Ashanti
Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas (born October 13, 1980 in Glen Cove, New York), professionally known as Ashanti, is a grammy award winning American singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, model, and fashion designer who rose to fame in the early 2000s.
She is most famous for her eponymous debut album Ashanti which featured the hit song "Foolish", and sold 503,000 copies (Gold) in its first week on release in the USA in April 2002, a record breaking feat. In the same week, she became the first female performer to simultaneously hold the top two places on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with "Foolish", and "What's Luv" (with Fat Joe). She broke records again by having three Top Ten songs (Foolish, What's Luv, & Always on Time (with Ja Rule)) on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the same week. Ashanti cites Mary J. Blige, Ella Fitzgerald, and Blue Magic as her musical influences.[1]
Ashanti was born on October 13, 1980, in Glen Cove, New York. She inherited a zest for music from her mother, a former dance teacher, and her father, a former singer. Her grandfather, James, was a civil rights activist who associated with Martin Luther King, Jr. during the 1960s.[2] Her father is also, half Chinese. Growing up, Ashanti took dance lessons and joined the church choir. Ashanti went to Bernice Johnson Cultural Arts Center where she studied different dance styles including tap, jazz, ballet, African, modern and hip hop. She danced with the Senior Pro Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, the Apollo Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Black Spectrum Theater. With actress and choreographer Debbie Allen at the helm, Ashanti also performed in the Disney TV film Polly alongside stars Keshia Knight Pulliam and Phylicia Rashad, the 1994 Caribbean Awards and dancing with Judith Jamison of the Alvin Ailey Dance Company.
It was when she was noticed by Murder Inc. mastermind Irv Gotti that Ashanti began to blossom. Gotti noted her dancing and acting abilities in addition to her vocal skills. In 2001, Ashanti was first featured as a background vocalist on rapper Big Pun's song "How We Roll". In the same year, Ashanti was featured on fellow labelmate Cadillac Tah's singles "Pov City Anthem" and "Just Like A Thug". She also appeared on the 2001 The Fast and the Furious soundtrack as a featured artist on Vita's 2001 hip hop remake of Madonna's "Justify My Love" and on the solo track "When a Man Does Wrong". She appeared as a background vocalist on "I'm Real (Murder Remix)", a collaboration by labelmate Ja Rule and Jennifer Lopez (she also appeared in the music video for Ain't It Funny (Murder Remix), the 2nd duet between Lopez & Rule), and was featured on Fat Joe's "What's Luv?" and Ja Rule's "Always on Time". "What's Luv?" and "Always on Time" were released simultaneously and became two of the biggest hit songs of 2002. Ashanti became the first female to occupy the top two positions on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart when "Always on Time" and "What's Luv?" were number-one and number-two respectively.
-- wikipedia.org
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