Fantasia Monique Barrino-Taylor is an American singer and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the third season of the reality television series American Idol in 2004. She is also known for her roles in the musical film The Color Purple, directed by Blitz Bazawule, and the biographical television film Life Is Not a Fairy Tale, based on her own memoir.
Biography[]
Fantasia Monique Barrino was born on June 30, 1984, in High Point, North Carolina. She is the daughter of Diane and Joseph Barrino, and has a brother, Ricco, who is also a singer. She is a cousin of R&B duo K-Ci & JoJo and a niece of The Barrino Brothers, a 1970s R&B band. She began singing at the age of five, and performed in local churches and talent shows. She dropped out of high school after being raped by a classmate and became pregnant at 16. She gave birth to a daughter, Zion, in 2001, with her ex-boyfriend Brandel Shouse.
Career[]
Barrino auditioned for American Idol in 2003 and impressed the judges with her powerful voice and emotional rendition of the Porgy and Bess standard "Summertime". She advanced to the finals and competed against Diana DeGarmo, whom she beat by 1.3 million votes. Her debut single, "I Believe", written by former Idol contestant Tamyra Gray, debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the second woman to achieve this feat, after Lauryn Hill.
Barrino released her first album, Free Yourself, in 2004, which was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and earned her three Grammy Award nominations. The album spawned the hit singles "Truth Is", "Free Yourself", and "Baby Mama". She followed it with her second album, Fantasia, in 2006, which featured the number one R&B song "When I See U". She also collaborated with Aretha Franklin on the duet "Put You Up on Game".
In 2006, Barrino published her autobiography, Life Is Not a Fairy Tale, which chronicled her personal struggles and achievements. The book was adapted into a television film of the same name, starring Barrino as herself. The film was a ratings success for Lifetime and earned Barrino positive reviews for her acting debut. She also appeared as a guest star on the sitcom The Simpsons and the drama American Dreams.
In 2007, Barrino made her Broadway debut as Celie, the lead character in the musical The Color Purple, based on the novel by Alice Walker. She received rave reviews for her performance and won the Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut. She reprised the role in 2010 for a national tour, and again in 2023 for a film adaptation, directed by Blitz Bazawule and produced by Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg. The film earned her a Golden Globe nomination and a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
Barrino released her third album, Back to Me, in 2010, which featured the Grammy-winning single "Bittersweet". She also starred in her own reality show, Fantasia for Real, on VH1, which documented her personal and professional life. She released her fourth album, Side Effects of You, in 2013, which included the hit song "Lose to Win". She also joined the cast of the Broadway revue After Midnight, which celebrated the music of Duke Ellington and the Harlem Renaissance.
Barrino released her fifth album, The Definition Of..., in 2016, which showcased her versatility in different genres, such as rock, soul, country, and gospel. She also headlined her first solo concert tour, The Definition Of Tour, and performed at the Essence Music Festival. She released her sixth album, Sketchbook, in 2019, which was her first independent project under her own label, Rock Soul Inc. The album featured collaborations with T-Pain, Tank, and Meghan Trainor, and spawned the singles "Enough" and "PTSD".
Barrino has been recognized as one of the most influential and successful singers of her generation, with over 15 million records sold worldwide. She has won one Grammy Award, two Billboard Music Awards, three NAACP Image Awards, and four Soul Train Music Awards. She has also been nominated for three American Music Awards, two BET Awards, and one MTV Video Music Award. She is widely regarded as one of the best vocalists in the music industry, and has been praised by legends such as Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, and Prince.
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia page Fantasia Barrino. The revision history lists the authors. The text on Warner Bros. Entertainment Wiki and Wikipedia is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (CC BY-SA). |