Ashanti -
Ashanti Douglas, 13 October 1980, Glen
Cove, New York, USA. For urban R&B singer
Ashanti it has been a case of third time
lucky. Her honey-toned voice and striking
looks landed her a recording contract with
Jive
Records at the age of 14, then again with
Epic Records at 17, but neither of those
deals came to fruition. It was when she
was noticed by Murder Inc. mastermind Irv
Gotti that Ashanti began to blossom. Gotti
noted her dancing and acting abilities in
addition to her vocal skills (she had
previously appeared in the Walt Disney
television musical Polly). Ashanti's first
musical outing under Gotti was a guest
vocal on the track "How We Roll" by Big
Punisher. She then appeared in a series of
duets that made her a stateside star in
March 2002. She was Ja Rule's counterpart
on the hypnotic "Always On Time", provided
the chorus to Fat Joe's "What's Luv?", and
married her vocals with the late Notorious
B.I.G. for "Unfoolish".
During this
month Ashanti held three of the Top 10
positions in the Billboard chart,
including numbers 1 and 2 with Ja Rule and
Fat Joe, while her own "Foolish" climbed
to the top of the charts in April and
remained at the top until the end of June.
As if that was not enough her self-titled
debut album sold 500,000 copies in the USA
in its first week of release. Mostly
written by Ashanti herself, the album was
unusually soulful for a Murder Inc. act,
while retaining a street sensibility that
helped it to worldwide popularity. |
