Anastacia

Name: Anastacia Newkirk
D.O.B.: September 17, 1973
Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois

Siblings: Sister Shawna, Brother Brian
Parents: Diane Hurley (Theatre Actress), Robert Newkirk (Club Singer)

Awards: Best New International Artist (2001 World Music Awards)
Nominated for Best New Artist (2001 MTV Europe Music Awards)

Having been brought up in a very musical family, it was inevitable that American singing sensation ANASTACIA would catch the musical bug. Developing a love and respect for performing from an early age, her grandmother nicknamed Anastacia her "STAGE" when she was a little girl because she already displayed such star quality.

Moving to New York at the age of fourteen, she studied at the Professional Children's School in Manhattan. Some of her classmates included Christian Slater and the late River Phoenix.

As she grew older, Anastacia channeled her creativity into dance and began frequenting local clubs with her sister. In the late 1980's and early 90's, she was a regular on Club MTV and TV show 'American Bandstand'. She even worked as a dancer for rap group Salt N' Pepa and appeared in a couple of music videos.

Not long after this, Anastacia had a real yearning to combine her love of dancing with her passion for singing. But with this, brought a lot of uncertain times with managers, producers and the like trying to manipulate Anastacia into the performer THEY wanted her to be and not the performer that SHE wanted to be recognised as.

It wasn't until she met manager Lisa Braude that the ball seriously began rolling. Lisa saw the amazing potential of Anastacia and wouldn't allow her to give up. Soon Anastacia was appearing on MTV and performing on a TV talent show where people started to take notice of her incredible talent.

Following a performance of "Not That Kind", a song she penned herself, the phones ran hot with people asking who this talented lady was and record labels were vying for her attention. Even the King of Pop, superstar Michael Jackson personally called Anastacia to tell her how great she was and asked her if she would consider joining his record label. All this attention from just one polished and smashing TV performance.

Now Anastacia is being hailed an international superstar and is having the last laugh!

A singer, songwriter, producer and dancer, she has continued to impress audiences worldwide with her powerful vocal range and raw lyrics since her debut album release "Not That Kind" in 1999.

Now she has a brilliant new album out titled "Freak of Nature" which combines Anastacia's love of dance, R&B and rock music.

Definitely not a one-hit wonder, Anastacia is an original – her talents are unique, her songwriting honest, her singing passionate and her personality is sincere.

- Annemarie Failla