Janice Vidal

Janice M. Vidal, often credited as Janice, is a female cantopop, jazz and R&B singer based in Hong Kong. She is the twin sister of singer Jill Vidal.

Debuting in 2005, Vidal has become one of the new notable singers in Hong Kong and Asia. She performs her songs in English, Cantonese and Mandarin and will be performing songs in Korean in the near future.

[edit] Biography

She is of mixed parentage with a Filipino father with ancestry in Cebu, Philippines and a Chinese Korean mother from Seoul, South Korea. As a Hong Kong singer she had chosen to adopt the Chinese name Wei Lan (衛蘭), although most of her fans refer to her simply as Janice. In the past she went under the name Renee in her musical work prior to her debut album in 2005 and "Ming Lok Tai" (明樂蒂) in a EEG singing competition in 2000. As of 2006, her father resides in Hong Kong, while her mother resides in South Korea. She learned English while attending international schools in Hong Kong.

[edit] Pre-debut

Before becoming an artist herself, Vidal had always enjoyed singing. Her voice came to the attention of renowned producer Mark Lui by chance when she recorded the backing vocals for one of mega star Leon Lai's songs (純粹誤會 (Drum & Bass Mix BPM 170)) in 2001. Vidal left a favourable impression on Lui, as upon Lui's stumbling across her voice he informed Leon, who in turn decided to offer Vidal a contract with AMusic (東亞), a newly-formed record label where Leon Lai is a major investor (Leon transferred himself to Amusic as well). As a result, Vidal became the first newcomer to sign for AMusic in 2004.

[edit] Music career

In My first concert, Janice stated that she was signed by Amusic around 2003. However Leon thought that she could not speak Cantonese properly back then and allocated her to work as an office assistant.^[2] Since Amusic only start operating from 28 July 2004,^[3] Janice might have actually worked for Paciwood Music and Entertainment Corporation [hk] (an artist management company) instead of Amusic.

During 2004 Leon Lai transferred himself as a singer and management of Amusic, after Christmas 2004, Janice started catching the media's attention by covering in English one of Leon's essential tunes "Long Distance" (情深說話未曾講) on the radio. The cover song quickly became a hit. Some fans initially thought it was an overseas singer who was covering one of Leon's classic hits, but were surprised to find out the singer was an unknown Hong Kong rookie. Since it was Christmas in Hong Kong at the time, Vidal's first song was swiftly followed by a Christmas version of another Leon Lai cover "不可一世" (this time in Cantonese). The Cantonese cover of "Long Distance" (情深說話未曾講) was aired on radio in Spring 2005 for the first time.

By April 2005, Vidal had become known as a mysterious singer who sung several cover versions of Leon Lai's songs, but whose face has never been shown in public. After roughly six months of radio publicity and building public anticipation, her face was finally unveiled when her debut album "Day & Night" was released on 13 April 2005. Fellow Cantopop singer, Justin Lo, was a big part of this album's production, and it soon became a hit.

On 25 November of the same year, Vidal released her second album "My Love", a rarity for a newcomer in Hong Kong's music industry.

She won all the (female) newbies singers awards in 2005 that were awarded by Hong Kong media. They were Commercial Radio Hong Kong (CRHK) 2005 Best Female Newbies - Gold, RTHK 2005 Best Female Newbies - Gold, TVB 2005 Best Female Newbies - Gold and Metro Radio I-Tech Metro Best Newbies 2005 (unranked).

In mid-December of 2005, Vidal was nominated by Commercial Radio 2 for the 2005 Hong Kong Music Award for Best Female Singer. A year later she got re-nominated by Commercial Radio Hong Kong (CRHK) and obtain Bronze in the Best Female singer category for 2006.

In an interview on Sina.com, Charles Ying stated that Cantonese is not Vidal's first language and asked how Vidal dealt with this difficulty. Vidal admitted that she does not read Chinese but uses English to help her pronounce words that she sings in the recording studio, however she replied that she is quicker at recognising Chinese characters.

Vidal held her first concert series in Hong Kong from 29th March to 1st April, 2007, as part of her 4-night stint at Hong Kong Coliseum. It was called "My First Concert."

[edit] Statue of Janice

Janice (right) posing next to her own wax figure (left)

Although Janice is one of the newbie in Cantopop, her single "Run Away from Home (離家出走)" had been recognised by the current Chief Executive of Hong Kong Donald Tsang.^[4]

From 28 April 2007 to 13 May 2007 Madame Tussauds Hong Kong organised "Madame Tussauds - Your Celebrity Choice for this Summer" competition with an aim to select new wax portrayal to be displayed in Madame Tussauds museum^[5] Vidal won the competition in May and her wax portrayal started to display in the glamour section on 18 July 2007. The statue wore a green ballet dress used during "My First Concert"^[6]

[edit] Jill Vidal

Janice (left) next to her sister Jill (right)

Janice Vidal's twin sister Jill Vidal (衛詩) is also a singer. Jill was signed by the same record label as Janice at the end of 2005 and released her first song in December of 2005. Although their voices sound virtually the same, Jill has a notably different style from Janice; her songs tend to be more hard-core R&B and are also more fast-paced, while Janice has a heavier Pop feel to her songs.