Ashanti

The soft-voiced R&B singer has a good girl reputation, a string of pop hits, and an on-again off-again thing with hip-hop star Nelly.

Born and raised on Long Island, Ashanti Douglas sang in her church's gospel choir and studied dance as a kid. After a few false starts in the music biz, she landed her first major break as the girly sidekick to rapper Big Pun on 2001's "How We Roll," which attracted the attention of Murder Inc. capo Irv Gotti. While the good-girl singer says she initially balked at joining such a thuggy label, she eventually signed and went on to lend her vocal talents to Ja Rule's "Always On Time" and the Fat Joe megahit "What's Luv?" Her 2002 self-titled debut won a Grammy and sold half a million copies in its first week, mostly because of its single "Foolish," which was inescapable on pop radio. She delivered once again with her 2003 album, the again-creatively-titled Chapter II, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. However, her subsequent efforts, like Concrete Rose and The Declaration have failed to capture the public as her early aughts debut. She's also diversified her resume with acting gigs, but her film roles haven't received the same acclaim as her musical efforts. She starred as a pregnant teen in the feel-good basketball movie Coach Carter, which Roger Ebert pointedly called "her, ahem, first role." Ashanti also played a bitchy cheerleader in the teen revenge flick (and non-Academy-award-nominated) John Tucker Must Die.

Ashanti's had an on-again, off-again relationship with rapper Nelly; in early 2007 rumors swirled of an engagement, but both camps have denied any impending wedding. Though they looked finished for good in 2011, they're still "cool" with each other and often spotted "canoodling." When she was younger, it was rumored that she'd had an affair with Irv Gotti. [Image via Getty]