Ashanti S. Douglas was born on October 13, 1980 in Glen Cove, New York. She first sang in a gospel choir at the age of six and her R&B career began in 1994, when she performed at a local talent show. She soon caught the ears of industry insiders and immedeately signed to a management team. She soon began showcasting her talent with performances at The Soul Cafe, China Club, Madison Square Garden, Caroline's Comedy Club, and the Greek Fest 2000 at Jones Beach. Though she was signed to AJM records, Ashanti quickly caught the attention of mult-paltuim producer, Irv Gotti, of Murder Inc Records. Gotti seen the spectular talent in writing and singing that could set the stage for her introduction to the music industry. Soon she was writing for people from the late Big Pun to the currnet Jennifer Lopez.
She soon started appearing on tracks like, Ja Rule "always on time" and Fat Joes "wats luv." She had also previously appeared on Big Pun's smashing hit "how we roll." She started then started working with Murder Inc. recording artist, Cadillac Tah, on his singles "thugs love" and "POV anthem." Ashanti also released her own solo track "when a man does wrong."
Ashanti soon started blasting in the R&B/hip-hop scene when she released her smashing hit single "foolish." On April 2, 2002, She released her self-titled album which also contain the single of "happy", "baby", and "dreams." With the album selling 504,693 units in its first week, she was the hottest R&B chick yet. In 2002, Ashanti self-titled album sold more copies in its first week of release, than any other first time female solo artist in the charts history. Ashanti was also holding down the top spot in the billboard and hot 100 singles chart and the R&B/hip-hop singles and tracks chart in spring 2002 with the hit single "foolish." Also, at the age of 21, she rocked the billboards charts by having her first three chart entries all land in the top 10 of the billboard and hot 100 at the same time, being the first female to accomplish this feat and only second to the Beattles to do so.
In August 2002 she took home The Lady of Soul Aretha Franklin Entertainment of the year award, Lady of Soul Awards for best best R&BSoul new artist, and a teen choice award for choice breakout artist, and in December 2002 she won seven billboards awards. Also in November 2002, she published her own book titled, "foolish/Unfoolish: Reflections of love."
The next year in January 2003 she won two American Music Awards, in Febuary she won a Grammy for best Contemporary R&B album, in March she won two Soul Train Awards and a NAAP Image Award, and in April she won a Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award for best new artist. Three months later Ashanti released her new album "chapter 2", selling 326,000 units in the first week, with the hit singles of "roc wit u" and "rain on me", all written by Ashanti. Ashanti also appeared on TV shows like "buffy the vampire slayer", "sabrina: the teenage witch", and "american dreams."
On December 14, 2004, Ashanti soon released her third album "concrete rose." With the smashing hit "only u", Shani is letting us know that she is unstopable and is not going anywhere.
In January 2005, Ashanti stared in the movie "coach carter" co-starring with Samuel L. Jackson. And later this spring she will star as Dorthy in the "muppets wonderful world of Oz." Ashanti had proven that you can be what you want to be and that this is only the beginning of her career.
Bio written by: lovin_diva |
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