Tanya Chua

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Tanya Chua

Tanya Chua at the 17th Golden Melody Awards
Chinese name 蔡健雅
Pinyin Cài Jiànyǎ (Mandarin)
Origin Singapore
Born January 28, 1975 (1975-01-28) (age 33)
Singapore
Occupation Singer-songwriter, composer, musician, record producer
Label(s) Universal Music (1999–2001)
Warner Music (2003–2006)
Asia Muse (2007–present)
Years active 1997–present
Official site www.tanyachuamusic.com

Tanya Chua (simplified Chinese: 蔡健雅; pinyin: Cài Jiànyǎ) is a popular Singaporean singer. Born on 28 January 1975 in Singapore, she is currently a pop star renowned in much of Asia, including Taiwan, Singapore, China and Hong Kong.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Tanya Chua started out singing in English, releasing her first English album, Bored, in 1997. She was also the first Singaporean to win a prize in the Asia Song Festival,[1] coming in first in the Unpublished category in 1998 before she furthered her studies at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, Los Angeles. However, the market for Singaporean English pop was very small, and she soon moved to singing in Mandarin, for which there was a Greater Asian market.

Tanya signed on to Universal Music Taiwan in 1998 and released her first Mandarin album, Breathe, in 1999. That album comprised compositions of her English songs matched to Chinese lyrics by Taiwanese lyricists. It was a critical hit in Taiwan, where she made a name for herself as a reputable singer-songwriter. Between 1999 and 2001, however, subsequent sales of her albums were mediocre, resulting in Universal dropping her as part of their cost-cutting exercise.

Despite this, she rebounded in 2003 with a new album contract by the Warner label in Taiwan, and a more confident, assured album Stranger, which topped sales charts in Taiwan. That success was due primarily to a slick packaging and marketing system which feminised Tanya's hitherto rock-chick image, and matched her smooth and sultry vocals to romantic yet mature ballads that grew on the listener. Her second Warner album, Amphibian (2005), won her an award at Taiwan's most prestigious music awards ceremony, the Golden Melody Awards. The 2006 release of her compilation T-time marked an end to her album contract with Warner, and she is currently under record label, Asia Muse. She is still active in the media, occasionally appearing in the Singapore media on yoga-related articles.

[edit] Trivia

She speaks Mandarin, English, and Indonesian, which is mutually intelligible with Malay.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Chinese albums

Album # Album information
1st Tanya / 蔡健雅
  • Released: January, 1999
  • Label: Polygram
  • Language: Mandarin
2nd Remember / 記念
3rd I Do Believe / 相信
4th STRANGER / 陌生人
5th Amphibian / 雙棲動物
6th Goodbye & Hello

[edit] English albums

Album # Album information
1st Bored
  • Released: December, 1997
  • Label: Yellow Music
  • Language: English
2nd Luck
  • Released: December, 1999
  • Label: Yellow Music
  • Language: English
3rd Moments of Magic (Singles)
  • Released: 1999
  • Label: Hype Records
  • Language: English
4th Jupiter

[edit] Compilation albums

Album # Album information
1st Tacit Understanding / 默契
2nd T-Time (新歌+精選)

[edit] Awards

Years Awards
1998
  • Asia Song Festival 1998 (Philippines), Best Music Composition (Hear Me)
1999
  • 6th Singapore Hit Awards, Best Local Music Composition (好无聊)
2000
  • 7th Singapore Hit Awards, Best Local Music Composition (纪念)
2004
  • 11th Singapore Hit Awards, Best Local Music Composition (夜盲症)
  • 11th Singapore Hit Awards, Best Local Music Arrangement (无底洞)
2005
  • 12th Singapore Hit Awards, Best Composing Artiste
  • 5th Global Chinese Music Awards, Most Popular Composing Artiste
  • 5th Global Chinese Music Awards, Most Popular Duet "原點"
2006
  • 17th Taiwan Golden Melody Award, Best Annual Female Vocalist (Amphibian 雙棲動物)
  • 6th Global Chinese Music Awards, Top 20 Songs for 'Beautiful Love'
  • 6th Global Chinese Music Awards, Best Composition for '障眼法'
2007
  • 第14届东方风云榜, Top 5 Regional Artise (Singapore)

[edit] Interviews

[edit] References

  1. ^ Composers and Authors Society of Singapore. 1st Singaporean to Win Asia Song Festival. June 1998.

[edit] External links

Languages