Through all the surgeries and craziness... I feel I’ve been able to find the old Anastacia

Anastacia tells LUCY MAPSTONE how she’s back taking her rightful place in the spotlight again after cancer and her double mastectomy

POP powerhouse Anastacia says she feels like she’s come home now she is making music once more. The American singersongwriter and former dancer has been through a lot over the last few years but retains her exuberance and infectious laughter.

Her health complications include two bouts of breast cancer, a double mastectomy and a life-long battle with Crohn’s disease but she says she now feels like she is back to her old self.

“I feel like I’ve been able to find the old Anastacia through all the surgeries and all the craziness and all the ups and downs,” she says.

“I really have found my way back to how I write. I know everybody has a rapper on their music, but I’m just going to do my thing. I can’t run away from who I am.”

Her latest album Evolution means a lot to her and sees Anastacia doing what she does best, via a stint on Strictly Come Dancing, the launch of a clothing range and a tour of her biggest hits in Europe.

“I actually feel like I’ve been reborn a little bit, because this is what it used to be like, for me,” she says, reminiscing about her early days.

Anastacia burst onto the scene with robust pop classic I’m Outta Love in 2000, launching her on an enviable career after years of trying to break into the industry.

“This is what I did when I started, so I didn’t know any better, I thought everybody always worked like this and in the height of my career – from the first song on – there were tons of interviews and blah blah blah, and it was fabulous,” she enthuses.

“And now I feel like I have come back into that circle, because I’ve delivered an album and, from what I’ve heard from people... it could all be lies, but they’re saying that this is like me coming back to the industry as strong as I came into it. And I’m very grateful for that.”

The 49-year-old admits she does not know how she managed to fit everything in for her seventh studio album.

“I have no idea how I did that because I was doing a tour at the same time and making a clothing line, so I’m still going, ‘are you really joking with me? Is this a prank? Am I on Punk’d?’” she says.

“As I stand back now and I look at the album, I do kind of feel like the old Anastacia again,” she says.

“Musically I don’t feel like I’ve changed. I think the music industry has gone through an evolution and I’m still here,” she offers by way of explanation for the album’s name.

“I’m still here singing the same thing, but everything is different in the music industry.”

Something that has changed for Anastacia, though, is the amount of touring she does. There’s even more. Her health problems haven’t made her take a step back from treadmill that comes with travelling and performing then?

“Nope, and I think over the years, with the manager I have now, he’s actually got me touring more,” she says.

Despite having just completed her Ultimate Collection tour, Anastacia is already planning her next one and will hit the road next April.

Anastacia describes her voice as her “muscle” and adds: “I can’t really abuse it, and that’s why it still sounds like it does 20 years later. I’m continuing to try to keep going.”

She wants to make it known she’ll be doing this for many, many years. “They’ll be wheeling me out in my blinged-out wheelchair,” she laughs.

The album Evolution is out now.

I’m still here singing the same thing, but everything is different in the music industry Anastacia, above, on staying true to her style in the modern music landscape