Fantasia Monique Barrino (born June 30, 1984), commonly known simply by the mononymFantasia, is an AmericanR&Bsinger and actress. She rose to fame as the winner of the third season of the reality television series American Idol in 2004. Following her victory, she released her debut single, "I Believe", which debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Subsequently, she released her debut album, Free Yourself, which went on to be certified Platinum by theRIAA and garnered Barrino three Grammy nominations in 2006.
In 2006, she released her second album,Fantasia, which featured the single "When I See U" which topped the BillboardHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for eight weeks. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA and received three Grammy nominations in 2008. She then played the part of Celie in the Broadway musical The Color Purple, for which she won a 2007 Theatre World Award. Her third studio album, Back to Me, was released worldwide on August 24, 2010 and features the single "Bittersweet," which peaked in the top ten on the R&B chart. The single won her a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. As of February 2012, Barrino has sold 2,842,000 albums and 1,425,000 tracks in the United States.
Fantasia Barrino was born to Diane and Joseph Barrino and raised in High Point, North Carolina. The family traveled and performed in the Carolinas and elsewhere in theAmerican South and recorded the CD Miracles for a local label.
Barrino's 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[citation needed] the best performance in the show's history - and was named amongst the AOL's 2004 list of greatest television moments.[5]
For the final performance of the season, Barrino offered a second performance of "Summertime" that again drew 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 65 million votes were cast in order to determine the winner on May 26, 2004, up from 24 million in 2003.[6] It was the highest finale vote in the show's history until the May 23, 2007 season-six finale.[citation needed]Barrino defeated runner-up Diana DeGarmo by 1.3 million votes.[7] At age 19, she was the youngest American Idol winner until May 23, 2007, when then 17-year-old Jordin Sparkswon the title.[citation needed]
Barrino 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 as well.
Barrino is one of only three winners, the others being Ruben Studdard, and most recently,Kris Allen, to have landed in the bottom three or two, which she did twice, making her the only winner of the series who landed in the bottom group on more than one occasion.
