Anastacia

Anastacia (born Anastacia Lyn Newkirk; September 17, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter. Anastacia has been highly successful in Europe, Asia, South Africa and South America, but has not had as much success in her native United States. Her debut album, Not That Kind, released in 2000, achieved multi-platinum sales in Australia, New Zealand and much of Europe causing her to be critically acclaimed by Elton John and Michael Jackson, have the 4th biggest European single and biggest Australian single of 2000 and to be awarded 'Best-selling International Artist' in 2000. Her next two albums continued her multi-platinum-selling success throughout Europe and Oceania making her one of the fastest and biggest-selling artists of the new millennium.

In 2005, she was recognized for worldwide sales of over 20 million albums/records. Anastacia is world-renowned for her powerful soul voice, and her small stature – 5 feet 3 inches (160 cm). She was also known for her trademark glasses (often darkly tinted), but she had surgery to correct her vision permanently in August 2005

Anastacia was born in Chicago, Illinois; her late father Robert Newkirk (of German descent) was a club-singer and her mother Diane Hurley (of Irish descent) an actress on Broadway. After her father (a sufferer of bipolar disorder) left the Newkirk family, they moved to New York City when she was a teenager. Then she enrolled at the Professional Children's School in Manhattan.

Anastacia soon was diagnosed with Crohn's disease when she was thirteen. The incurable bowel disease led to an operation where surgeons cut directly through her stomach muscles removing a foot of the singer's intestines, causing Anastacia to be wheelchair bound and needing to learn how to walk again. Despite her illness she soon became interested in dance. However she was frequently critiqued for being 'too large to make it in the music business'. Anastacia subsequently dieted, triggering a Chrohn's relapse that caused her intestines to collapse which resulted in hospitilisation tube feeding and steroid treatments which caused hair loss, weight gain and swelling of the face.

Despite her ongoing health problems Anastacia pursued her ambitions and first gained prominence on BET's Comic View, singing Oleta Adams' "Get Here" in 1992. During the early 1990s, she appeared regularly on Club MTV and in videos for the hip hop group Salt-n-Pepa. In 1999, she attracted the interest of record labels after making the finals of the MTV talent show The Cut. Anastacia signed a contract with Daylight Records, a custom label of Sony BMG's Epic Records in March 1999.

Background information
Birth name Anastacia Lyn Newkirk
Born September 17, 1968 (age 42)
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Genres     Pop, R&B, soul, dance, pop rock
Occupations Singer-songwriter, record producer, fashion designer, philanthropist
Instruments Vocals
Years active 1988–1992 (dancer)
1998–2010 (singer)
Labels     Daylight (2000–2007)
Mercury (2008–2010)
Website www.anastacia.com