Anastacia is a story about personal struggle and triumph. A story that embodies her soul, her energy, her passion and her sincerity, the only way that she knows how - her way.
She is a determined, uncompromising and a focused Chicago-born, New York City-raised talent that is known for her sass and style, but hailed for her unique vocal styling. With her debut album Not That Kind on the Top 10 Album Charts in nearly ten countries, with gold, platinum and multi-platinum sales status in more then a dozen countries and with overall sales exceeding 5 million overseas, Anastacia has conquered Europe (U.K., France, Italy, Holland and Germany) as well as New Zealand and Australia with her sheer talent. Now, as Not That Kind gets ready to hit the shelves in America, Anastacia is certain to draw from the things that have helped guide her success thus far - her soul, her energy, her passion and her sincerity.

"I had no preconceived ideas about what this record was going to be," said Anastacia. "I was fortunate to find people to work with who felt the same way I did. If I'm not singing songs from my heart, and if I don't feel something in the groove or the lyrics I don't touch the microphone. I just can't express anything musically unless it's coming from my heart."

It is this strong belief and practice that has guided Anastacia on her more then tedious personal and professional journey. Following several jobs as a dancer on "Club MTV" and appearances in numerous hit videos, including Salt-N-Pepa's "Everybody Get Up" and "Twist And Shout", her dismissal as a receptionist in a Los Angeles hair salon (a few years later) found Anastacia on the unemployment line and completely disenchanted with a business that she had been around all of her life -- her father was a crooner and her mother, an actress who worked in musical theater and on Broadway.
"I was told that I needed to look a certain way, to sound a certain way, to move a certain way and all I wanted to do was just sing. I couldn't understand why this was such an issue."

But convinced to take one last shot by her manager, Anastacia got the break she had been waiting for when recognized by the right people following an appearance on MTV's "The Cut." Anastacia was courted by several producers and labels and after signing to Epic Records/Daylight received a phone call that gave her even more confidence to believe in herself.

"The reaction to my performance on "The Cut" was incredible," she recalls. "Michael Jackson called me at home and over the next few months I met the president of almost every major record label."

"Speaking to Michael Jackson and hearing his kind words of support and encouragement really gave me the confidence and more importantly the belief that I was destined to get my shot in this business," said Anastacia.
"Life has always been about growth and learning for me and I learned a valuable lesson in the 30 minutes that I spoke to Michael - stay true to who you are and do things that you can be proud of and everything else will fall into place."

But whether a new lesson or a reaffirmation of lessons learned during her youth, Anastacia finds herself remarkably focused and centered at a time when most, on the cusp of international stardom, might lose their path. She credits some of this balance to her ongoing battle with Crohn's disease, which she was diagnosed with at 13.

"For those with Crohn's, holding in our emotions or masking our unhappiness fuels the symptoms," said Anastacia. "What is seen as a curse for some, is a gift for me, because it has helped me to discover who I really am as a person. The disease has given me a clear window to my own emotions, which causes me to live each moment and to understand exactly how I'm behaving in a particular situation."

But living in the moment wasn't a problem during one of the seminal moments in Anastacia's life - a moment when she was able to come face to face with one of her biggest supporters.

"Elton John is so frickin' cool. I met him as a total unknown, he knew nothing about me as a person and was absolutely one of the kindest men that I had ever met," said Anastacia. "He told me that he liked my songs and that he liked the way that I sang them - from the heart, with soul and passion - the biggest compliment that I could've ever received."

It wasn't until this past year that Anastacia and John finally got together on stage and tore the house down for his network television special, where the two performed "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)" from the hallowed halls of New York City's Madison Square Garden. It is clearly these life experiences, along with, as Anastacia puts it "meeting the taxi driver, the doctor, a new guy, a fan", that have inspired her to be a performer.

"Everyday living on the earth has inspired me to communicate through my music," she says stopping short of calling herself a songwriter. "Bono is a songwriter, Elton is a songwriter, Sting is a songwriter, Rob Thomas is a songwriter - I'm an expressionist, I have a way with words so I just put them on paper and communicate them through my music."

The result is a collection of songs that are equal parts dance, R&B, rock and scorching power ballads. Holding nothing back in her tremendously powerful vocal range, Anastacia's soulful voice is the common thread that binds this eclectic mixture of genres on Not That Kind.

Anastacia co-wrote eleven out of the thirteen tracks on Not That Kind and collaborated with a number of all-star producers. Among the most prominent is Grammy Award winner Rick Wake (Mariah Carey and Celine Dion) who produced the title track "Not That Kind," "Why'd You Lie To Me," "Late Last Night" and co-produced the rock-flavored "Cowboys & Kisses" along with The Shadowmen.

In addition, Sam Watters of Color Me Badd and Louis Biancaniello produced four stand-out tracks including "Made For Lovin' You", "I Ask of You" and the infectious #1 European single "I'm Outta Love" due as the first U.S. single, slated for radio ads in the U.S., on February 20th. Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers (the hit-making composers of N'Sync's "God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You") produced two tracks "Same Old Story" and "Who's Gonna Stop the Rain."

Whether an expressionist or a songwriter, call Anastacia what you will. She is a rare and unique person blended with just the right mixture of heart and mind, sincerity and passion and courage and confidence -- with just the right mixture of humor and personality, style and sass. And with all that...man can she sing and dance her ass off!