Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas, better known as R&B singer Ashanti, was born on October 13, 1980.  A talented songstress in her own right, Ashanti has also written songs for several big names such as Nas and Jennifer Lopez.  Ashanti’s rise to fame began at the Bernice Johnson Cultural Arts Center where she was taught a variety of dance techniques.  She even got a part in the production Polly as well as danced in several music videos.  Acting also is in Ashanti talent bag as she had earned roles in Who’s da Man and Malcolm X.  But it was not until meeting Irv Gotti that her career really took off.

First, Ashanti got to guest star on some other artists’ tracks like Big Pun’s song “How we roll” before she was allowed to go it alone with her own material.   Two duet singles with Ja Rule and Fat Joe led to the monster hit “Foolish” off of Ashanti’s self-titled first album.  Amid a slew of bad press articles surrounding the FBI investigation of her label Murder Inc., Ashanti still met success with her second album “Chapter II”. 

The dubbed “Princess of Hip Hop and R&B” came out with albums “Concrete Rose” in 2004 and “The Declaration” in 2007.  These projects included hits like "Always on Time" other singles that featured rapper Ja rule, a label mate of Ashanti’s.  And Ashanti had such demand during a certain period of time that she made a Christmas album that sold well. The fact that 500,000 copies of Ashanti’s first album were sold its first week is a testament to the mainstream appeal of her brand of pop and R&B mix.

Ashanti has received 8 Grammy nominations and has won one over the course of her career thus far. She won the one Grammy in 2003 in the Best Contemporary R&B Album for her first album.  Ashanti cites artists like Ella Fitzgerald and Mary J. Blige as influences and inspiration for what she does musically.  In a twist of fate, she was given a very prestigious award in the presence of some of the greats who she looks up to. Ashanti was bestowed with the Soul Train Aretha Franklin Award for "Entertainer of the Year" in 2002.  Some critics detracted away from the win by saying that she was not worthy of it as a fairly new artist who lacked some of the charisma and talent according to their standards that should be characteristic of winners of this award.
Despite that little bit of controversy, Ashanti’s musical career has opened many doors for in other creative venues.   She is an author of a book of poetry entitled Foolish/Unfoolish Reflections on Love and she has ventured more into acting with roles like the ones in Resident Evil: Extinction and Coach Carter.  She has even launched her owned fragrance and well as a jean brand with MUDD.

With her success, Ashanti has taken on several charitable causes.  She was involved with the National Domestic Violence Awareness campaign as well as the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  She has also contributed money she has made throughout her career to issues ongoing sickle-cell research as well as to the more immediate causes like Hurricane Katrina evacuees.  Currently, she is actively seeking acting gigs while at the same time maintaining musical pursuits.