KEY POINTS:
Anastacia greets me with the loudest, friendliest "Hello" I've ever received in an interview. And without skipping a beat she's then thanking me for waking up so early. It's 6am and it's true I am a little dazed - it's not the time, however, it's because I've never spoken to such a happy superstar. But the pint-sized soul sister who belted out smash hits like Not That Kind and I'm Outta Love has a lot to be happy about.
Turn the clock back to 2003 when Anastacia was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 35 and she could not have foreseen her life now - a new album, a sexy new look and a hot new husband to boot. Perhaps most significantly, though, after surgery and radiotherapy she is healthy and has a new way to cope with the stresses of being one of the biggest-selling artists of the last decade (having sold more than 16 million albums outside the US alone).
The American singer admits she had to face facts after her year-long Live at Last tour, which followed the release of her last album in 2004, and force herself to take time out. "I worked myself to an absolute exhaustion right up until 2006. Then I just pulled the plug on myself musically and said: 'I have to stop because I don't have the zest I used to and the power to want to go out and do another album right now'," she says. She spent the time with family and friends, reflecting on life, and when she least expected it, she also found love - which funnily enough had been right under her nose for years. "He [Wayne Newton] was my bodyguard," she beams. "Then he became my boyfriend bodyguard, and now he's my husband bodyguard," she laughs.
Anastacia married Newton in Mexico last year and is clearly besotted with the man who still travels everywhere with her - all in the name of protection. "I love married life! I wouldn't have thought twice about it, it just so happens the right guy came at the right moment in my life. It's one of those things - it's great and it works very well for me.
I'm happy and I feel very proud to be his wife." It seems love was exactly what Anastacia needed to help her get her groove back. "I'm feeling great. I'm loving being back at work," she says. And, with the release of her fourth album Heavy Rotation - due out tomorrow - dropping as New Zealand's Breast Cancer Awareness Month draws to an end - it's a timely reminder that there's more to life than work. "I think my business is just a stress-filled monstrosity of work and it depends on how you file that into your spirit. I'm trying to do the best I can to filter out the stress in a different way now."
Anastacia's decision to go public with her battle with breast cancer five years ago opened up a floodgate of celebrities following suit - a move many medical practitioners praised for drawing attention to what had, for many years, been a silent disease. And she has no regrets about letting the world in. "From my own personal experience of sharing my story and being very open from the beginning, the women that aren't able to speak so loudly or speak at all feel they're not alone and that it's not shameful." She understands it's hard to be in the public eye and open up about things like cancer but is full of praise for other celebrities who have.
"Not everyone has the power, the will or the drive to want to do that, and that doesn't make anyone more heroic because they do. But people like Kylie [Minogue], Melissa Etheridge and Sheryl Crow actually have spoken about their battles." "All of it is important to talk about if you can - if it's possible through your own struggle to share and help others. I think it's important," she says. It was the 40-year-old's brush with death that largely inspired her last album, simply titled Anastacia, which she also describes as her "cancer survivor" record. She says it allowed her to get a lot of her anger out, but she's changed tact on her new one.
"Within the album I think I've shown a different part of my heart that's allowed me to find happiness in everything - not only just in my life but in my work and in the way I perceive things," she says. A change in record label - after she followed her manager from Sony to Mercury Records - also provided her with a blank page to work from. "There was suddenly this opportunity to do new things with no judgement of what had been done before," she says. It also gave her the chance to work with RnB man of the moment Ne-Yo on the album's first single, I Can Feel You.
"Years ago, if someone mentioned working with a name like Ne-Yo, it would've been 'Oh yeah; me and everyone else'. I wouldn't have wanted to go with the masses, but if you listen to Ne-Yo he just kills a song when he writes one - he's brilliant!"
Working with the Grammy-winning singer, as well as maestro record producer Lester Mendez, has given Anastacia a fresh vibrant sound and the album pumps out pure energy throughout. That, mixed with her distinctive and unrestrained vocals are a recipe to send the one-time club queen back to the top of DJs' playlists.
While it's a positively upbeat affair that celebrates life, Anastacia never allows herself to lose sight that it's also a constant battle. In fact she called the album Heavy Rotation not only because it was a phrase that originated with DJs but also because "life can be heavy but it all turns around and goes into something else" - a perfect title for where she's at in life, she says.
And the diminutive star is preparing herself for the onslaught of hard work that comes with releasing a new album and touring on her own terms this time. "Trying to keep my feet on the ground and my head on my shoulders is really what my lifetime goal as a person is. I'm trying to be pleasant and appreciative of everything the best I can be." "But, I do it on a daily and moment-to-moment basis." With that Anastacia bids me a cheery goodbye - but not before thanking me one last time for getting up so early.
But, really, the pleasure has been all mine.
* Anastacia's new album, Heavy Rotation, is in stores tomorrow.
