In January 2011,
American Idol will start it's 10th season. Wow. That means that nine people's lives have dramatically changed due - in part, at least - to the show's efforts. One of those is
Fantasia Barrino.
She was A.I.'s third grand prize winner. And, earned the title by belting out such memorable R&B / Motown mega-hits as "Summertime," "Chain of Fools" and "I Heard It Through The Grapevine." But, as soon as she finished bowing to the show's audience, she began bowing to her own legion of followers. She released the hit single "I believe" in 2004 which won Billboard's awards for the Top Selling Single Of The Year and the Top Selling R&B/Hip-Hop Single Of The Year. The tune was included in her first album entitled
Free Yourself. In 2006, the popular hit "Free Yourself" earned her Grammy nominations for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song for. The album itself was also up for Best R&B Album Of The Year. The same year, she received a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for her polished recording of "Summertime."
In 2006, she released her self-titled album which was also of equal success to her first. But, what surprised her fans even more was that she accepted the lead role of Celie in the Broadway musical production of
The Color Purple. And she killed it. Long-time Broadway critic Clive Barnes of the New York Post went on to say "...There is some elemental quality to Fantasia that is either greatness or something close to it." Then she beat out the stiff competition for the Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut Performance.
In August 2010, her fans were overly thrilled when she released her third album aptly named
Back To Me - apt because she's been very vocal about her belief that life and music can never be separated. By titling the album this way, she was making her current goals, both creative and personal, crystal clear. Fantasia is music.
Yet another reason for the fans of her R&B music to rejoice is that she's on the road to promote this latest effort. She's on the East Coast playing the
Chrystler Hall in Norfolk, VA and the
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, MA. She's in the Midwest playing venues like
The Murat Theatre at Old National Centre in Indianapolis and
Procter and Gamble Hall in Cincinnati. She's in the West entertaining her fans in LA's
Club Nokia and San Francisco's
Warfield Theatre. And, she's making sure to get back to her Southern roots by playing the
Ovens Auditorium in Charlotte, NC and the
Johnny Mercer Theatre in Savannah, GA. She's doing her best to give all of her nationwide fans base a chance at a show. Here is
Fantasia Barrino's full tour schedule.
Helping to make the tour a success are her openers
Eric Benet and
Kandi.
Fans of R&B, fans of Motown, fans of soul, fans of passionate music one and all will walk away from Fantasia's concert understanding how she won the competitive American Idol contest. Though, they may also wonder why such a talented musician needed the show to get a start in the first place. Regardless, she's here and she's making it.
