Blige's " Reminisce" to herself at age twelve.
Ashanti displayed a knack for singing when she was six by singing in a gospel choir but her mother discovered her full singing potential when she overheard Ashanti singing Mary J. With actress and choreographer Debbie Allen at the helm, Ashanti also performed in the Disney television film Polly alongside stars Keshia Knight Pulliam and Phylicia Rashad. She also performed at the 1994 Caribbean Awards and dancing with Judith Jamison of the Alvin Ailey Dance Company.
She danced with the Senior Pro Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, the Apollo Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Black Spectrum Theater. Ashanti went to Bernice Johnson Cultural Arts Center where she studied different dance styles including tap, jazz, ballet, African, modern, and hip hop. Growing up, Ashanti took dance lessons and joined the church choir.
Her grandfather, James, was a civil-rights activist who associated with Martin Luther King, Jr.
Her mother named her after the former 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. She has inherited a love for music from her mother, Tina Douglas, a former dance teacher, and her father, Ken-Kaide Thomas Douglas, a former singer. Ashanti premiered the video for her new single " The Way That I Love You" on MTV's TRL and BET's 106 & Park on February 27, 2008.Īshanti was born in Glen Cove, New York. She is currently working on her fourth studio album entitled The Declaration, which is due out the first quarter of 2008. Blige, Ella Fitzgerald, Yolanda Adams, the Clark Sisters and Blue Magic as her musical influences. In 2002, she was acclaimed as the "Princess of Hip Hop and R&B." and by 2007, Ashanti had sold more than 8 million albums in the U.S., and more than 15 million records worldwide. Ashanti also wrote and sang background on the song " Ain't It Funny" (Murder Remix) sung by Jennifer Lopez which was also in the top 10 charts at the same time as "Foolish", "Always on Time" (with Ja Rule), and "What's Luv" (with Fat Joe). She broke records again by having three Top Ten songs Foolish, What's Luv, and Always on Time, with Ja Rule, on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the same week, being the first female to accomplish this feat and being second only to The Beatles. In the same week, she became the first female performer to simultaneously hold the top two places on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with "Foolish", and "What's Luv" (with Fat Joe). Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas (born October 13 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, actress, dancer, model, and fashion designer who rose to fame in the early 2000s.Īshanti is most famous for her eponymous Grammy Award-winning debut album Ashanti which featured the hit song " Foolish", and sold 504,693 copies in its first week of release in the U.S.