Fantasia

Fantasia Barrino is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the third season of the reality television series American Idol in 2004.

Later that year, the High Point, N.C., native released her platinum-selling debut album Free Yourself and became the first artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart to debut at #1 with her first single, “I Believe." Her second single, “Truth Is,” spent 14 weeks at #1, making her the first singer to simultaneously have two of the top three songs on the Billboard chart. 

In 2010, Fantasia released the critically acclaimed Back To Me, which featured the hit single “Bittersweet” that earned her first ever Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Song. 

In addition to being a mainstay in music, Fantasia adds author and actress to her growing list of accomplishments. In 2006, she released her New York Times bestselling memoir, Life Is Not a Fairytale, and starred as herself in the Lifetime movie of the same name.

In 2007, Fantasia landed the coveted role of Celie in Broadway’s The Color Purple for which she won a Theater World Award. Fantasia returned to Broadway in 2013 as the first celebrity engagement in After Midnight, a dance-focused musical that celebrated Harlem’s iconic Cotton Club during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920’s and 1930’s. After receiving rave reviews, Fantasia joined the cast of After Midnight for a second run in May 2014.