FANTASIA

 American Idol Champion Fantasia to Release Debut Single on J Records, June 22 June 2004 (Newstream) -- American Idol winner, Fantasia, with an unprecedented 65 million votes on FOX's May 26th top-rated season finale, is set to release her J Records' debut single, I Believe (written by Tamyra Gray, a contestant from season one of the show) on June 22. The announcement of the single's release was made on June 3 by Clive Davis, chairman and CEO, BMG North America (who served as a judge in the final stages of American Idol) and American Idol creator, Simon Fuller (who heads up 19 Recordings Limited).

Fantasia's debut single will go to radio and retail on Tuesday, June 22. I Believe will be worked simultaneously to multiple formats and the retail single will feature two additional tracks, Summertime and Chain of Fools (from the American Idol Season 3, Greatest Soul Classics).

Chosen from some 70,000 contestants, the soulful singer was overwhelmed with emotion when host Ryan Seacrest announced Fantasia's win.

"I always had a dream, always wanted to sing, and it seemed I couldn't get my foot in the door," she declared backstage after the two-hour show was over.

Fantasia delivered an emotion-filled rendition of the classic Summertime on May 25, the final night of the contest, bringing a packed audience at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood to its feet for a standing ovation. FOX television's May 26th top-rated American Idol finale ended with a emotional victory for Fantasia, the 19-year-old from High Point, North Carolina, who beat runner-up 16-year-old Diana DeGarmo by some 1.3 million votes. FOX television opened up four phone lines so voters nationwide could choose between finalists Fantasia and DeGarmo; executives at AT&T Wireless recorded a record number of text messages for the evening, noting that 13.5 million text messages were sent during the course of the four-month contest.