Anastacia (Anastacia Lyn Newkirk) was born on September 17, 1973) is an American pop and rock singer and songwriter.

She has been highly successful in Europe, Oceania, Asia and South Africa but has not had as much success Nor fame in her native United States. Despite the lack of American success, she has sold in excess of 25 million albums worldwide.

Her debut album Not That Kind was released in 2000. Anastacia wrote 75% of it and because of her voice the album leaned towards R&B and Soul. The album was a huge success, reaching the top ten in eight countries in Europe, Asia, and Oceania.

She is world renowned for her powerful, edgy voice, and she is a dramatic soprano, famous for her ability to hit high notes in her chest voice which has let people nickname her as the "European Whitney Houston" (since her success is mainly in Europe).

Her small stature (160 cm or 5'3") has also led to her being nicknamed "the little lady with the big voice". She is also known for her trademark glasses (often darkly tinted), but she had surgery to correct her vision permanently in August 2005.

http://www.anastacia.com/