About this Artist

North Carolina native Fantasia broke on to the scene in 2004 as the season three winner of Fox’s American Idol. Later that year, she 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.” The singer’s eponymous sophomore effort, released in 2006, featured the #1 R&B single “When I See U,” and reached gold status. In 2010, Fantasia earned her first ever Grammy Award for the hit single “Bittersweet,” off her critically acclaimed third album Back to Me. Side Effects of You followed in 2013, debuting at #1 on the Billboard R&B Albums Chart and #2 on the Billboard Top 200. On July 29, 2016, Fantasia released her fifth studio album, The Definition Of…., which became her third consecutive #1 R&B album debut, her fourth top ten debut on the Billboard 200, and earned her another Grammy nomination for Best Traditional R&B Performance. In 2017, she released her first-ever holiday album, Christmas After Midnight, on her own imprint Rock Soul Entertainment.

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 best-selling 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 1920s and’30s. After receiving rave reviews, Fantasia joined the cast of After Midnight for a second run in May 2014.