Anastacia

Background

Anastacia Lyn Newkirk was born to club singer Robert Newkirk and Broadway actress Diane Hurley in Chicago, Illinois. At 13, she was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease. She and her mother later moved to New York City, where she finished her schooling. After high school, Newkirk pursued her music career while working at restaurants and hair salons. She became a dancer for hire in the 1980s and 1990s, regularly appearing on M.T.V.’s “Club MTV” and performing in two music videos for the hip-hop trio Salt-N-Pepa. Before securing her record deal in 1990, she sang background vocals for more established talents. Two years later, she got her big break as a solo singer on the “ComicView” show, where she sang Oleta Adams’ ‘Get Here.’

Her debut album, “Not That Kind,” was released in 2000 and was a tremendous success. It reached the top 10 in eight countries in Asia, Europe, and Oceania and went quadruple platinum in Australia following the success of the debut single ‘I’m Outta Love,’ the country’s most popular song in 2000. It topped the charts in Australia and reached number two in France and six in the U.K. and Germany. Ironically, it was only a minor radio hit in the U.S. Her sophomore album, “Freak of Nature,” was released in November 2001 and achieved successful sales in the U.K., where it went triple platinum, and was a hit throughout continental Europe.

In 2003, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, which she underwent 10 procedures and five surgeries to remove before deciding to have a double mastectomy after a second breast cancer diagnosis in 2013. She then established the Anastacia Fund to raise awareness about breast cancer in younger women.