Ashanti, The #65 Female Artist of the Rock Era

Ashanti was born in Glen Cove, New York.  She took dance lessons and joined the church choir in her youth.  Ashanti studied dance styles at the Bernice Johnson Cultural Arts Center.  She danced with the Senior Pro Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, the Apollo Theater, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.  

Ashanti's mother realized her singing potential and sent out demo tapes to record companies.  Ashanti began writing songs in high school.  She performed in talent shows, and appeared in several big-name music videos.  Ashanti acted in movies such as Malcolm X and Who's the Man?, and was a dancer in the movie Polly.   

In 1994, Ashanti finally signed a recording contract with Jive Records.  But this deal went south when she didn't like the direction that the company was taking her.  She resumed her schoolwork, was an honor student in English, and was also a cheerleader and a member of the track team and Drama club.  Epic Records approached her in 1998, but changes at the company resulted in making Ashanti a low priority.

So the singer continued to perform at New York clubs.  Irv Gotti at Murder Inc. used her as a background vocalist for rappers such as Big Pun.  Ashanti then sang backing vocals on "What's Luv?" by Fat Joe.  It was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and an MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video.

Ashanti also sang on "Always On Time" by Ja Rule. The song was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and it also earned an MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video.

Those singles began climbing the charts, and finally, Ashanti released her debut single "Foolish".  It rocketed ahead of those collaborations and hit #1 for ten weeks, one of the longest-running #1 songs of the Rock Era.  It also captured MTV Video Music Awards for Best Female Video, Best R&B Video and Best New Artist in a Video and an ASCAP Pop Music Award for Award-Winning Pop Song. 

Further, Ashanti wrote and sang background on "Ain't It Funny" by Jennifer Lopez, another of the songs in the Top 10 at the same time as her historic accomplishment.

The self-titled album was released in 2002, and the debut sold 503,000 copies first week, debuting at #1 on the Album chart.  Ashanti became the first female performer to hold the top two places on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with "Foolish" and "What's Luv?"  Ashanti then became the first female and the second act in the Rock Era (after the Beatles) to own three Top 10 songs, when "Always On Time" joined the others in that group.  

The album has now sold three million copies in the U.S. and six million worldwide.  Ashanti chose "Happy" for the second single, and it too went Top 10, reaching #8 in the U.S. and #15 in the U.K..

It was Ashanti's night at the Billboard Music Awards, winning eight trophies, or every category she was nominated for.  She won Hot 100 Singles Artist of the Year, Female Artist of the Year, Top New Pop Artist of the Year, R&B/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year, R&B/Hip-Hop Female Artist of the Year, R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Artist of the Year, R&B/Hip-Hop Single of the Year (for "Foolish") and New R&B/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year.  

She also won two American Music Awards (Favorite New Artist in Pop/Rock and Favorite New Artist in Hip-Hop/R&B) and one Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album (Ashanti was also nominated for Best New Artist.)  In addition to the two American Music Awards noted above, Ashanti was also nominated for Favorite Album-Pop or Rock, Favorite Female Artist-Hip/Hop/Rhythm and Blues, a Fan's Choice Award and Favorite Album-Hip-Hop/Rhythm & Blues .

"Baby" was a #15 song from her debut.

On May 2, Ashanti was given the key to the city of Glen Cove, her hometown, and it was declared as "Ashanti Day".  In mid-year, Ashanti joined Ja Rule, Vira and Carli for the single "Down 4 (sic) U (sic)", which peaked at #4 in the U.K. and #6 in the United States.

In 2003, Ja Rule and Ashanti collaborated again with another great result--"Mesmerize" hit #2 in the U.S., #5 in Australia and #12 in the U.K.

Ashanti released her second album, Chapter II, which debuted at #1 with first week sales of 326,000 copies.  "Rock wit (sic) U (sic) (Awww Baby)" rocketed up to #2.  The single was nominated for Best R&B Song at the Grammys and the accompanying video was nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards.

The album sold over 1.5 million copies in the U.S. alone.  Chapter II was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album, and Ashanti was nominated at the Billboard Music Awards for Best R&B/Hip-Hop Female Artist.  "Rain On Me" was the second single, reaching #7 overall and #2 on the R&B chart.  It earned Ashanti another Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.  

Ashanti helped out Fabolous for the song "Into You", which achieved identical #4 positions in the United States and Australia.

Ashanti released the album Ashanti's Christmas in November.  The following year, she teamed up with Ja Rule and R. Kelly for "Wonderful", a #1 song in the U.K., #5 in the United States and #6 in Australia and New Zealand.

Ashanti premiered the single "Only U" at the Vibe Music Awards.  The song hit #2 in the U.K., #4 in Ireland and #13 in the United States. 

Later in the year, Ashanti released the album Concrete Rose, which became her third Platinum album.  In 2005, she made her major acting debut in the movie Coach Carter. Ashanti has released two further albums in the last nine years, but hasn't captured the success of her early years.   

Ashanti joined 15 other female singers for the "Stand Up to Cancer" live television special that helped raise $100 million for cancer research.

She has sold over 12 million albums worldwide.  The song "Foolish" itself has sold seven million copies to date. Ashanti has enjoyed 16 Top 40 hits, and won two Grammy Awards, eight Billboard Music Awards and four MTV Video Music Awards.