09:45 AM EDT on Wednesday, June 23, 2004

By MARIA KOTULA / 6NEWS

AP Fantasia Barrino laughs as she sits in the den of her new Charlotte home.

It was a big day Tuesday for Fantasia Barrino’s fans in Charlotte. On the day her CD debuted, her publicist confirmed she bought a house in Charlotte.

The ‘American Idol’ winner moved from High Point partly to escape the fan frenzy that surrounded her home there. Now she’s trying to keep the new home she just moved into with her dog Diva a secret.

These are red letter days for Fantasia as her face peers out from CD racks at record stores nationwide. Charlotte fans used their lunch hour to buy the new CD. When they heard Fantasia bought a home in southeast Charlotte near Ballantyne they were shocked.

Some fans hope this means they’ll run into her at the grocery store.

“I would just tell her she's blessed with that beautiful voice, and we're so proud of her,” said one fan.

The phones started ringing at Media Play the second Eleni Katsoudas walked in the door Tuesday morning. She received 40 calls in the first hour of the work day from people looking for Fantasia’s new CD, which has three songs and sells for $5.49.

The title track “I Believe" is the song fans say put her over the top when she sang it on ‘American Idol.’

Media Play sold out of the CD Tuesday, but they will be getting another shipment in. They already have a hold list for call-in customers.

Fantasia will be touring with the ‘American Idol's’ top ten finalists this summer. The tour kicks off July 14 in Salt Lake City and ends September 30 in Hawaii.

Fantasia’s full album will be released near the end of this year.