Cherrie Ying

Cherrie Ying

Cherrie Ying

(simplified Chinese:应采儿)

Date of Birth
20 June 1983, Taiwan,China

Mini Biography

Cherrie Ying was born in Taiwan. At the age of seven, her family emigrated to New York City, where she spent a decade. After graduating high school, Cherrie moved to Hong Kong, where she began a successful career in films. She has worked alongside Andy Lau, Louis Koo, Yuen Wah, and Yuen Qiu.

Barbie Hsu
Barbie Hsu

Barbie Hsu

(simplified Chinese:徐熙媛)

Date of Birth
6 October 1976, Taiwan,China

Nickname
Elder S

Height
5′ 4¼” (1.63 m)

Trivia
Has been ambassador for Tissot watches since 2005.

Vivian Hsu
Vivian Hsu

Vivian Hsu

(simplified Chinese:徐若瑄)

Date of Birth
19 March 1975, Taichung, Taiwan,China

Birth Name
Shu Chuan Hsu

Height
5′ 3½” (1.61 m)

Trivia

Won first place in a teen beauty contest sponsored by a Taiwanese TV-variety show in 1990.

Studied Japanese and is fluent in the language. Currently is the co-host of a Japanese TV-variety show.

Has written lyrics for popular Taiwanese singers Jay Chou and Vanness Wu.

Is a singer/lyricist

Member of Japanese band Black Biscuits.

A-mei

A-mei

A-mei

(simplified Chinese:张惠妹)

Date of Birth
August 9, 1972 ,Taitung, Taiwan,China

Height
5′ 3” (1.60 m)

Background

A-Mei is an ethnic Puyuma. Like most Taiwanese aborigines, she was exposed to tribal music during her childhood. A-mei’s mother used to record herself singing, then play back the tape for her daughters to hear. A-mei had always been fascinated by music; she once said that she stuck to the radio and would rush to watch the late night music program introducing English songs when she was a little girl. She also showed great eagerness to perform in public, even forcing her friends to listen to her sing.

A-Mei first connected to the entertainment business by joining the televised “Five Lights Singing Contest” on TTV in 1994 after encouragement by her father, who was ill at that time. A-Mei made it all the way through to the finals but eventually lost in the final round. She felt very disappointed and was almost ready to give up interest in music competitions. A-Mei’s father then told her, “You definitely can sing, and you perform songs beautifully. Why don’t you enter the competition again to show that you have a talent for music?” So encouraged, A-mei then decided to make a second attempt the following year. Her stable and superb performances were much appreciated by the judges, and this time A-Mei was awarded the championship. Unfortunately, A-Mei’s father died before her victory, leaving her sad and aimless until she began to sing in pubs with a rock band formed by her musician cousin.She was later discovered by the popular singer/producer Chang Yu-Sheng  and started her career.

Her songs

Valen Hsu

Valen Hsu

Valen Hsu

(simplified Chinese:许茹芸)

Date of Birth
20 September 1974, Taipei, Taiwan,China

Height
5′ 2¼” (1.58 m)

Biography

A classically-trained pianist, she started playing the piano when she was 4. While she was attending high school in 1993, she was discovered while performing in a restaurant in Taipei, where many known pop artists began their careers. She was offered a contract with Taiwan’s What’s Music Record label and began work on her first commercial album, all before the age of 19.

Career

Valen Hsu has recorded 14 studio albums over the span of eight years, as well as four “Best Of” compilations. Her first album, Tau Hao, was completed in 1994 and received critical acclaim from the Asian music industry. However, record sales did not exceed expectations, only selling a little over 50,000 copies. Her next studio album was what significantly changed her career. Lei Hai, or Tear’s Sea as translated, sold more than 300,000 copies in Taiwan. And her third album, If the Cloud Knows, sold over 2.2 million copies alone in Taiwan. Her fourth album, Ri Guang Ji Zhang (Sunlight Airport) was completed in 1998 and sold 800,000 copies in Taiwan, but over 3 million copies in Asia, permanently placing her in the company of Asian divas such as Faye Wong and Sandy Lam and becoming an integral part of a new Mando-Pop era including Coco Lee and A-Mei.

In 1999, after the sale of What’s Music to Universal Records (Taiwan), she recorded a duet with Enrique Iglesias entitled You’re My No. 1, released on Enrique’s Asian version of his Enrique album. She ended her contract with What’s Music in 2001 and signed on with EMI Taiwan. The first album with her new record label was titled I Just Want to Tell You, and it was produced by Yosinori Kameda, a famous Japanese music producer. In 2001, she decided to broaden her professional career by acting in her first TV drama with F4, Taiwan’s boy-band equivalent to ‘N Sync. She further broadened her acting career in 2003 by performing on stage with Zuni Icosahedron, an independent cultural collective concentrating on alternative theater and multi-media performances. In 2004, she decided to take a hiatus from the music industry to pursue other interests, including learning English in New York City.

Valen Hsu is known for her vocals, which are wispy yet strong and crystal-clear. Her singing voice and technique have been compared to Hong Kong’s Faye Wong. In 1998, the Japanese magazine publication Asia Pop voted her as the best female pop vocalist in Asia. She has been known to deliver CD-quality live performances. Occasionally, she will play the piano while singing live at her concerts.

In 1999, she traveled to Rwanda, Africa with the World Health Organization and other Asian celebrities to perform charity work, filming a commercial and raising funds for donation through sales of an E.P. entitled Wo Niu (which means “Snail“), written by Jay Chou, one of Asia’s male pop stars.

In 2006, she filmed a full-length movie with famed Hong Kong Director Patrick Lam entitled Fu Zhi, or “After This Our Exile” as translated. She stars alongside Hong Kong actors Aaron Kwok and Charlie Yeung. The film was released in 2006 and subsequently won several Golden Horse Awards (Asia’s equivalent to the Academy Awards) on the same year, including Best Picture and Best Actor.

Her 13th studio album entitled 66 Pohjoista Leveyttä was released on December 21, 2007. She traveled to Finland’s Arctic Circle to film her music videos for this new album. Filming took place mainly in two cities: Helsinki and Rovaniemi. The first single is called “Fireworks”. She recorded a duet with Amguulan, a very talented singer from Mongolia, “Man and Woman” became one of the most popular song throughout 2008.

In 2006, Valen and her friends, Charlie Yeung, Gigi Leung and Angelica Lee formed “Hope Education Foundation”. A non-profit organization to help children in need.

After a 19 months hiatus, Valen released her latest album My Love Journey 1km. She invited her friend Josh to co-produced this album with her. Her first single is called ‘Let’s go when love arrives’, 2nd song is a soft rock ‘With You’

In addition to composing and writing some of her songs, she has also published two books: one of them a compilation of short poems and the other a beauty book entitled Beauty Sense, which were published in 2003 and 2006, respectively.

Her songs