'IDOL' Star Fantasia Set for New VH1 Reality Series

Former "American Idol" and "The Color Purple" star Fantasia Barrino will return to reality television in a new unscripted series for VH1. The nine-time Grammy nominee received a series commitment from the network for a show, as yet untitled, that will premiere in early 2010 reports the Hollywood Reporter.

The project will detail Fantasia's life as a recording artist and celebrity mom.

As a 19-year old single mother, Fantasia began her path to international stardom when she became the winner of FOX's hugely successful audience-driven singing competition in May 2004. Now 23, Barrino has garnered critical acclaim for the release of both her debut album, Free Yourself, which marked her becoming the first artist in Billboard Hot 100 chart history to debut at #1 with her debut single "I Believe," and her second album, FANTASIA, released by J Records on December 12, 2006. To date, she has gathered more than 20 award nominations including the Grammy Awards, American Music Awards, Vibe Awards, Soul Train Awards and Soul Train "Lady of Soul" Awards, Billboard Music Awards and R&B & Hip Hop Awards, BET Awards, NAACP Image Awards, and Teen Choice Awards.

No stranger to acting, Fantasia also broke records of a different kind after authoring a New York Times best-selling autobiography Life Is Not A Fairy Tale (Simon & Schuster, September 2005) and starring in The Fantasia Barrino Story: Life is Not a Fairytale, the Debbie Allen-directed Lifetime original movie adaptation of her truthful, outspoken, and ultimately healing memoir in August 2006. For her performance, she was nominated for a 2007 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special. The biopic, also nominated as Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special for the 2007 NAACP Image Awards, ranks as the channel's second most watched movie and has been seen by 19 million viewers.

With her Broadway debut as Celie, the heart and soul of THE COLOR PURPLE, she added the distinction of being the first ever American Idol winner to star in a Broadway show.The producers of THE COLOR PURPLE announced that American Idol Season 3 winner Fantasia Barrino will reprise her starring role of Celie for the Washington, D.C. engagement. The Kennedy Center will host the first North American Touring production of THE COLOR PURPLE for five weeks, June 30 - August 2, 2009. Tickets are on sale now.

Fantasia made her Broadway debut in THE COLOR PURPLE on April 10, 2007. She won the 2007 Theater World Award and received across the board rave reviews, with Clive Barnes of The New York Post exclaiming "Four cheers for Fantasia! There is some elemental quality to Fantasia that is either greatness or something close to it. I feel a lot in the theater but usually I don't cry. With this performance, I found tears running down my cheeks. If you haven't seen THE COLOR PURPLE, see it now; if you have seen it, see it again. Something extraordinary is happening at the Broadway theatre that is not to be missed." The Daily News' Joe Dziemianowicz shouts out "Fantasia is a hit in THE COLOR PURPLE. Her performance is a must-see. Fantasia gives such a powerful performance it's almost too beautiful for words!"

Nominated for eleven Tony Awards®, including Best Musical, THE COLOR PURPLE opened on December 1, 2005 at the Broadway Theatre where it ran for over two record breaking years. It is based on the classic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker and the moving film by Steven Spielberg.

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