Biography and Fantasia Barrino Biography
For Fantasia Barrino, life has not always been pleasant, but she is not a quitter. Born into a family of musicians who played and recorded songs for a local company, she had a tough year growing up in High Point, North Carolina, especially in high school. As a consequence, she was once assaulted by a friend and dropped out of school. At 16, she was pregnant and gave birth to her daughter with Brandel Shouse, her ex-boyfriend.
She packed up her bags in an attempt to start anew, and relocated to nearby Greensboro. She was then auditioning in Atlanta for “American Idol” After landing twice in the bottom three, surviving eliminations, she was ultimately proclaimed the champion in a final that drew the highest final vote in the history of the competition until 2007 when Jordin Spark claimed the trophy.
Fantasia launched her debut song, I Think, in 2004, which peaked at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. She subsequently launched her debut album, Free Yourself, which went on to be awarded the RIAA Platinum Certificate and earned her four Grammy nominations in 2006. In an all-star salute to Sly and the Family Stone, she played alongside Aerosmith, Joss Stone, John Legend, Maroon 5, and Ciara on the live telecast.
As Fantasia trained for her sophomore set, she extended her career into the realm of acting. In August 2006, based on her autobiography, she portrayed herself in the Lifetime Television movie “Life Is Not a Fairy Tale” It earned an exceptionally positive response and became the second most watched software of all time for Lifetime back then. She went to Broadway afterwards, performing the lead role in “The Color Purple” and earning rave reviews for it.
In 2006, she released her second album, “Fantasia” which featured “When I See U” the number one R&B single. The album was given the RIAA Gold certification and in 2008 earned three Grammy nominations. “Back to Me” two years later, was releasexd as her third effort. This was accompanied in the fall of 2010 by her first-ever solo concert tour.
Her personal life, sadly, has not been as easy as her work. She is accused of having a year-long affair with a married man, Antwaun Cook, in a divorce filing, but she vigorously rejected it by maintaining that they date after Cook’s breakup from his child. She was admitted in the wake of the supposed controversy because of an overdose of aspirin and an undisclosed sleep aid, which she subsequently confirmed as an attempted suicide.
She revealed her second pregnancy a year later, but she did not disclose who the donor was. In December 2011, she gave birth to a small baby boy. She was back at work after her second child was born, completing her next studio installment. In 2013, “Side Effects of You” was released as her fourth studio album. It rose to No. 2 on the Hot 200, featuring Major K.R.I.T, Kelly Rowland and Missy Elliott.