R'n'B singer Ashanti was born Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas on October 13, 1980 in Glen Cove, NY. In addition to being a Grammy award winning singer,Ashanti is also a song writer, record producer, actress, dancer, and poet.

• "The energy on stage is wild; its a wonderful feeling to hear people sing your records. In the studio you have to create an aura, a vibe, and when it is done you are happy"




• "I think it's very important once people meet you and they see in real life, yeah, you're a real person, you're normal just like them."




• "I didn't want to sing only slow songs and I didn't want to be spittin' rhymes. But Mary [J. Blige] put those concepts together. She cleared the way, and now I'm following my own path."




• "When you think of hip hop, you think grungy, dirty like concrete. When you think of R'n'B, you think smooth, sensuous - like a rose"




• "Guys will come up and be like, ‘Hi, I just wanna talk to you. I wanna prove that I ain’t like these other dudes. I just wanna conversate!’ But I don’t get guys following me back to my hotel, banging on my door."




• "I would take all the guys I know and make them get waxed - to show them what it feels like."




• "It's a wonderful idea to let girls know that women's curves are beautiful. Don't be ashamed to show them."



"You know how some guys smell like old clothes, like they've been in a hamper? They wanna hug up all on you, smelling like they've been playing ball all day. That doesn't work."