Ashanti Celebrity

Birth Name: Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas

Birth Place: Glen Clove, NY

Date of Birth / Zodiac Sign: 10/13/1980, Libra

Profession: Singer; songwriter; actress

Ashanti Douglas was born in 1980 in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York into a musical family. Her father used to sing and her mother is a dance instructor. Ashanti began to sing in a gospel choir at the age of 6. As she grew, her musical talent developed and with it, appearances followed. She danced in a show at Carnegie Hall and in the Disney television musical Polly. It was in high school that she honed her songwriting skills and harnessed her talent for creating a story that people could relate to, song after song.

Ashanti first announced her presence with the Big Pun hit "How We Roll" in 2001. Her sound was infectious and caught the attention of record producers. Irv Gotti, the polished producer with Murder Inc. Records, was credited with her discovery and what was supposed to be an initial collaboration, turned into a record contract. The demure and feminine Ashanti was hesitant at first to sign with a label named Murder Inc., but she filled a void in the company stable of talent. What was a pure rap label became stronger with the arrival of the R&B singer. The marketing team at Murder Inc. went to work to promote Ashanti in time for her debut release.

In early 2003, Ja Rule and Ashanti teamed up again and scored a massive pop hit with 'Mesmerize', the music video for which parodied the plot of the movie Grease. 50 Cent would later mock Ja Rule as being soft and 'not a true gangsta', citing the 'Mesmerize' video and its pop-culture appeal as an example. Ashanti was not spared from 50 Cent's criticism of the entire Murder Inc. family.

She would later make a special guest appearance in a season 7 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, First Date.

In the summer of 2003, Ashanti released an album called Chapter II. Its first single, 'Rock Wit U (Awww Baby)' became one of the summer's biggest hits and its steamy video, which showed Ashanti in a bikini frolicking on a beach, was nominated for a 2003 MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video. The second single and video, 'Rain On Me', was released in the fall of 2003. Even with the help of a remix version of both the single and video, it was not able to reach 'Rock Wit U''s level of success on either pop or urban radio.

Most recently, in 2004, Ashanti released the third single from Chapter II, 'Breakup 2 Makeup'; its complete lack of video play on any American music video stations, including the cable channels, VH1 Soul and MTV Jams, and almost total lack of American radio airplay had some speculating that Ashanti's career as a superstar pop diva might have run its course. However, R&B newcomer Lloyd has released a duet with Ashanti, 'Southside', as his first single; and it became a hit at American radio, as well as MTV Jams, over the summer of 2004. In January 2005, Ashanti made her feature film acting debut in the movie Coach Carter with Samuel L. Jackson.