Anastacia Lyn Newkirk ( ; born September 17, 1968), known mononymously as Anastacia, is an American singer-songwriter who has released nine albums and sold over 50 million records worldwide, and collecting a total of 227 gold and platinum certifications. Thanks to her distinctive tone she has been described as "the little lady with the big voice." Anastacia defines her musical style as "sprock", meaning a fusion of soul, pop, and rock.
Anastacia began her career in 1983 as a dancer. In 1990, she started her music career as a backing vocalist. In 2000, she released "I'm Outta Love", her debut single, which quickly topped charts worldwide and paved the way for her first album, Not That Kind. The following year, she released her second album Freak of Nature. In 2004, she released her album Anastacia, preceded by the single "Left Outside Alone", which remained number one across European charts for 15 weeks. After switching record labels, she returned in 2008 with Heavy Rotation and in 2012 she released It's a Man's World, an album of covers of male rock songs. In 2014, she released Resurrection. Its lead single was "Stupid Little Things". In 2023, she released Our Songs, an album of English-language reinterpretations of German songs.
The majority of her success and dominance was primarily in Europe, Oceania, Asia, Africa, and South America, while in her home country, the United States, she experienced moderate chart success. Her career had been impacted by personal struggles due to serious illnesses, which she claimed "slowed down her career".
Life and career 1968–1982: Early life She was born in Chicago, on September 17, 1968. The second of three children, she grew up in a family of artists: her mother, Diane Hurley, was a Broadway actress of Irish descent, and her father, Robert Newkirk, of German descent, who suffered from bipolar disorder, was a singer who performed in East Coast clubs. Her mother's passion for Russian literature led her to name her daughter Anastacia.
Her childhood had a difficult start: her father abandoned the family and divorced her mother when Anastacia was seven years old. At the age of 13, she discovered she had Crohn's disease. She later gave interviews about it: "My illness has changed me in many ways. It affects everything, from my health to my work to my relationships. What some see as a curse is a gift to me, because it helped me discover who I really am."
At the age of 15, together with her mother, her sister, and her autistic brother, she moved to New York, to the West Side of Manhattan, into a small one-bedroom apartment. Her mother was cast in a Broadway musical but shortly afterward had to abandon her career to care for her son.
At Manhattan's Professional Children's School, Anastacia was a classmate of River Phoenix, Christian Slater, Ricki Lake, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who invited her to the prom. She graduated with difficulty due to her dyslexia. Her vocal improvisations and extraordinary voice earned her the nickname "freak of nature," which came first from her mother.
As a child, fascinated by fossils and bones, she developed an interest in archaeology; later, as she grew closer to psychology, she considered a career as a child therapist, and only afterward did she develop a passion for music, which she defined as her "third choice." Before finding success, she worked as an aerobics instructor, then as a secretary in various offices, a hairdresser, a sales assistant in a clothing store, a cashier, a waitress in a restaurant, and an employee in a pastry shop.
1983–1997: Career beginnings In 1983, she began her career as a dancer at the New York club 1018, which she regularly attended with her sister. There, she discovered house music and freestyle dance. In 1990, she started her musical career singing at weddings and working as a backing vocalist for pop star Tiffany on the album New Inside. In 1991, she appeared as a dancer in the music video for My Fallen Angel by Dominican performer Coro. Before Coro's rise to fame, the two had been romantically involved for about a year and a half. Coro proposed marriage but Anastacia declined. Coro later came out as gay. That same year, Steven Spielberg chose Anastacia to sing at his wedding to actress Kate Capshaw. She began performing in nightclubs and casinos with various bands.
Arnold Schwarzenegger hired her to sing at his birthday party, at which he made her perform the same song 12 times: "Whatta Man" by the American groups En Vogue and Salt-n-Pepa. In 1992, she gained further recognition when she appeared on D. L. Hughley's show, performing Get Here by Oleta Adams.
In 1993, together with David Morales, she founded the Bad Yard Club, a collective of producers, musicians, and singers dedicated to creating music. Anastacia recorded the track "Forever Luv" for the album The Program. Record labels hesitated to sign her, partly because they did not know how to market a white woman with a "black" voice, and partly because she refused to conform to producers' demands that she sing pop or hip hop for commercial reasons: "They told me how I should dress, how I should move, what I should think. The reaction of those who met me after hearing my demo was priceless—everyone expected to see a Black girl, but instead there I was: small, White, and wearing glasses. All I wanted was to be myself, to sing with my own voice, and to dress the way I wanted." Producers considered her voice unusual and believed it did not fit into any musical category.
Despite repeated rejections from record labels, Anastacia stayed true to her path. In 1994, she sang backing vocals for Jamie Foxx on his debut album Peep This, and in 1995 for Paula Abdul on her third studio album Head over Heels. From 1997 to 1999, she was a member of the funk/reggae/jazz/R&B cover band The Kraze. In July 1996, she sung in "the Choir of Life" for The Kurt Carr Singers on their record, No One Else The Choir were the Additional Background for the singers, and the album was released in March 1997. Later on was the collaborated with Cuban composer Omar Sosa on the songs Mi Negra, tu bombón and Tienes Un Solo, included in his album Spirit of the Roots. That same year, she found work as a receptionist at celebrity hairstylist José Eber's Beverly Hills salon, but was fired a few months later for being "too outgoing" and having an "overpowering" voice.
Shortly afterward, she signed an exclusive contract to join an all-female music group with three other singers, including Michelle Visage. However, the project failed, and Anastacia was left bound by the restrictive contract.
1998–2000: Breakthrough and Not That Kind In 1998, Anastacia was unemployed after being fired from a beauty salon for "being too loud", and she was disheartened after years of setbacks in the music industry. She was considering a career shift to child psychology. Encouraged by Lisa Braude, who later became her manager, Anastacia auditioned for MTV's talent show The Cut in 1998. She became one of the ten finalists, performing her original song "Not That Kind". Her performance on the show, which was hosted by rapper Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, garnered interest from record labels. Though she did not win the competition, she impressed prominent artists such as Elton John and Michael Jackson, as well as judges David Foster and Faith Evans. In March 1999, Anastacia signed a record deal with Daylight Records, a custom label under Sony Music Entertainment's Epic Records.
With the support of top American producers and songwriters, Anastacia released her debut album, Not That Kind, on June 13, 2000. The album reached the top ten in eight countries across Europe, the United States, and Asia, and achieved four-times platinum status in Europe and triple platinum in Australia. Her debut single, "I'm Outta Love", became a global hit in 2000, topping the charts in Belgium, Australia, and New Zealand. It peaked at number two in France, Switzerland, Italy, and Ireland, and reached number six in both Germany and the UK. In the United States, it was a minor radio success and a top ten hit on the Hot Dance Club Play chart.
The second single, "Not That Kind", reached number 11 in the UK and entered the top ten in Italy, as well as the top 20 in Switzerland and France. The third single, "Cowboys & Kisses", charted within the top 40 in several European countries. A final promotional single, "Made for Lovin' You", reached number 27 in the UK and number 72 in France. Although her singles had limited success on American mainstream charts, Anastacia won the award for World's Best Selling New Female Pop Artist at the 2001 World Music Awards. By 2006, Not That Kind had sold over five million copies worldwide.
2001–2006: Freak of Nature, breast cancer diagnosis and Anastacia
Anastacia's second album, Freak of Nature, released in November 2001, achieved success in the UK, where it went triple platinum, and was also a hit throughout continental Europe; however, it did not match the success of her international debut. The first single released was "Paid My Dues". The song became an overall hit in 2001, peaking in Denmark, Italy, Norway, and Switzerland, and reaching the top ten in several other mainland European countries. The second single, released in 2002, "One Day in Your Life", reached number eleven in the UK and the top ten in many European countries. The next single, "Why'd You Lie to Me", reached the top thirty in the UK. "You'll Never Be Alone", the fourth single, reached number twenty-eight on the Adult Contemporary chart in the U.S. The album was released in the United States in May 2002. Soon after, she released a double-disc edition featuring two bonus hits, remixes for three of the tracks on the album, and two live tracks taken from a Japan gig performed on September 13, 2002. People reviewed her album, writing, "Anastacia is most successful when she shifts gears on more reflective, folk-tinged pop-rock tunes such as 'Overdue Goodbye' and 'How Come the World Won't Stop,' on which her more nuanced vocals flow naturally."
Anastacia joined Celine Dion, Shakira, Cher, Mary J. Blige, Dixie Chicks, and Stevie Nicks for VH1 Divas Las Vegas in 2002 and also contributed the song "Love Is a Crime" to the Chicago soundtrack. The song peaked at number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart and enjoyed moderate airplay on the Rhythmic/Dance format. Anastacia sang "Boom", the official song for the 2002 FIFA World Cup held in South Korea and Japan, at the opening ceremony. Freak of Nature sold seven million copies.
In January 2003, Anastacia decided to undergo a breast reduction due to back strain. From a routine mammogram conducted for the surgery, she discovered that she had breast cancer. She immediately had surgery and radiotherapy. Anastacia subsequently established the Anastacia Fund to promote awareness of breast cancer among younger women. She has attributed her health scare as an inspiration for her third album. According to an interview she gave in 2005 on the British music station The Box, her voice lost its power and she became unable to record, so she spent a long time writing and trying to create a sound with which she could finally be happy.