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Anastacia Newkirk was born in
Chicago, Illinois on September 17, 1973, the middle child (she has a
sister Shawna, and a brother, Brian) of theatre actress Diane Hurley, and
club singer Robert Newkirk
Anastacia developed a love and respect for performing early on in her
life. Her maternal grandmother even nicknamed her "Stage" when she was a
little girl, because she already had such star quality.
At the age of 14, when her parents divorced, Anastacia moved to New York
City to be raised by her mother, and began studying at the Professional
Children's School in Manhattan. She says that every student there seemed
to be in show business already but her; indeed, as among her classmates
were actors Christian Slater and River Phoenix.
As she grew older, Anastacia channeled her creativity into dance, and
began frequenting local clubs with Shawna. In the late 1980s, and early
90s, she was a regular on Club MTV. She even worked as a dancer for rap
group Salt N' Pepa, and appeared in two of their videos: "Get Up
Everybody, Get Up" and "Twist and Shout"
Anastacia knew she wanted to perform and reach people, but as she puts it,
"it just took a while before I got the fever to actually sing." Once she
did, however, it was a fire that just wouldn't cool down.
She had ups and downs struggling to be discovered and worked several jobs
to make it through; including a gig as a wedding singer.
Everyone Anastacia met -- producers, managers, and the like -- all wanted
her to conform to their idea of who she should be. "I've worked with
people who tried to get me to sing like Celine Dion or LeAnn Rimes," she
says, "but it didn't sound right -- it was like taking away my character."
No one really "got" who Anastacia was, what she stood for, and how natural
that amazing talent was...that is, until Lisa Braude came along. Braude,
Anastacia's current manager, executive producer, close friend, and
all-around neccessary person, knew she had potential and wouldn't allow
her to give up. "Just give me six months," Braude' told her... and within
those six months, Anastacia was on MTV, performing on The Cut, a Star
Search-type show which aired in 1998.
Among the judges on the program were legendary producer David Foster, and
fellow diva Faith Evans. Everyone was blown away by Anastacia's
performances of "Not That Kind," the song she penned about being herself,
almost a theme song. Anastacia was then deluged with phone calls as a
record label bidding war began with the force of a tornado! Even the King
of Pop, Michael Jackson, personally called her at home to tell her how
great she was, and negotiate possibly getting her signed to his lable, MJJ
Records. Anastacia eventually settled with Epic/Daylight (MJJ's parent
company).
Now, she is an international smash, and practically a household name in
Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Europe and Asia. Her debut album,
"Not That Kind" will be released in the United States in 2001, because
pressure from the overseas markets forced the album to be sold there
first. In other words, they wanted Anastacia, and they wanted her NOW!
In January 2003, Anastacia decided to have her breasts reduced due to back
strain. From a routine mamogram for the surgery she discovered she had
breast cancer. She immediately successfully completed surgery and
radiotherapy.[6] Anastacia subsequently established a fund through the
"Anastacia Fund"[3] to promote awareness of breast cancer amongst younger
women.
She has attributed her health scare to being an inspiration for the sound
and content of her third album. According to an interview she made in 2005
on a British music station The Box, her voice lost its power and she
became unable to record and thus she spent a long time writing and trying
to create a sound she would be finally happy with. As she said on Rovelive
Australia in 2004, she wanted to have more edge to her vocals as she felt
there was something missing from her previous works. She brought in many
rock instruments which brought a new atmosphere to her music. She also
felt that she still needed the funkiness and the pop as the singer felt
that too much edge would sound wrong with her voice. Out of this a new
sound was formed. She describes her sound as "sprock" - a combination of
soul, pop and rock. She named the album after herself. The success of
"sprock" has influenced other artists. |
