About Anastacia
Anastacia Lyn Newkirk is an American singer-songwriter. Her first two studio albums, Not That Kind and Freak of Nature , achieved chart success with the single "I'm Outta Love", "Not That Kind", "Paid My Dues" and "One Day In Your Life". Her third album, 2004's Anastacia, while her duet with Eros Ramazzotti, "I Belong to You ", was a success throughout Europe in 2006. After switching labels, she released her fourth studio album, Heavy Rotation, in 2008, followed in 2012 by the cover-album, It's a Man's World. She further released Resurrection and Evolution that included the single "Caught in the Middle". In 2023, she released an album of German songs translated into English entitled Our Songs.
Anastacia has been public about several health issues, including Crohn's disease and two instances of breast cancer. In recognition of her charitable efforts in breast cancer awareness, Anastacia became the second woman ever to receive the Humanitarian Award at the GQ Men of the Year Awards, in 2013.
Anastacia Lyn Newkirk was born on September 17, 1968, in Chicago, Illinois; her father Robert Newkirk was a singer and actor, and her mother Diane Hurley was an actress on Broadway. She is of German and Irish descent and has an older sister and younger brother. When she was three years old, her parents split up and her father left the family. He would attempt to make contact with her and her siblings after later in life, but she remained estranged up until he died in 2005. The rest of the family moved to a one-bedroom apartment in New York City when Anastacia was a teenager. Anastacia was diagnosed with Crohn's disease when she was thirteen. She enrolled at the Professional Children's School in Manhattan. After graduation, she worked jobs at restaurants and hair salons while pursuing a career in the music industry.
She started her career as a dancer appearing on MTV's Club MTV. She appeared in two music videos for American hip hop trio Salt-N-Pepa " in 1988 and "Twist and Shout" in 1989). In 1990, she started her musical career as a backing vocalist. She sang back-up vocals on pop star Tiffany's New Inside album in 1990. In 1991, she featured in the music video for "My Fallen Angel" by Dominican singer Coro. In 1992, she gained her first break as a solo singer on BET's television series ComicView, singing "Get Here".
In 1993, she moved to Los Angeles to record the song "One More Chance" for the producer OG Pierce, but it brought no record deal. That same year, she recorded a collaboration with David Morales called "Forever Luv". Throughout the mid-1990s producers claimed to be intrigued by her voice's unusual tone, but Anastacia would be continuously told that "her sound just didn't quite fit into any category". In 1994, she sang back-up vocals on Jamie Foxx debut album Peep This, and in 1995, Anastacia sang back-up on Paula Abdul's third studio album Head Over Heels. By 1997, Anastacia had become a member of a band called The Kraze which she remained a part of until 1999. In 1997, she also sang in the background choir for Kurt Carr's gospel vocal ensemble called The Kurt Carr Singers on their album No One Else. She had two duet songs with Cuban composer Omar Sosa, "Mi Negra , Tu Bombón" and "Tienes Un Solo" .
In 1998, Anastacia was unemployed after being fired from a beauty salon for "being too loud" and she was disappointed after years of bad luck in the music industry. She was considering switching to a career in child psychology. Lisa Braude, who later became her manager, encouraged her to join MTV's talent show The Cut in 1998. Anastacia made her way to be one of the ten finalists, performing her own composition entitled "Not That Kind". Anastacia attracted the interest of record labels after appearing on The Cut hosted by rapper Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes . Even though she did not win, she had impressed Elton John and Michael Jackson as well as the show's judges David Foster and Faith Evans. Anastacia signed a contract with Daylight Records, a custom label of Sony Music Entertainment's Epic Records in March 1999.
Backed up by leading American producers and songwriters, she released her debut album, Not That Kind on June 13, 2000. The album reached the top ten in eight countries in Europe and Asia. It sold four times platinum in Europe and triple platinum in Australia; her debut single "I'm Outta Love" was a global hit in 2000, topping the charts in Belgium, Australia and New Zealand, peaking at number two in France, Switzerland, Italy and Ireland as well as also reaching number six both in Germany and the UK. In the U.S., it was only a minor radio hit. The second single "Not That Kind" reached number 11 in the UK and became a top 10 hit in Italy. It also entered the top 20 in Switzerland and France. "Cowboys & Kisses" was released as the third single from the album, charting in the top forty in some European countries. As the last promotional only single, "Made for Lovin' You" charted in the UK at number twenty-seven and in France at number seventy-two. While "I'm Outta Love" was a top ten hit on the Hot Dance Club Play chart in the United States, "Not That Kind" did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100; however by the end of the year Anastacia won World's Best Selling New Female Pop Artist at the 2001 World Music Awards. The album had sold five million copies by 2006.
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