Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas (born October 13, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She was first discovered as a teenager and later signed to Murder Inc. Records in 2002. That year, she was featured on Fat Joe’s “What’s Luv?” and Ja Rule’s “Always on Time”, both of which became two of the biggest hit songs of 2002. She became the first female artist to occupy the top two positions on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart simultaneously with “Foolish” and “What’s Luv?” at numbers one and two, respectively.

In 2002, Ashanti released her eponymous debut album, which sold over 505,000 copies throughout the U.S. in its first week of release. The album earned her many awards, including eight Billboard Music Awards, two American Music Awards, and a Grammy Award in 2003 for Best Contemporary R&B Album. The album has since been certified triple platinum in the United States and sold six million copies worldwide by the end of 2003. The lead single for the album, “Foolish”, was a critical and commercial success; it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. With “Foolish”, she became the second artist (after The Beatles) to have their first three chart entries in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously. Ashanti wrote and provided background vocals for Jennifer Lopez’s “Ain’t It Funny (Murder Remix)”, which also reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 2003, Ashanti released her second album, Chapter II, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 326,000 copies in the U.S. The album went platinum, selling over 1.5 million copies in the U.S. since its release. The album’s singles, “Rock wit U (Awww Baby)” and “Rain on Me”, were both commercial successes, peaking at number two and number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, respectively. Chapter II was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album, and “Rock wit U (Awww Baby)” and “Rain on Me” were each nominated in the categories of Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. In November 2003, Ashanti released a Christmas album titled Ashanti’s Christmas, which was a modest commercial success.

In 2004, Ashanti released her third studio album, Concrete Rose, the title of which took on Tupac Shakur’s pseudonym “The Rose That Grew from Concrete”. The album debuted at number seven in the U.S., with first-week sales of 254,000 copies, and became her third platinum-certified album. The first single, “Only U”, reached number thirteen on the Billboard Hot 100 and became her biggest hit in the United Kingdom, peaking at number two. A second single, the ballad “Don’t Let Them”, garnered little chart success after Def Jam refused to fund a music video due to Irv Gotti’s legal troubles during his money laundering trial. Her subsequent albums include The Declaration (2008) and Braveheart (2014), the latter of which was released independently, on Ashanti’s record label, Written Entertainment.

Aside from music, Ashanti has also acted in various productions. In 2005, she made her feature film debut in Coach Carter alongside Samuel L. Jackson. She also starred as Dorothy Gale in the made-for-television film The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz, which attracted nearly 8 million viewers when it premiered. She has since appeared in the films John Tucker Must Die (2006) and Resident Evil: Extinction (2007). Throughout her career, Ashanti has sold nearly 15 million records worldwide.

Ashanti Douglas was born on October 13, 1980 in Glen Cove, New York. Her mother, Tina Douglas, is African-American and a former dance teacher, her father, Ken-Kaide Thomas Douglas, is also African-American and a former singer. She is the oldest of her parents’ children, with a younger sister named Kenashia “Shia” Douglas. Ashanti’s mother named her after the Ashanti Empire in Ghana; in this nation, women had power and influence, and Tina wanted Ashanti to follow that model. Her grandfather, James, was a civil rights activist who was associated with Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s.

Ashanti’s mother discovered her full singing potential when she overheard Ashanti singing Mary J. Blige’s “Reminisce” at age 12 (after the song was released on Ashanti’s birthday). While attending high school, she began to write songs. As a teenager, she performed in a local talent show and at several small festivals. She got her first taste of acting as a child extra in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X (1992) and in Ted Demme’s Who’s the Man?. She also had a couple of minor appearances in music videos, such as KRS-One’s “MC’s Act Like They Don’t Know” as well as 8-Off’s “Ghetto Girl”.