of breast cancer amongst younger women.

She has attributed her health scare to being an inspiration for the sound and content of her third album. According to an interview she made in 2005 on a British music station The Box, her voice lost its power and she became unable to record and thus she spent a long time writing and trying to create a sound she would be finally happy with. As she said on Rovelive Australia in 2004, she wanted to have more edge to her vocals as she felt there was something missing from her previous works. She brought in many rock instruments which brought a new atmosphere to her music. She also felt that she still needed the funkiness and the pop as the singer felt that too much edge would sound wrong with her voice. Out of this a new sound was formed. She describes her sound as "sprock" - a combination of soul, pop and rock. She named the album after herself. The success of "sprock" has influenced other artists. Jamelia's new album has much more rock fused into to her R&B sound e.g. Beware Of The Dog. P!nk's album I'm Not Dead also touches on this style of music, as does some work by Kelly Clarkson, Ashlee Simpson and Charlotte Church.

Album success

Anastacia entered record studios in September 2003 to begin recording her next album, working with Glen Ballard, Dallas Austin, and Dave Stewart for release in 2004. On the album, Anastacia also collaborated with P.O.D. lead singer Sonny Sandoval on the socially-conscious track "I Do".

The first single, released in March, was "Left Outside Alone", which saw a change in direction for Anastacia.

Anastacia proved to be a smash hit reaching the top of the album charts in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia, Greece, Germany, and Italy and number 2 in Portugal and Spain. "Left Outside Alone" proved to be equally successfully reaching number 1 in Australia, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and in the UK; number 2 in the Netherlands + Germany, and reaching the top 5 on the composite European chart. Strong airplay throughout Europe gave the song a Top 40 Charts world airplay ranking as one of the top five songs played on top 40 radio stations throughout the world in April 2004. Unlike her first two albums, which were released in her homeland of America, Anastacia was not, despite being scheduled for release on three occasions. "Left Outside Alone" was released twice, but failed to pick up heavy airplay. It only gained sporadic Adult Contemporary and Hot AC format airplay. Again, it sparked Rhythmic/Dance format airplay and the dance mix of "Left Outside Alone" peaked at #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play. After the original version of "Left Outside Alone" failed to catch on because of lukewarm promotional pushes, especially on radio, the album was postponed and eventually cancelled after the release date of August 30, 2004 past.

Anastacia released three further internationally successful singles; "Sick and Tired" (which gave her another #1 in Spain and another UK Top 5 single), "Welcome to My Truth" (her best-selling hit in Spain), and the ballad "Heavy on My Heart" proceeds from the sale of which went towards her 'Anastacia Fund' (Charitable organisation providing research funding for breast cancer).

During this difficult period, Anastacia stated that the most important factor in her quick recovery was the support received from her massive fanbase.[citation needed] Anastacia has often said that her fans play a very important part in her success and her kind attitude towards signing autographs and accepting to take pictures with fans reinforces her close relationship with her ever-growing fanbase.

A small batch of this album was released with a bonus DVD, Anastacia poster and slip case. The DVD includes "Making Of Anastacia", "2002 Europe Promo Tour" & a photo gallery.

Pieces Of A Dream: a reflection of her career

In late 2005, she released her first greatest hits collection, entitled Pieces of a Dream, named after a track of the same name. The album spawned the hit singles Pieces of a Dream and the duet with Eros Ramazzotti "I Belong to You", which was a huge hit in Europe, charting and peaking in the top ten in almost all the European countries. Although Anastacia was forced by her record company to have a greatest hits album, the soul singer says she is happy now that it was created as it was like a "story book" of the last five years.

Live At Last

Not long after the release of "I Belong to You", Anastacia released her first live DVD Live at Last on March 27, 2006 in Europe. The DVD contains footage from concerts in Berlin and Munich, the making of the DVD, music videos to her latest four singles, some alternative videos to songs from her self named album and many clips of Anastacia discussing the time during her concerts and other life experiences

Charity work and personal life

During her years of success, Anastacia has supported a lot of people, including charity events as Life Ball 2006 (Europe's largest annual AIDS charity event), Make a Difference, Challenge for the Children and more.

Anastacia was romantically linked to several men throughout her career. Anastacia and Shawn Woods had a relationship for 6 years and as Anastacia said herself – he was the love of her life. Rumors say that they split up because Anastacia found him in bed with another woman, which would explain the song "Why'd You Lie to Me" (in which Anastacia sings about a relationship that crashed because her boyfriend was cheating on her). She has also dated Charles Ingram a couple of times, but according to Anastacia they didn't really fit together as a couple, so they decided to stay good friends. Anastacia had also been dating Patrice Bouédibéla for over a year, when she broke the news that it was over. She is now engaged to her British bodyguard Wayne Newton. She is to be wed to Wayne in 2007 and will not be releasing any new music until 2008. However a popular rumor now exists that she is currently recording in Berlin, this has yet to be proven.

Anastacia By s. Oliver

Anastacia by s. Oliver is a clothes collection released in the fall of 2006 by Anastacia and s. Oliver. She had said that she long wanted to release a clothing line: "I have had the idea of designing my own collection for a long time, but waited for the right partner. s. Oliver came along just at the right time. We got to know each other and found that we not only harmonize well together as a brand, but also have the same ideas about the look of 'Anastacia by s. Oliver'. There are many points that need to be considered when designing a collection: What trends are in, what colors, what fabrics, what styles ... That is why I am happy that my work with the s. Oliver design team is going so well and that we are implementing these themes together. For example, I think it is also very important that my clothes can be worn in different sizes." The collection reflects Anastacia’s personal style and her versatility. The look of the line is designed to be "sensual, feminine and sexy". A Limited Edition CD named Welcome To My Style is available for free to costumers that spend 60 euros or more in the clothes in November. The CD includes the following already released tracks:

1. Underdog (B-Side of "Cowboys & Kisses")
2. Get Ready (B-Side of "Left Outside Alone")
3. Boom (FIFA 2002 World Cup official song)
4. Funk Medley (B-Side of "Paid My Dues").

Awards

Award Show Category Recording Result

2000

Italian Grammy Awards Best International Female Artist won
World Music Awards Best-selling International Artist won
M6 Awards Best International Female won
Golden Europe Awards Best Newcomer won

2001

MTV Europe Music Awards Best Pop won
World Music Awards Best New Artist won
Edison Awards Best International Newcomer won
Danish Music Awards Best International Newcomer won
NRJ Music Awards Best Newcomer won
NRJ Music Awards Best International Song of the Year "I'm Outta Love" won
TMF Awards Most Promising Act won
ECHO Awards Best International Newcomer won

2002

Bambi Awards Best Newcomer won
Edison Awards Best International Female won
Golden Kamara Best International Pop Artist won
TMF Awards Best International Female Singer won
Comet Awards Best International Act won

2004

Nordic Music Awards Best International Female Artist won
TMF Awards Best International Pop won
TMF Awards Best International Female Singer won
2005
Marie Claire Prix de la Moda – Woman of the Year won
ECHO Awards Best International Female Singer won
TMF Awards Best International Female Singer won
"Diva" Entertainment Award Most Successful Music-CD Anastacia won
NRJ Radio Awards Best International Female won
NRJ Radio Awards Best Pop won
NRJ Radio Awards Best Song "Left Outside Alone" won
Rockbjörnen Best Non-Swedish Artist won
Rockbjörnen Best Non-Swedish Album Anastacia won

Trivia

* Was a classmate of the late River Phoenix
* She called her second album Freak of Nature because her mother called her that growing up.
* Her song "Boom" became the official 2002 FIFA World Cup Cup song.
* She appeared twice on Ally McBeal after the release of Not That Kind singing the song "Love Is Alive" from that album.
* Her songs "Why'd You Lie to Me" and "Don'tcha Wanna" appear in both Not That Kind and the sophomore Freak of Nature U.S. versions.
* Celebrities were calling her to congratulate her after her performance on MTV's The Cut. Among them, Elton John and Michael Jackson wanted to sign her to their new label.
* Anastacia has a tattoo below her neck, saying "Forever" in an unusual font.
* She also has an Ankh on her lower back, which appeared on her first album. Since it represents "eternal life" it now represents her.
* Before the success of her solo career, she was part of a band called "The Kraze".
* The song "Just A Little", the hit single by Liberty X, was originally written for Anastacia, but she rejected it.
 

  

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