Fanstasia Barrino

1984-

Written By: Emily Horton

Related Entries: Clay Aiken [2]; Fantasia Barrino [1]; Kellie Pickler [3]; Chris Daughtry [4]; Bucky Covington [5]; Scotty McCreery [6]; Anoop Desai [7]

 

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R&B singer Fantasia Barrino was born June 30, 1984 in High Point [9], North Carolina. She attended Andrews High School [10] in High Point until she dropped out at age 16. After that, Barrino lived briefly in Greensboro [11] before appearing on the television series American Idol [12].

Fantasia Barrino rose to fame in 2004, winning first place in American Idol’s [12]third season. Since her Idol [12] victory, Barrino has released three albums: Free Yourself [13] (2004), Fantasia [14](2006), and Back to Me [15](2010).She won a Grammy award in 2011 for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for the song "Bittersweet", after six previous nominations.

Barrino took a brief hiatus from recording music after her sophomore album to explore acting and writing. She played Celie Johnson for almost a year in the Broadway production of The Color Purple [16], based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.  Barrino will also play Celie Johnson in an upcoming film adaptation. 

Barinno wrote and published Life is Not a Fairy Tale [17]in 2005, a personal memoir  of her life. The Lifetime Network [18] adapted this memoir into a 2006 television movie, Life is Not a Fairy Tale: The Fantasia Barrino Story [19]. Barrino played herself in this movie and was nominated for a 2007 Image Award for Outstanding Access in a Television Movie, Mini-Series, or Dramatic Special. She was also nominated for Female Choice Reality/Variety TV Star at the 2004 Teen Choice Awards [20] for her performance on American Idol [12]. Fantasia continues to star in her own realty television show on VH1, Fantasia For Real [21].

Barrino has two children, and continues to pursue a career in R&B music and acting.

 

Sources:

Fantasia, Official. Last modified 2012. Accessed March 22, 2012. www.fantasiaofficial.com/ [22]

Internet Movie Database, Fantasia Barrino. Last modified March 22, 2012. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1568881/awards [23]

Image & Video Credits:

Chicago Fabulous Blog. "Fantasia_Horseshoe." Photo taken April 8, 2011. Available from http://www.flickr.com/photos/chicagofabulous/5609612807/ [8] (accessed March 23, 2012).

Video courtesy of MattPianoBoy. "Fantasia."  Posted on September 3, 2006. Available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSQt_X2AUak [24] (accessed March 23, 2012).