Who

The soft-voiced R&B singer has a good girl reputation, a string of pop hits, and an on-again off-again thing with hip-hop star Nelly.

Backstory

Born and raised on Long Island, Ashanti Douglas sang in her church's gospel choir and studied dance as a kid. After a few false starts in the music biz, she landed her first major break as the girly sidekick to rapper Big Pun on 2001's "How We Roll," which attracted the attention of Murder Inc. capo Irv Gotti. While the good-girl singer says she initially balked at joining such a thuggy label, she eventually signed and went on to lend her vocal talents to Ja Rule's "Always On Time" and the Fat Joe megahit "What's Luv?" Her 2002 self-titled debut won a Grammy and sold half a million copies in its first week, mostly because of its single "Foolish," which was inescapable on pop radio. She delivered once again with her 2003 album, the again-creatively-titled Chapter II, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Her third, 2005's Collectables by Ashanti, was largely a disappointment. (The half-hearted remix album was created solely to fulfill her contract with Def Jam.) In 2007, she debuted The Declaration, which marked her first release with Universal Motown.

On screen

Ashanti's film roles haven't received the same acclaim as her musical efforts. She starred as a pregnant teen in the feel-good basketball movie Coach Carter, which Roger Ebert pointedly called "her, ahem, first role." Ashanti also played a bitchy cheerleader in the teen revenge flick (and non-Academy-award-nominated) John Tucker Must Die.

Legal file

Music producer Genard Parker took her to court in 2005, alleging that he hadn't been paid for his work with the singer. Parker, the ex-boyfriend of Ashanti's mother, demanded $2.6 million, despite never having completed or distributed any albums for Ashanti. The parties settled the case in September 2006 for an undisclosed sum.

Personal

Ashanti's had an on-again, off-again relationship with rapper Nelly; in early 2007 rumors swirled of an engagement, but both camps have denied any impending wedding. When she was younger, it was rumored that she'd had an affair with Irv Gotti. Ashanti currently lives in Old Westbury, Long Island in a home she purchased in 2003 for $1.9 million.