Ashanti

Her grandfather, James, was a civil rights activist who was associated with Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s.

Ashanti's mother discovered her full singing potential when she overheard Ashanti singing Mary J. Blige's "Reminisce" at age 12 (after the song was released on Ashanti's birthday).

While attending high school, she began to write songs.

As a teenager, she performed in a local talent show and at several small festivals.

Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas (born October 13, 1980) is an American singer and songwriter.

Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas was born on October 13, 1980, in Glen Cove, New York.

Her mother, Tina Douglas, is African American and a former dance teacher, her father, Ken-Kaide Thomas Douglas, is also African American and a former singer.

She is the oldest of her parents' children, with a younger sister named Kenashia "Shia" Douglas.

Ashanti's mother named her after the Ashanti Empire in Ghana; in this nation, women had power and influence, and Tina wanted Ashanti to follow that model.

She got her first taste of acting as a child extra in Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992) and in Ted Demme's Who's the Man?.

She also had a couple of minor appearances in music videos, such as KRS-One's "MC's Act Like They Don't Know" as well as 8-Off's "Ghetto Girl".

Ashanti struggled to find success as a singer after being courted by several record labels, including Bad Boy and Jive.

Despite this, she continued to perform in and around New York and began hanging out at the Murder Inc. recording studio, hoping for a big break.

Ashanti was first noticed by Irv Gotti because of her vocal skills.

He asked her to pen hooks for his rap artists and to perform with them in duets.

Ashanti provided the melodic response to their call.

Ashanti was first featured as a background vocalist on rapper Big Pun's song "How We Roll".

She was first discovered as a teenager and signed to Irv Gotti's Murder Inc. Records, an imprint of Def Jam Recordings in 2002.

That same year, she was featured on Fat Joe's "What's Luv?" and Ja Rule's "Always on Time", both of which were two of the biggest hit songs of 2002.

She became the first female artist to occupy the top two positions on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart simultaneously with "Foolish" and "What's Luv?"

at numbers one and two, respectively.

In 2002, Ashanti released her eponymous debut album, which sold over 505,000 copies throughout the U.S. in its first week of release.

The album received eight Billboard Music Awards, two American Music Awards, and a Grammy Award in 2003 for Best Contemporary R&B Album.

The album has since been certified triple platinum in the United States and sold six million copies worldwide by the end of 2003.

Its lead single, "Foolish" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and made her the second artist (after The Beatles) to have their first three chart entries peak within the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously.

Ashanti wrote and provided background vocals for Jennifer Lopez's "Ain't It Funny (Murder Remix)", which also reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 2003, Ashanti released her second album Chapter II, which became her second album to peak the Billboard 200—with first-week sales of 326,000 copies in the U.S.—and ultimately received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling over 1.5 million copies.

Its lead singles, "Rock wit U (Awww Baby)" and "Rain on Me" were commercial successes, peaking at numbers two and seven respectively on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Chapter II was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album, while "Rock wit U (Awww Baby)" and "Rain on Me" were each nominated in the categories of Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

In November 2003, Ashanti released her third album Ashanti's Christmas, a Christmas album which was met with largely unfavorable reception.

In 2004, Ashanti released her fourth studio album Concrete Rose, the title of which took on Tupac Shakur's pseudonym "The Rose That Grew from Concrete".

The album debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200—with first-week sales of 254,000 copies—and became her third platinum-certified album.

Its first single, "Only U" reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the UK Singles Chart (becoming her most successful song in that country).

Its second single, "Don't Let Them", garnered minimal chart success after Def Jam refused to fund a music video due to Irv Gotti's money laundering trial and encompassing legal troubles.

In 2005, she made her feature film debut in Coach Carter alongside Samuel L. Jackson.

She also starred as Dorothy Gale in the made-for-television film The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, which attracted nearly eight million viewers when it premiered.

She has since appeared in the films John Tucker Must Die (2006) and Resident Evil: Extinction (2007).

Throughout her career, Ashanti has sold nearly 15 million records worldwide.

Her fifth album, The Declaration (2008) was met with moderate reception and marked her final major label release; her sixth album, Braveheart (2014) was released independently.

Aside from music, Ashanti has also acted in various productions.