Fantasia Barrino

Her uncles, The Barrino Brothers, were a 1970s R&B band.

She attended Andrews High School in High Point, North Carolina.

Feeling embarrassed and harassed after she was raped by a classmate, she dropped out of high school.

Fantasia Monique Barrino-Taylor (born June 30, 1984), known professionally by her mononym Fantasia, is an American singer and actress.

She became pregnant at 16, and on August 8, 2001, she gave birth to a daughter with her ex-boyfriend Brandel Shouse.

She rose to prominence in 2004 for her performance of the Porgy and Bess standard "Summertime" during the third season of American Idol, and eventually became that season's winner.

Following her victory, Barrino became the second woman to have her first single debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, following Lauryn Hill, when her debut single "I Believe", launched atop the chart.

Her accolades include two Billboard Music Awards and a Grammy Award, along with nominations for a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, and three American Music Awards.

Barrino's debut album Free Yourself (2004), went on to be certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and garnered three Grammy Award nominations.

Barrino's show was a staging of the Porgy and Bess standard "Summertime" that left her in tears from "feeling the song" and earned praise from the judges and was named amongst the AOL's 2004 list of greatest television moments.

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 to determine the winner on May 26, 2004, up from 24 million in 2003.

Barrino defeated runner-up Diana DeGarmo by 1.3 million votes.

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's brother auditioned for the eighth season of American Idol but failed to make it to the Hollywood round.

After winning American Idol, Barrino signed to J Records with 19 Entertainment and began work on her debut album.

In June 2004, she released her debut single, "I Believe", which later debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

This number-one debut made Barrino the first artist in history to achieve this with a first single.

On the sales chart, the single spent eleven consecutive weeks at number one, giving it the longest consecutive stay on top of that chart for an American Idol contestant.

The CD single, "I Believe", went on to become the top selling single of 2004 in the U.S., and has since been certified double platinum by the CRIA.

She also won three Billboard Music Awards for the single.

Barrino released her debut studio album, Free Yourself, in November 2004.

It debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200, selling 240,000 copies in its first week.

To date, it has sold over two million copies worldwide, and was certified Platinum in the U.S. The singles "Truth Is" and "Free Yourself" became R&B hits, reaching number two and number three respectively on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, while the controversial "Baby Mama"—which critics accused of romanticizing single motherhood —reached the top twenty.

Barrino did even better on the Billboard Hot Adult R&B Airplay, where she was the first artist of any kind to simultaneously hold the top two spots of the top three, and "Truth Is" spent 14 weeks at the number one position.

Barrino released her New York Times Best-Selling autobiography Life Is Not a Fairy Tale (2005), which was adapted into the 2006 television film, which she starred in.

Barrino was named the number-one artist of the Adult Urban Contemporary format for 2005 according to the December 13, 2005, issue of Billboard magazine.

Through the spring and winter of 2005, Barrino made many television appearances to promote her album.

She played Aretha Franklin in an episode of the series American Dreams, singing "Respect"; guest voiced on The Simpsons episode "A Star Is Torn"; and guest starred as herself in a cameo role on the sitcom All of Us.

She appeared three times as a musical guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

On March 25, 2005, Barrino performed at the thirty-sixth NAACP Image Awards in honor of Illinois Senator Barack Obama after winning the award for Outstanding Female Artist.

In May 2005, Barrino went on her first tour with her own live band, with soul singers Kem and Rashaan Patterson.

She released the hit single "When I See U", from her second album Fantasia (2006), recorded the duet "Put You Up on Game" with Aretha Franklin in 2007, and released later albums Back to Me (2010) and Side Effects of You (2013), with both peaking at number-two on the Billboard 200.

She portrayed Celie Johnson in the Broadway musical The Color Purple from 2007 to 2008, which earned her a Theatre World Award for Best Debut Performance.

She reprised her role in the 2023 film adaptation, for which she earned nominations for a Golden Globe Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actress.

Barrino was born to Diane and Joseph Barrino and raised in High Point, North Carolina.

She began singing at the age of five.

R&B duo K-Ci & JoJo are her first cousins.

At age 19, she was the youngest American Idol winner until May 23, 2007, when then 17-year-old Jordin Sparks won the title.

Her single "Bittersweet", won her a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 2011.