Ashanti

One of the best-selling singers of her era, Ashanti shot to fame as the soulful, soprano counterpart to hard-rhyming rappers before coming into her own as a solo artist.

Born in Glen Cove, NY in 1980, Ashanti Douglas grew up acting and dancing, then turned her attention to singing in her teens.

Working with Murder Inc.’s Irv Gotti, she found stardom by nearly upstaging Ja Rule and Fat Joe on their 2001 singles “Always on Time” and “What’s Luv?” then made her solo mark with the defiant hit “Foolish.” With these tracks, she became the second artist—after The Beatles—to have their first three charting songs simultaneously occupy the Top 10.
Ashanti didn’t slow down with her Grammy-winning 2002 self-titled debut, which sold over a half-million copies in its first week, then a record for a female debut artist.