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Hot-Lifestyle-News: The best source for quality free celebrity photos, news, biographies and wallpapers presents Anastacia. Anastacia Newkirk was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 17, 1973. She is the middle child of theatre actress Diane Hurley, and club singer Robert Newkirk. She has a younger brother named Brian who is autistic, and an older sister named Shawna who now serves as Anastacia’s stylist. Her father’s musical roots were a ... read full biography

Anastacia Biography

Anastacia Newkirk was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 17, 1973. She is the middle child of theatre actress Diane Hurley, and club singer Robert Newkirk. She has a younger brother named Brian who is autistic, and an older sister named Shawna who now serves as Anastacia’s stylist. Her father’s musical roots were as a singer on the Catskills hotel circuit and also on the East Coast nightclub circuits. Her mother Diane was a singer/actress who worked in the musical theater and on Broadway.

Even though she grew up in such a musically influential environment Anastacia says, “It wasn’t as though I’ve wanted to be a singer all my life, but I grew up in an atmosphere of artistic expression and encouragement.” Anastacia has the greatest respect for her mom. “If my mother dies, my world will break down. She taught me about life. My family really inspired me about love and the quality of life, which is why my songs are the way they are. I’m really open and I’m really honest, because I just don’t feel like being any other way is going to help me out as a person.”

When Anastacia was 13 years old she was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and had to have surgery. The operation left a big scar across her stomach. When she first saw the scar she was angry. “The doctors were talking about a scar you couldn’t see, that it would be so small and low that it would be in my underwear. Well, my pants are not that high! Did they think I’d be wearing granny knickers?” Despite her illness, Anastacia has more power and energy than some “healthy” people. Fortunately, she is not as badly affected by Crohn’s disease as some other sufferers. The symptoms come in waves, so there are times when she is doing better than others. “I never let the disease stop me from dancing and singing” she says, “For those with Crohn’s, holding in our emotions or masking the unhappiness fuels the symptoms. What is seen as a curse for some is a gift for me, because it has helped me to discover who I really am as a person. The disease has given me a clear window to my own emotions, which causes me to live each moment and to understand exactly how I’m behaving in a particular situation.”

As Anastacia grew older she channeled her creativity into dance, and began frequenting local New York clubs with Shawna (her older sister). One club in particular, “Club 1018” was a favorite of hers. This is where she was first exposed to funk and freestyle music, which influences her own style to date. At “Club 1018” she managed to dance her way onto “Club MTV” a television show kind of like American Bandstand. She also got in on several videos, such as Salt-N-Pepa’s “Everybody Get Up” and “Twist and Shout” in the late 1980s. Eventually, someone asked Anastacia if besides dancing she knew how to sing. She said, “I guess so.” Unfortunately, the producers she started working with, all tried to alter her looks and her singing. “Every time I would work with a producer, he would want me to stop singing the way I sing, like “Take out the growl, the nasal ness, this and that. I never understood what they meant because I always sang like that. It was a trip. 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. I didn’t fall into the category of somebody wanting to take a risk on me.” A clear example for that is the song “Forever Luv” which was released 1993 on David Morales? “The Promise.” Except for a very few single notes you wouldn’t have even know it was Anastacia singing! She then decided to move out to Los Angeles to get a change of scenery.

Following several jobs as a dancer on “Club MTV” and appearances in numerous hit videos, her dismissal as a receptionist in a Los Angeles facial salon found Anastacia on the unemployment line. The only work she could find was as a vocalist at weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other people's hip-hop videos. By this time she had become completely disenchanted with a business that she had been around all of her life. “When I took the unemployment check I decided I'd go back to school and study child psychology. I would have done it too because kids are smart.” She helped raise her own autistic brother, but that isn't why she wanted to work with deprived children. “Not at all” she says. “I come with my spirit real and the only people who I’ve seen like that are children. My mother teaches musical theatre to kids and they say things adults won't say. They tell the truth.”

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. Lisa Braude' is Anastacia's current manager, executive producer, close friend, and all-around necessary person. Braude’ 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 MTVs’, The Cut, a Star Search type show that aired in 1998. Competing with 160 contestants she reached the finals. That was pretty much the beginning of her big break through. She then got calls by every big name there is in the music industry, e.g. Tommy Mottola and Doug Morris. The most talked about call came from Michael Jackson himself who encouraged her to keep singing and has remained a good friend.

David Massey from Epic Records is the man responsible for her signing the label. Anastacia says “He is such a gentle soul that I felt so at home and comfortable.” Since then it’s been all up hill and history making from there. Anastacia was provided with top-class producers and songwriters. Grammy Award winner Ric Wake, produced the ballad “Nothin? At All”, “Cowboys & Kisses” and “Wishing Well.” Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers produced and co-wrote “Same Old Story” and “Black Roses” with Anastacia . They also produced “Who’s Gonna Stop The Rain”. Sam Watters of Color Me Badd fame, and Louis Biancaniello produced and co-wrote “I’m Outta Love”, “Made For Lovin? You” and “I Ask Of You”. And not to be forgotten… the great ballad “Late Last Night”. It was written by Diane Warren and produced by Ric Wake. The song was unfortunately only released on the U.S. version of the album “Not That Kind”. Anastacia is very proud of that album and she had a great time working on it. Finally she was allowed to sing the way she sang. Thank heavens for that!

After winning and being nominated for quite a few important music awards, such as the MTV European Music Award 2001, Anastacia released her second album “Freak of Nature” in Europe. Needless to say, that the album stormed upscale quickly. Anastacia’s mom used to call her a “Freak of Nature” when people asked her where that kid got that loud voice. “I’m a freak of nature. I’ve always gotten looks of shock (or horror), depending how you look at it. Because the way that I look doesn’t match the way I sound. So this album is basically about those types of people – freaks. It was a very liberating record to make. I’ve always liked the idea that some of my favorite artists have been ‘freaks’, or non-conformists. That gave me courage, a constant reminder in the studio, to make the record the way that I wanted.”

Anastacia also co-wrote all twelve songs on Freak of Nature, which give the listener a birds-eye view of just what makes this talent tick. From “Paid My Dues”, which tells of her tedious route to becoming a professional recording artist, to “Secrets,” written nearly seven years ago about the importance of encouraging kids to express their thoughts and emotions so that they don’t become problematic later in life, which is an obvious reference to Anastacia’s Crohn’s disease.

A five times platinum artist and international stardom to boot, Anastacia has clearly made the “the cut” of another kind. She has performed on several of top award shows around the world as well as with some of the most popularly regarded artists of our time including Luciano Pavarotti and Elton John. In addition, her relationship with Michael Jackson recently came full circle when he invited her to sing “What More Can I Give” at his side along with Faith Evans, Mariah Carey, N’SYNC and other top performers at the historic United We Stand Sept. 11 benefit concert in Washington DC.

“Freak of Nature” follows “Not That Kind” only in the sense that it is part dance, part R&B and part rock. Anastacia credits her recent world travels, due to her rigorous international promotional and performance schedule, for exposing her to new musical influences and sounds that are clearly heard on Freak of Nature. For instance, the worldly musical influence can be heard in elements like the African-laced drumbeats and fiddle heard on “Overdue Goodbye.” Holding nothing back in her tremendously powerful vocal range, Anastacia also mixes it up on her performance of the scorching power ballad “You’ll Never Be Alone.” The album was recorded in only 2 months in New York. In addition to the songwriters and producers who had already worked with her on “Not That Kind” Anastacia collaborated with writers Greg Lawson and Damon Sharpe, who co-wrote “Paid My Dues” and “Why’d You Lie To Me”. Billy Mann worked with her on “Overdue Goodbye”. Ric Wake produced seven of the twelve tracks (“Freak of Nature”, “I Dreamed You”, “Paid My Dues”, “Overdue Goodbye”, “How Come The World Won’t Stop”, “Why’d You Lie To Me” and “Secrets” while Watters and Biancaniello produced and co-wrote “You’ll Never Be Alone”, “Don’t Stop (Doin? It), “One Day In Your Life” and “Don’t Cha Wanna”. Anastacia says, “We had two months to make the record and that was good by me. We had no time to second guess or to get cute, so the writing and recording was spontaneous, raw and direct.”

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