Barrino, Fantasia [1]
Fantasia Barrino
June 30, 1984-
by Emily Horton
NC Government & Heritage Library [2], 2016.
Related Entries: Clay Aiken [3]; Kellie Pickler [4]; Chris Daughtry [5]; Bucky Covington [6]; Scotty McCreery [7]; Anoop Desai [8]
R&B singer Fantasia Barrino was born June 30, 1984 in High Point [10], North Carolina. She attended Andrews High School [11] in High Point until she dropped out at age 16. After that, Barrino lived briefly in Greensboro [12] before appearing on the television series American Idol [13].
Fantasia Barrino rose to fame in 2004, winning first place in American Idol’s [13]third season. Since her Idol [13] victory, Barrino has released five albums: Free Yourself [14] (2004), Fantasia [15](2006), Back to Me [16](2010), Side Effects of You [17] (2013), and The Definition Of [18] (2016).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 [19], 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 [20]in 2005, a personal memoir of her life. The Lifetime Network [21] adapted this memoir into a 2006 television movie, Life is Not a Fairy Tale: The Fantasia Barrino Story [22]. 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 for her performance on American Idol [13]. Fantasia continues to star in her own realty television show on VH1, Fantasia For Real [23].
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/ [24].
Internet Movie Database, Fantasia Barrino. Last modified March 22, 2012. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1568881/awards [25].
Image & Video Credits:
Dupuis, Jyle. "Fantasia Barrino." 2009. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fantasia_Barrino.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Fantasia_Barrino.jpg [26].
Video courtesy of MattPianoBoy. "Fantasia." Posted on September 3, 2006. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSQt_X2AUak [27].
1 January 2012 | Horton, Emily S.