Fantasia Monique Barrino (born June 30, 1984), commonly known as Fantasia, is an American R&B singer, Broadway and television actress who rose to fame as the winner of the third season of the television series American Idol in 2004. She has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards. After playing the part of Celie in the Broadway musical The Color Purple, she is cast to be in the film adaptation of the musical. Apart from her debut single I Believe which was also released in Australia , Fantasia has yet to release any material outside of the United States / Canada.
The Barrino family traveled and performed in the Carolinas and elsewhere in the American South and recorded the CD Miracles for a local label. Fantasia's singing style was shaped by the example of gospel singers like Shirley Caesar and The Clark Sisters. Rhythm & Blues singers such as Patti LaBelle, Aretha Franklin, and Chaka Khan also left a strong impact on young Fantasia.
She attended Andrews High School in High Point. After she was raped by a classmate, she was left feeling harassed and embarrassed and dropped out of high school. She later became pregnant at age sixteen and on August 8, 2001, she gave birth to her daughter, Zion Quari Barrino. She broke up with Zion's father because he was physically abusive towards her. Fantasia then briefly moved to neighboring Greensboro, North Carolina before trying out for the American Idol Auditions in Atlanta.
On December 9, 2008, The Charlotte Observer reported that Barrino's 6,200 square foot home in Charlotte's Glynmoor Lakes at Piper Glen community is in foreclosure and will soon be up for auction. Her 4,500-square-foot home, also in Piper Glen, is unaffected. On January 08, 2009 an agreement was reached to not auction Barrino's home.
American Idol
Fantasia made an immediate impression on American Idol with her stylized gospel-influenced sound, and her explosive stage presence. Her audition version of Tina Turner's "Proud Mary" made her an early favorite in the competition. Her standout performance during the course of the show was a heartfelt staging of the Porgy and Bess standard "Summertime" that left her in tears from "feeling the song" and earned praise from the judges--Randy Jackson has called it the best performance in the show's history--and was named to the Emmy Awards's 2004 list of greatest television moments.
Concerns were raised over her as a single mother being a poor role model for youth.
For the final performance of the season, Fantasia offered a second performance of "Summertime" that again drew enormous praise from the judges; Simon Cowell remarked that she was the best contestant to ever compete in any competition, including the more than seventy Idol champions crowned nationally and internationally since the show began its first global incarnations. On the finale, over sixty-five million votes were cast in order to determine the winner on May 26, 2004, up from twenty-four million in 2003. It was the highest finale vote in the show's history until the May 23, 2007 American Idol (season 6) finale. In the end Fantasia defeated runner-up Diana DeGarmo by 1.3 million votes. At age nineteen, Fantasia was the youngest American Idol winner until May 23, 2007, when the 17 year-old Jordin Sparks won the title.
Fantasia participated in the U.S. tour with the other American Idol finalists and appeared in the 2004 Christmas special, Kelly, Ruben and Fantasia: Home For the Holidays.
Barrino's brother auditioned for the eighth season of American idol but failed to make it to Hollywood
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