Anastacia is back. And since she's never been a woman to do things by halves, when she talks about a fresh start, you can be sure she's going all the way. New look, new sound, new label, new management, newly wed - but the same powerhouse of a voice that has already sold more than 17 million albums in Europe and Australia alone.

Anastacia Lyn Newkirk was born in Chicago in September1968 but moved to New York in her early teens with her mum, sister and brother after her parents' marriage ended. Being diagnosed with Crohn's Disease didn't stop her realising an ambition to be a dancer, and soon she was a regular on Club MTV and appearing in videos with rappers Salt-n-Pepa. After showcasing that throaty, soulful voice on the MTV talent show The Cut in 1999, she signed to Epic and released her debut album 'Not That Kind' a year later. The first single 'I'm Outta Love' established her as a major star across Europe, Asia and Australia, and her follow-up album 'Freak Of Nature delivered the same hi-octane mix of thumping dance beats, massive pop hooks and passionate vocal performances while showing her growing maturity as a writer.

But then in 2003, everything changed.  The lump on her breast showed up while preparing for a reduction operation. In January she was given a definite cancer diagnosis, and the story leaked to the media before she'd even had time to tell her friends, giving her no choice but to go public on her illness. At the time it was traumatic, she says, but it all turned out for the best. She responded well to radiation treatment and was given the all-clear in June 2003. Continuing to be free of cancer, she has offered a very public example of the advantages of early detection, and since her illness, she has raised serious sums of money to encourage this through her Anastacia Fund. "I feel great now," she confirms. "I'm really lucky that I was given the opportunity to walk through the eye of something so terrifying. Although at points I was crawling!"

There was a time when she thought the power and range of her voice might be compromised by the treatment, but as the songs on 'Heavy Rotation' show, she now has her energy back in full, and that awesome voice on full power.   It wasn't until April 2008, when she officially signed her new deal that she began to write the new album. "It's been such a fast album I had no idea of what it was going to sound like, what I was going to say. I figured there would be a couple of love songs, but I didn't realise that most of the album was going to be as happy as it is. Even the songs I didn't write myself, that I chose, are all positive. Not 'Left Outside Alone' and 'I'm Out Of Love', but songs like 'I Can Feel You' and 'Heavy Rotation'."