Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas (born October 13, 1980)[1] 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. The album set a Soundscan record as the biggest opening week sales for a R&B female artist, outselling debuts by Alicia Keys and Lauryn Hill.[2] 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). 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.[3] Ashanti also sang background vocals for Jennifer Lopez on "I'm Real (Murder Remix)" and wrote and sang background on the song "Ain't It Funny" (Murder Remix) sung by Jennifer Lopez,both reaching number one on Billboard Hot 100 , 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).[4] Later that year, she was acclaimed as the "Princess Of Hip-Hop & R&B"[5][6][7] by her label and capped off her successful debut by winning eight Billboard awards and two American Music Awards. As of 2007, Ashanti had sold more than six million albums in the U.S., and nearly 15 million records worldwide.[8]
Ashanti cites Mary J. Blige, Ella Fitzgerald, Yolanda Adams, the Clark Sisters, and Blue Magic as her musical influences.[9][10] 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.
