Ashanti Biography - Profile
Birth name: Ashanti S. Douglas
Birthday: October 13, 1980
Place of birth: Glen Cove, NY, USA
Nationality: American
Raised in: Glen Cove, NY, USA
Natural hair color: Brown
Eye color: Brown
Height: 160 cm (5'3)
Nicknames: Shanti
Education / Profession: Actress, Musician
Labels: Def Jam, Universal
Music styles: Contemporary
R&B, Urban
First released record:
How we roll - 2001
Claim to fame: the song "Foolish" (2002)
Awards:
> Billboard Music Awards
2002
> Soul Train Awards 2002
How it all started:
Ashanti Shequoia Douglas was born on October 13, 1980 as the
daughter of Tina Douglas, dance teacher, and Ken-Kaide Douglas,
singer. The name Ashanti links to a major ethnic group in Ghana
– traditionally matrilineal, where woman has the same importance
as man.
Ashanti
started singing publicly at the age of 6, joining a local church
gospel choir and attended dance lessons. More public appearances
soon followed, she performed in local talent shows, danced with
her ensemble at Carnegie Hall, Appollo Theater, Avery Fisher
Hall and the Black Spectrum Theater and featured in a Disney TV
film Polly. When 14 years old, she was discovered by P. Diddy
and signed a contract with his Bad Boy Records, which however
came to nothing.
Her talent
was not limited to the field of music and dancing – she was a
promising athlete, receiving athletic scholarships to Princeton
and Hampton universities and being scouted by the Olympic
committee for her abilities and results in triple jump and 100
and 200 meter dash. However, she chose the music path in 1998,
when a contract with Epic Records arrived.
This
contract again proved fruitless since Epic Records put Ashanti
on a low priority track.
Continuing
to perform at NY clubs, she was finally noticed by Irv Gotti
from Murder Inc. – till then a strictly rap label – who got her
appearing in songs by artists such as Big Pun, Jennifer Lopez,
Ja Rule and Fat Joe – songs with the last two becoming big hits
in 2002.
Encouraged by the success,
Ashanti released her first single Foolish, scoring big time in
the charts, and in April 2002 released her debut album Ashanti
which sold over 500 000 in the first week and became four times
platinum in the US.
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2002 - Foolish/Unfoolish
1 Foolish
