By Ramy Eletreby

Dance diva Anastacia returns to the stage for a performance at the White Party.

This year's White Party is shaping up to be a year of firsts as international gay icon, Anastacia, comes West for a rare U.S. appearance. Since her debut in 2000, with Not That Kind, her albums have sold over 20 million worldwide, with 3 million in the UK alone. With an impressive 12 hit singles (three in the top 10), and several international awards, she is something of a phenomenon in Europe. Though a battle with breast cancer put a brief hold on her career back in 2003, her strength and drive overcame the struggle and she's as lively as ever. Her soulful, passionate, and loud vocals have propelled her to a level of super-stardom overseas that rivals Madonna. Though she spends the majority of her time in Europe playing to her fans, she is an American girl through and through. Born in Chicago and raised in New York, this year's White Party brings Anastacia back home and finally playing for some of her most loyal fans. We caught up with Anastacia after a yoga class while she was visiting L.A.

Is this your first time playing the White Party?

I am de-virginizing my gay experience. I'm a girl who has never done a gay event ever, even though I am the new [gay icon] leader. A friend of mine told me, "Cher's doing fat people commercials and you are our new leader." And I was like, "Oh my God! Shut up!" I'm embarrassed to say it because it seems so obnoxious, but I have never been able to work within my schedule because everything's so [hectic], you know, my traveling. It's not like I'm in America so I can take an hour trip and say, "Oh sure, I'll go to New York for gay pride," and then there's Australia. I've always been either not available, or times were tougher for me and I was going through a health crisis even though I was in town. I was trying to find my own pride then. But now, I'm so happy to be able to actually give back and play at not one but two events.

What's the other event?

The second one is the Life Ball, which is on May 20 in Vienna. It's something Europe puts together every year and it's kind of "fashion meets raising money for AIDS" and it's always a fabulous event. Elton [John] is usually very much involved in it, and it involves a lot of fashion designers and a lot of clothes. It's very diva and very well respected. The year I was asked to do it, I was going through cancer so it's very surreal for me to be asked again and to be able to be okay to do it. I'm really excited to be doing both of these events.

During your battle with cancer, you recorded your self-titled third album. How do you look back on that whole year?

It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I personally opted for the surgery and I knew I wasn't going through chemo. I thought chemo would be so much worse than radiation, but it's almost like a battle of the two. Radiation can really zap you. It's an intense dose at one portion of your body and it just sucks the life out of you, really. I wasn't prepared for the mental and spiritual effects of radiation at all, and for someone who comes from a very strong character, I was sideswiped by that. I was expecting to continue writing the album and put it out at the end of 2003. I was angry when I found out I had cancer because it was ruining my itinerary and my goals and where my spirit was and where my art was. I think most people who listen to the Anastacia album, they go, "Oh my God, she put more rock in there. Cancer must totally have changed her." I was already there in 2002. I had picked out my producers. I was so there and bam, sideswiped at the beginning of 2003. But the producers waited, God bless [them]. But eventually, as with anyone who is a survivor, I came out and continued writing music. I really only wrote one song about the particular cancer event in my life. It's called, "Heavy on My Heart."

Are you working on any new material?

What I am working on right now is my clothing line, Anastacia, which is coming out in the fall. There will also be a perfume line called Resurrection by Anastacia. In terms of music, I just put out a double-disc greatest hits album, Pieces of a Dream, which has some new material on it. I ended up putting out a package. There's a full-on little coffee table book with all these pictures and there's a whole other CD of all remixes. I have known that remixing has made a huge difference in my career. Even though I'm not really in America, and I haven't really pushed myself, nor do I want to push myself, in the American market. My music has come over here and penetrated the American market through a lot of the clubs. I'm really grateful for that because it's given a whole other aspect to spreading the word. They hear this voice in the club and they go to the DJ and ask, "Who is that?" "You haven't heard of Anastacia?" "This is Anastacia?" And then they find out, "Oh my God, she's from America?" I'm like this phenomenon. They're going to listen to me talk at the White Party, and they're going to yell, "Why don't you have an accent?" I'm like, "Dude, I'm not Madonna. Even though I'm in Europe, it doesn't mean I have an accent." I'm totally from the Midwest. And I swear and curse like a sailor.

This is going to be your big debut, so to speak. Final thoughts?

The White Party is going be awesome. I'm going to have a great time. I'm going to be the white girl at the White Party. Caucasia!

Anastacia performs at the White Party at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 16, at the Sunset T-Dance at White Party Park. For more information or tickets, see www.jeffreysankerpresents.com, or www.boxofficetickets.com.