THE BASICS

WHO IS SHE?: Anastacia Newkirk, 27, is Aretha Franklin reincarnated -- well, she could be if Ms. Franklin had passed on. Only thing is, Anastacia -- for marketing reasons, Newkirk falls into the same bin as Madonna's Ciccone and Roseanne's Barr -- is Wonder bread-white. Her soulful, tiramisu-rich voice is a match for Motown's finest divas, and her debut album, Not That Kind, out now, is a wondrous marriage of her expressive vocals and silky smooth R&B grooves.

WHAT HAS SHE DONE?: Until now, Anastacia's dance card's been relatively open. The blonde chanteuse spent time as a dancer on Club MTV and appeared in music videos for Salt-n-Pepa before getting her watershed moment on a TV talent show called The Cut, where she was among ten finalists and, soon after, the beneficiary of a record company feeding frenzy.

WHY DO WE CARE?: She's got the look. Flouting stereotypes that sultry singers should conceal their weaknesses, Anastacia shuns contact lenses for oft-ridiculed specs. "I'm a low-maintenance kind of chick," she explains. "I can just put glasses on and not worry about the squishy stuff you put in your eyes." It works.

Playboy.com: You were discovered on a show similar to Star Search, correct?

Anastacia: It was called The Cut. It's like an MTV version of Star Search. That's how I describe it, and the only thing I can say is this whole year and a half has been the biggest fairy tale story. Before I did The Cut, I was on unemployment. I stopped singing. I was discouraged. It was everything. I got fired from a job for the first time.

PB: What job was that?

A: It was a facial salon in Beverly Hills, and I was a receptionist and got fired 'cause I was just a little bit too loud and wild. Ya know, you come to get a facial and I'm like, "Hi, how are ya?!"

PB: Were you making too many personal calls or something?

A: I'm just not fake that way, and certain places in Beverly Hills work perfectly if you have that mentality. Not that that's wrong or right, but it's just what they wanted. When they first met me I was quieter because you wanna get the job, and then, little by little, I can't help it, but I'm Anastacia till the day I die and I'm just gonna be me and I'm gonna talk and go, "Hey, girlfriend!"

My current manager, who was an acquaintance of mine, found out through a friend that I'd quit singing, and she called me up and was like, "No, you must sing." And I was like, "No, I mustn't, because I'm so not meant for this business. It's too hard-core, ya know. And I'm too honest, I'm too nice, I'm too reliable, I don't do drugs. I don't think I'm meant for this. I think I need to be a therapist or something." And, so, lo and behold, she talked me into six months of giving it a shot. Three months later I was on The Cut. Two days later the phone has been off the hook since. Every label called up. Every label offered a deal.

PB: How many of them thought you were a black artist when they heard the tape?

A: When people heard me I think that is something that was always a downfall for me in trying to get a deal for these many years. They'd hear me, they'd like the way I sang and everything and they were like, "What a great little voice" or whatever, and then when they found out that I was a little blonde white girl, they were like, "Oh...."

PB: What are some of the stranger things stylists told you to do to change your image?
A: To change my vocals. It was take out the twang, take out the growl and can you sound a little less black. Take off the glasses for sure. So, I mean I definitely got a lot of imaging pointers from a lot of people who just felt like if I change what I am today I'll be a star. And I always felt like when I changed what I was, there was no way I could be a star 'cause I was fake.

The minute I was given a chance to get out and not have five million stylists telling me what to do with myself and a million people telling me how to cut my body and my clothes, and I was just allowed to go out there with a track -- which I hated -- and sing, it was like an amazing thing.

People were thinking, 'Wow, you discovered an amazing concept." I'm like, What are you talking about? "Oh, your glasses. What a great gimmick." I'm like, Dude, I'm blind. I'm looking at these people going this is normal. This is what a lot of people are doing out there without trying to catch on to the new fad and wait. So luckily I was able to go about it and be myself.

PB: How important is what you look like to the package?
A: I used to shop at the $10 store. Now, they don't have me doing that. But I was still able to keep my style. They just were able to give me a little more cash to do a couple more things to make it look star quality. Like makeup. Oh my God, what a concept. I never wore it before and I'm not wearing it now. It's not something that I'm into. But, you know what, for the camera and for stuff like that, I need it. So, I have a makeup artist now, which is something that makes me look bigger than I am.

PB: Who do you consider the hottest female singer on the planet?

A: I'm an admirer of a lot of different people. I've never really been a musical fan. I've never collected music. I was a Barbra Streisand fan as a child. I always felt that she was a diva. I felt that she was a great little actress, an incredible dynamic singer, ballsy, but classy, and I always found her very attractive. I thought her hands were beautiful. I love her lips. I thought that she had beautiful and an incredible little body but always kept very classy. Never threw herself out there and did a spread. Never belittled herself to say I'm gonna show you what I got because I got it. You don't have to see it all. It's there. Leave it to your imagination. I think that is a sexier thing on someone who doesn't show everything they got, but gives you hints. I think that's sexier than letting it all hang out. Even though I give mad props to the people who do that because it takes a lot of guts.

Photo Credit: Photo by Reisig & Taylor