New York, NY (Top40 Charts) You can't make a list of the top singers of the '90s and '00s without mentioning Anastacia. The singer-songwriter—also dubbed "the little lady with the big voice"—remains a pop culture icon for hits like I'm Outta Love.
Despite singing not being her first, nor her second, but her third career choice, Anastacia handily established her legacy as one of the biggest pop stars of the noughties. Her music, often autobiographical in nature, deeply resonated with listeners, something that won her a whopping 74% of all the nominations she's ever received in her career.
Today, Anastacia continues to celebrate her years in the music industry, recently announcing that she'll be kicking off a European tour to commemorate the 25th anniversary of her debut studio album, Not That Kind.
However, the singer's journey to success hasn't been an easy one. As she prepares for Not That Kind's silver jubilee, let's explore how hard Anastacia worked through the course of her career just to get where she is today.
Skyrocketing to stardom
For Anastacia, entering the music industry was easier said than done. Starting out as a dancer on Club MTV, the singer worked her way into the music videos of popular '90s acts like Salt-N-Pepa and Coro, and began doing backup vocals for top acts like Tiffany. In 1992, she finally got her first break on the TV show ComicView, where she sang Brenda Russell's Get Here. That led her to move to Los Angeles, where she recorded One More Chance (which eventually ended up on Not That Kind) for producer OG Pierce. However, she failed to secure a record deal here and for a large chunk of the '90s, with other producers stating that her sound just didn't fit into any existing category.
By 1998, she started mulling over becoming a child psychologist, instead. That's when her would-be manager, Lisa Braude, encouraged her to join The Cut, where she made it into the top 10 by performing her would-be title track Not That Kind. Having impressed the likes of Michael Jackson and Elton John, she finally signed a record deal with Epic Records in 1999. In June 2000, she debuted Not That Kind—and the rest is history.
By 2006, the album sold over five million copies, with I'm Outta Love hitting platinum four times in Europe and three times in Australia. Her second album, Freak of Nature, achieved similar success. However, it was her third album, Anastacia, that broke all previous records for introducing an entirely new sound for the singer: "sprock" (a mix of soul, pop, and rock). The release got a 10/10 from our writers here at Top40-Charts, who appreciated the passion and energy of the release despite the health issues Anastacia was facing at the time.
Anastacia has always been open about the health issues she's faced throughout her career. In a 2024 radio interview, she revealed that she's been wearing glasses to correct her nearsightedness since she was six. She added tints to them in her early 20s after she started being called a "sexy librarian," and since then she's been seen wearing multiple pairs of prescription sunglasses for women. These are particularly popular for combining sun protection and vision correction in stylish frames, which is probably why Anastacia virtually never goes out before donning slim oval or shield-like rectangular sunnies reminiscent of the Culture and Remix sunglasses from Eyebuydirect. Despite the fact that they deliver an on-brand Y2K nostalgia still in vogue today thanks to the Bayonetta women's eyeglasses trend, she admitted it felt "strange" to learn that the sunglasses had become an indelible part of her image—but was happy to know it's what people recognized her for.
However, the issue that impacted her the most came with her first breast cancer diagnosis in 2003, which she cited as a major inspiration for the new sounds in Anastacia. Though she underwent a double mastectomy after her second diagnosis a decade later, the health scare led her to state that she would no longer release music after her 2017 album Evolution. Instead, she founded the Anastacia Fund for breast cancer awareness, auctioned her stage outfits on eBay for the benefit of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and performed at related events like the Pink Gala. For her efforts, she became the second woman in history to receive a Humanitarian Award from GQ.
Today, Anastacia focuses on trying new things—and celebrating her biggest hits in the industry. 2015, for example, saw the release of the Ultimate Collection, which listed all of her greatest hits from the past 15 years. In 2021, she participated in—and won—Masked Singer Australia, making her the first American singer to do so. And, despite statements that she would no longer release music after Evolution, Anastacia came back stronger and better than ever with the 2022 single American Night, a theme song she created for the film of the same name.
More importantly, however, she's dedicating more of her time to do what she loves the most: performing. In 2022, Anastacia went on the I'm Outta Lockdown: the 22nd Anniversary Tour—and, of course, she's following it up this year with the #NK25 Tour across the UK and continental Europe. In doing so, she confirms that she's sticking to her signature sound and image, and that she's not changing for anyone.
"I've just kept my space. This boat continues to float, thank you, and I have no other paddles!" Anastacia shared with Metro in an exclusive interview, adding that she'd be avoiding industry trends in terms of sound and AI integration. "I stay very loyal to me and what I like to sing, and that's why my routine on the road is very strict, because my audience comes to hear the notes."
