IT takes a lot to beat Anastacia. The 5ft 3in singer might not look like she could take on the world, but spend one minute in her company and it becomes clear why this hugely successful star seemed to take even breast cancer in her stride.
Looking lithe and healthy, hair immaculate, make-up perfect, the 31-year-old is a force of nature, rather than the Freak Of Nature of her debut album's title.
She has just completed a demanding world tour, including an outstanding performance at Liverpool's Summer Pops.
And rather than drain her after her year-long battle with breast cancer in 2003, which was followed by the weighty demands of promoting her third album Anastacia throughout 2004, the tour gave the New York-born star a new lease of life.
"It's amazing what a tour can do for one's physical spirit," she says..
"It was hard getting into it because I wasn't quite as healed as I wanted to be. But it helped. Even though I may have dropped five pounds, my body is solid.
"And I am going to stay like this because I know it's good for my spirit. It's really nice to have my self back.
"I feel younger, happier, like I can run marathons."
As we head into the later part of 2005 Anastacia's music career is beginning to wind down for a while. In November she releases her first greatest hits collection. It will be preceded by an as
yet undecided new single, one of four new songs that feature on the hits collection. "One of them people have heard already, the collaboration with Ben Moody we did for the Fantastic Four soundtrack," says Anastacia.
"There's another duet with an Italian singer called Eros Ramazzotti who is unbelievable. He's sold millions of records and the character of his voice is very interesting.
