 |
 |
|
| Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas (born October 13, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, actress, dancer, and model who rose to fame in the early 2000s. Ashanti is most famous for her eponymous Grammy Award-winning debut album Ashanti which featured the hit song "Foolish", and sold over 503,000 copies in its first week of release in the U.S. in April 2002. |
| Location | Singer/Songwriter, Actor, Author Ashanti is a native of Glen Cove, Long Island. She burst onto the music scene with her 2002 smash hit debut album self-titled Ashanti. The album landed at the #1 spot on both the Billboard Top 200 and R&B album charts, selling a whopping 504,593 units in its first week. Her first week set a Sound scan record as the most albums sold by any debut female artist in the chart’s history, granting her a spot in the Guinness book of world records. Simultaneously, Ashanti also secured the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and the R&B/Hip Hop Singles & Tracks chart with her song, “Foolish.” She made Billboard history by having her first three chart entries land in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time. She is the first female to accomplish this feat previously only attained by the Beatles. |
| Biography | Her mother named her after the Empire of Ashanti in Ghana; in this nation, the women had power and influence, and Ashanti's mother wanted her daughter to follow that model.
Ashanti inherited a love for music from her mother, Tina Douglas, a former dance teacher and her father, Ken-Kaide Thomas Douglas, a former singer. She has a younger sister named Kenashia. Her uncle, Laranzo Landford, was the mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey. |
Ashanti cites Mary J. Blige, Ella Fitzgerald, Yolanda Adams, the Clark Sisters, and Blue Magic as her musical influences. Praised as a gifted songwriter by her peers and critics alike, Ashanti has written/co-written the bulk of all her music.
She is currently working on her own publishing company entitled Written Entertainment. She recently released her fourth studio album entitled The Declaration on June 3, 2008. She also performed the charity tune "Just Stand Up" alongside 14 other female singers for the "Stand Up to Cancer" live television special which helped raise $100 million dollars for cancer research. |
| http://www.ashantithisisme.com/ |
| Ashanti brings her best game and more on her fourth studio album, the aptly titled The Declaration, arriving in June of 2008 as the most complete and compelling offering of her career. A soaring collection of new tracks, penned by the multi-talented artist, the intricately produced album captures her alluring presence and incredible vocal range.
The Declaration is an impressive rollout of A-list producers, including Jermaine Dupri, LT Hutton, Babyface, Pharrell Williams, Bryan Michael Cox and others. A sizzling snapshot of the heat-seeking Ashanti can be gleamed from the new single; “The Way That I Love You” produced LT Hutton. The song skillfully plays up the ever-present vocal range of the star. |
|