How I Would Manage Fantasia Barrino's Career

I never thought it would happen, but it has finally come to this: I am no longer a fan of singer Fantasia Barrino. It happened recently looking at the 2012 Essence Music Festival. I watched with horror as the very pregnant chanteuse sang ‘Bittersweet’, her only Grammy win to date.

Wearing a long, black, lop-sided, tacky weave; Fantasia kicked off her shoes and sang wild, whipping the crowd in frenzy as she gave her all. She always gives her all. That’s a good part of her brand. Still, she has major entertainment flaws, and needs a complete caeer make over.

Let me start by saying I am a fan of Fantasia Barrino. Her vocal range, ability to sing show tunes and R&B with equal talent, and her passionate singing has held up over the years. Yet, since her win on American idol in 2004, Fantasia has not lived up to the expectations of fans like me, or of her singing genius.

Her manager, Brian Dickens, is primarily a booking agent. He was able to parlay that skill into being hired as Fantasia’s manager. I say he has managed her professional life to low levels where no one of her caliber should ever sit.

If I were her manager, I would make the following changes to jump-start her career again:

• Make her Wear Shoes the entire Time she is on Stage. Fantasia comes on stage looking like an elegant woman. She then immediately takes off her shoes and performs barefoot during the entire performance. How ghetto.

Fantasia is not Patti LaBelle. She is nowhere near that diva level. Ms. Patti does it as part of her act, and she has long ago earned that maneuver as her signature brand; it works for her. On Fantasia, it just looks ghetto and nasty.

• Hire a Publicist to Work on a new Brand. She missed out of receiving her first Grammy award in 2010 because she wasn’t chosen to sing at a tribute to Aretha Franklin. Like a spoiled child, she told the world she did not attend the award show because she felt slighted. A publicist would have said something like, she had a previous commitment or thereabouts.

Fantasia is not always the most eloquent speaker off-stage. She needs a buffer at times. A publicist will highlight Fantasia’s incredible musical talents, and to the extent possible, decrease the negative publicity of her personal life. She should be on the short list to sing on award shows. Not just the BET type shows, but the Kennedy Center Honors type of shows as well.

• Make her take Stage Etiquette Classes. We saw some efforts toward learning stage presence on her reality show. She hired a man who tried to help her entrances and physical singing methods. Apparently, it didn’t take. To her credit, she has improved her red carpet techniques.

• Use a Hair Stylist. Sometimes, especially on her album covers and publicity photos, she looks very well coiffured. Other times, especially at performances like at the 2012 Essence Music Festival, her hair looks like a hot mess.

• No More Tattoos! Do we really have to say anything about this, Fantasia? Really?

• Use a Clothing Stylist and stop wearing ill-fitting Clothes. Okay, so she was once gaining weight to play Mahalia Jackson. Due to her second out of wedlock pregnancy, that deal is gone. She’s had her second child. Now she needs to wear clothes that fit. It's distracting to watch a singer pull and tug at her clothes while on stage. She needs a clothing stylist who will make sure she wears clothes that fit and are true to her brand.

• Leave North Carolina – Fast. With all the scandals, Fantasia needs to leave town and re-build her reputation. She needs to go where the action and work is – Los Angeles, Atlanta, or New York.

• Come up with a New Stage Routine every Year. If I have to hear her sing Rock Steady again as her signature song, I will have a conniption. Get some new upbeat tunes and rotate them.

• Have her Sing a Variety of Songs. Fantasia is not a one-dimensional singer. Her rendition of ‘Summertime' on the American Idol show in 2004 still stands out as one of the best renditions of the song.

This list is meant to re-direct Fantasia’s professional life. Her personal life unfortunately, has lately been the primary focus on her. In addition, as with her professional life, Fantasia has been consistently defiant. That will only go so far for her.

Here is what her lack of professionalism has led her. At the Kennedy Center Honors for Oprah Winfrey in 2010, Jennifer Hudson sang “I’m Still Here” from The Color Purple. At Oprah’s request. What a slap in the face to Fantasia, who sang this signature song in 2007 at the Tony Awards. I have to wonder if she was even considered for this event. Perhaps Oprah was afraid that Fantasia would kick her shoes off on stage.

If I haven’t expressed it outright as of yet, Fantasia Barrino is one of the greatest voices of the 21^st Century. However, her manager and Fantasia’s stubbornness are killing her and her unique voice by squandering and pandering to behaviors that are not conducive to keeping a long-term career.

It’s time for Fantasia Barrino to re-claim her initial greatness by re-inventing herself, as did Jennifer Hudson and Jordan Sparks. The around-the-way girl brand limits her. Even Mary J. Blige upgraded her image without sacrificing her music to superbly rich results.

It’s still not too late if Fantasia Barrino really wants to be a star instead of a has-been who could-have-been. She needs to embrace class and let go of crass if she wants to be mainstream and perform on television specials and at the theatres that pay big money. Or, she can stay in North Carolina, kick off her shoes on stage, have baby after baby, cover herself in tattoos, keep the baby weight on, stay in one scandal after another, and wonder why no one calls her to perform at the classier events.

Of course, if Fantasia believes she enjoys her current life where she can make all of her own decisions, good or bad, I say live and let live. If she wants to stop being disappointed, used, sued, and passed over, given primarily mediocre songs, she needs to change her personal environment and entertainment behavior - fast. Until then, I won’t watch her anymore, until she grows up.

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