Anastacia - Back After Cancer |
| Posted by: schmiggens | | Rock chick is just`sick `n' tired'of her latest collection of songs
By John Dingwall
ANAS TA CIA is to make her pop comeback after cancer treatment with a new album next month but said the experience of stepping back into the recording studio was a nightmare.
The award-winning US singer, who battled breast cancer last year, has written about her experiences on the self-title album out on March 29.
The lady with the big soulful voice returned to the studio in September, just six months after an operation to remove a cancerous tumour saved her life.
Doctors discovered a lump after Anastacia went for breast reduction treatment.
Despite being told she would be left physically drained from the operation and treatment, she teamed up with Grammy award-winning song writers Glen Ballard, Dallas Austin and Dave Stewart to write a batch of songs, including the forthcoming single Left Outside Alone.
Anastacia said: ''The experience was not pleasant. I usually look on the bright side of things but so far nothing about making this record was positive for me.
''My doctor told me I'd be tired, not stupid. I could not focus on anything, I'd write a verse and then I could not write a chorus. Or I'd write the chorus and I could not write the bridge.
''I couldn't talk, I couldn't think straight. I was totally out of it. The doctor's said I'd be tired. But of course I had insomnia. It was tough.''
Yet what has come out of her six months in the studio is a raw, emotional and, no doubt, cathartic collection of 12 songs charting the experiences the 29-year-old went through after she was diagnosed 13 months ago.
Anastacia had 40 per cent of her breast removed in a bid to save her life.
And she was also fighting to make sure her music career would not suffer in the wake of such a traumatic and life changing event.
Perhaps none of the songs could be more direct than Sick 'n' Tired, which pretty much summed up her state of mind and body.
Anastacia said: ''I was aware of what I was writing, of what was flowing from my heart. And I was aware that people listening might be reading the subject matter of the songs. I challenged myself both lyrically and melodically to stay trueto those feelings and at the same time use them in a positive way. You see I need to see life through rose coloured glasses and while that view might have been clouded at times while writing some of these songs, I'm hoping people will see that and feel that in this album.''
Nevertheless, Anastacia did not want to drench her fans in melancholia or sentimentality.
She added: ''I wanted to move more towards a rock sound for this record and it really added so much to the recording. The feel of the music, the beat of many of the songs has really off-set some of the subject matter of the lyrics.''
Having undergone radiation therapy and reconstruction surgery, Anastacia admits she wasn't short of material and subject matter.
''Art is wonderful when suffering is involved, '' she said. ''There is no getting around the fact that some of the greatest writers, poets and musicians have done their finest work under stress. At some point I might feel different, but right now I'd prefer not to make this a habit.''
Having bared her soul, Anastacia is now bracing herself for a reaction from fans.
''I made this record for them, to share with them and I hope they embrace it, '' she said. ''It's kind of like letting someone close to you, into a dark secret and hoping that they understand and love you anyway. It lets you know that everything is okay.''
The forthcoming Anastacia single, Left Outside Alone, is released March 15. The album, Anastacia, is released on March 29. | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: schmiggens | | Recovering Anastacia Readies Third Album
By Jonathan Cohen
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Pop vocalist Anastacia is gearing up for the release of her first album since battling breast cancer over the past year.
The self-titled set is due March 29 via Epic internationally, where she is a major star, with a North American release date yet to be determined. First single "Left Outside Alone" will be issued March 8 in Europe, March 22 in the U.K., and April 6 in North America.
"Anastacia" is the follow-up to 2002's "Freak of Nature," which has sold 277,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The single "One Day in Your Life" topped Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.
"If there's any message I'd like to get out, it's what I've learned from this experience: Educate yourself, realize that we're not perfect and that can happen to any of us," she told Billboard last fall. "Be honest with yourself, and appreciate what's good in your life."
Anastacia has been easing back into live performance, including an appearance on Saturday at the Echo Awards in Berlin. Tuesday, she will offer a short set of songs from the new album at the Hospital in London.
Reuters/Billboard | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: schmiggens | | Anastacia Wrote New Album While Battling Cancer
Ratethemusic.com reports Anastacia wrote her new album while fighting breast cancer and undergoing radiotherapy. "I thought it was going to be a really cathartic experience, but I just couldn't write when all that was going on," she said. "I should have taken some time off. I really regret that now."
But don't look for an album that solely talks about her struggle with cancer. The singer added, "It's not an ode to cancer." | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: schmiggens | | POP star Anastacia says she was pleased to have helped women by going public with her battle against breast cancer.
'My honesty has saved many women's lives,' she says. 'I've received letters thanking me, saying it was because of me they had had themselves examined. Many of them had cancer at an early stage like I did and have since been cured.'
She also says her career is more important to her than her private life right now. | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: londoncalling | | Anastacia is a wonderful singer and songwriter! I wish her the best on her recovery! What an inspiration this woman is! | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: schmiggens | | Anastacia 'more womanly than ever'
After a lifetime of ill health, singer Anastacia suffered her cruellest blow of all when she was told she had cancer.
Forty per cent of her left breast was removed, and the same amount from her healthy right breast to even out the size.
She went through agonising radiation treatment without being able to use painkillers because she has Crohn's disease, which stops them working.
But a year later, after doctors gave her the all clear, she is looking more glamorous than ever.
And she has emerged from her ordeal with her sense of humour intact.
"I'm the most diseased pop star out there,' said the 31-year-old American who has had a string of hits in the UK including I'm Outta Love and One Day In Your Life.
"I'm proud of my title, gosh darn it. I wear it well."
In addition to Crohn's disease, which causes intestinal inflammation, Anastacia suffers from chronic back pain and a herniated disc in her neck.
The cancer was detected when she went to hospital for a breast reduction operation to ease the back pain.
A routine mammogram detected a tiny, tell-tale pattern in her left breast - which would have been impossible to detect by self-examination.
"It was growing like little flowers in my milk duct, the size of salt sprinkles,' she said.
'If it hadn't been for that technician, I wouldn't have known until I was so sick it had advanced to bone cancer."
She told Red magazine: "I don't feel that the cancer changed me, but maybe getting older has. I feel like I'm just coming into my womanhood - strange as that may sound right after breast cancer.
"I feel more womanly, and I'm liking it. I can do a photoshoot and still feel sexy and wonderful, and I don't have to have implants the size of Kingdom Come.
"I'm living proof that you can go through breast cancer and still find yourself attractive for who you are.
"I'm not the prettiest girl in the world. I don't have the best body - but I'm comfortable with what I've got."
Unable to continue with her regular exercise regime while undergoing treatment, Anastacia has only recently begun making visits to the gym again in preparation for her forthcoming world tour, which visits Britain and Ireland in November.
She added: "Yesterday, when I was working out, my sister said, 'God, you're pushing yourself harder than you have in a really long time'.
"It's not a lot - 45 minutes every other day. It's the endurance that I'm working on right now, because although my spirit came back right away, the physical side atrophied more than I ever could have dreamed of. But every day I'm feeling better and getting stronger." | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: schmiggens | | I can't imagine having to loose your breasts. Especially with being considered a sex symbol and being in the public eye so much. She has so much courage, it's great that she has made such a good come-back. Good on her!  | | Reply To this Message
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| Posted by: schmiggens | |
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| Anastacia won the award in the category best international singer |
That's odd I didn't think she'd really released anything that was super-sucessful. Still she looks great and her and her b/f look really happy and cute together. Maybe having a German boyfriend helps her profile in Germany?
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Adult Contemporary/Pop Music Forum: Anastacia - Back After Cancer
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