| Jade Valerie | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Jade Valerie Villalon |
| Born | August 12, 1980 San Diego, California, United States |
| Origin | United States |
| Genres | Pop Post-classical Dance Rock R&B World |
| Occupations | Singer Songwriter Pianist |
| Instruments | Vocals Piano |
| Years active | 2000 - present |
| Labels | Avex Trax (2009-Present, with Eternity∞) Universal Music Japan (2007-Present, solo) |
| Associated acts |
Sweetbox (1999-2007) Saint Vox (2009-Present) |
| Website | http://www.jadevalerie.com/ http://www.saintvox.com/ http://avexnet.or.jp/eternity/ |
Jade Valerie Villalon (born August 12, 1980), also known by her project and stage name Jade Valerie, is an American and European pop singer, songwriter, and actress.[1] She was the vocalist and lyricist of the pop project, Sweetbox, releasing five original albums and a number of compilations, until she left the project's title behind, in 2007, to pursue her musical career under her own name, Jade Valerie. After releasing two albums under this new name, two side-projects were formed, entitled 'Eternity∞' and 'Saint Vox', in which they were both formed by Jade and her musical partner and producer, Rosan 'Geo' Geoman, also releasing two self-titled albums in 2009. Saint Vox is a collaboration effort between her Jade Valerie project and the stylings of Japanese violinist, Emiri Miyamoto.
For detailed information on her former pop project, see Sweetbox.
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Villalon was born in San Diego, California to a Filipino father and an American born mother of German and Irish descent. She was raised partially in Japan from the age of three, but spent the majority of her childhood and teens in San Diego where she was a cheerleader in High School. During her childhood and teen years, Jade Villalon was very active in entertainment, starring in multiple stage productions, as well as starting the beginnings of her singing career under the training of vocal coach Joni Wilson. She moved to Los Angeles, California when she was eighteen, to further pursue her acting and musical career. While in Los Angeles, she met Alan Rich, who introduced her to producer and fellow songwriter, Geo, and has since lived in various places including Germany and the United Kingdom, continuing to release music under a multitude of successful projects.
From a very early age, Jade Villalon started a path to fame by acting in commercials and small production roles, until she became an international star as the singer and songwriter of the pop project Sweetbox, and later, under her own stage name, Jade Valerie.
Jade Villalon first made a television appearance in a Ramen Noodles commercial at a very young age. Her first major acting audition was at the age of seven for the Broadway Musical, Gypsy. Jade starred in many stage productions across the United States, television commercials, TV guest sports, and had small parts in films. She was featured acting in a commercial for Swans Crossing a toy dolls a few years later with Michelle Williams. At the age of seventeen, she guest-starred as Melanie, a teenager in a camp for HIV-positive teenagers, in the television program, Touched by an Angel (Episode 70: "The Pact"). She has appeared in various music videos for popular artists, one being TLC's music video, “Unpretty”. Jade also had a small appearance as an extra, in the movie Sorority Boys.
Jade Valerie Villalon decided she wanted to sing at a very early age. According to interviews, after someone important in her youth told her she could not sing very well, she focused much of her time on becoming a songwriter instead; this helped further her songwriting skills for her future years as an award-winning vocalist. In her vast and still expanding musical career, she has released nine original albums, has won many awards, her music has been featured in many commercials and television spots, and she also lent her voice to sing the vocal songs Real Emotion and "1000 Words" on the English version of the video game Final Fantasy X-2. Her albums in Sweetbox have all reached gold or platinum status in Korea, and many of her singles have ranked in the Top 10 on charts in Europe and Asia. Villalon has also written songs for a number of artists, including The Cheetah Girls and Ayumi Hamasaki, as well as for Ateed, and has had her works covered by artists such as S.H.E. and Skye Sweetnam.
In her teen years, she joined the pop–rock band Gemstone, along with well-known actress Christina Vidal and Crystal Grant. Although no album was released for commercial sale, some of the tracks made during this period surfaced on later albums by Jade in her later music project, Sweetbox.
After Gemstone parted ways, Jade, 18 at the time, partnered as a singer and songwriter with producer and songwriter, Geo, for the pop project Sweetbox, and became an international star. With Sweetbox, some of her songs became well known for being based on famous classical pieces. She released six original albums under the project, Classified, Jade, Adagio, After the Lights and Addicted, as well as compilations, greatest hits, a live DVD, and albums featuring demos. During this time, she was awarded as being Asia's #1 cross over artist. After this success, issues started with the original owners of the Sweetbox franchise, and Jade Villalon left the project behind to start her new pop project, under her own name, "Jade Valerie".
(For detailed information on Jade Villalon's time with her former pop project, see Sweetbox.)
In 2007, Jade Villalon, along with her music partner, Geo, left the project name Sweetbox behind to start work on Jade's new music project, titled under her own name, Jade Valerie. Later that year, Jade released the mini album, Out of the Box, the title being a play on words of the departure from Sweetbox, to critical acclaim. Her 9th album, Bittersweet Symphony, continued to prove the new outlook on her musical career was a success, as the album reached positions such as #15 on the Oricon charts. She re-released Out of the Box in Korea, containing some of the tracks from her original album of the same name, as well as many tracks of Bittersweet Symphony. She also re-recorded the song "You Don't Know Me" with guest vocalist Kim Dong Wan.
After her continuing success, Jade released a cover of the Christmas carol "Holy Night" near the end of 2008, for the holiday season. She also released information that two new albums were to be expected in 2009, and that The Cheetah Girls used a song, on their recent album, that Jade had written in 2003. Late in 2009, it was announced that Jade and Geo had teamed up with Japanese violinist, Emiri Miyamoto, a collaboration entitled Saint Vox. On November 11, 2010, it was announced that Jade and Geo had written a new song that was released as a single. "Don't Tell Me I'm Wrong" also features the vocals of K-pop vocalist Brian Joo, member of the R&B group Fly To The Sky.
In mid-April 2009, Jade Valerie and Geo confirmed they had started a new project, entitled Eternity∞, and that it was their goal to return to a sound found on their early Sweetbox albums: pop meets classical. Releasing the self-titled album Eternity∞ on June 3, 2009, each track on the album sampled a famous classical piece, many using pieces previously used in Sweetbox, such as Canon in D major by Pachelbel and Solveig's Song by Grieg.
Below is the track listing based on the Japanese release of the album.
In 2009, Jade stated that she was working on a project entitled Saint Vox, a special collaboration blending her Jade Valerie project with the violin talents of Emiri Miyamoto. The self-titled album, Saint Vox, was released November 25th, 2009. The album featured the sampling of six famous Japanese and Korean compositions, and six songs featuring original compositions by Geo. The first single, entitled, "Don't Leave Me This Way -energy flow-", debuted on Emiri Miyamoto's radio show on October 11, 2009. The track was based around "Energy Flow" by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Albums
-Sweetbox- (Sweetbox discography)
-Jade Valerie- (Jade Valerie Discography)
-Eternity∞- (Eternity∞ discography)
-Saint Vox- (Saint Vox discography)
Singles
-Sweetbox- (Sweetbox discography)
-Jade Valerie- (Jade Valerie Discography)
-Eternity∞- (Eternity∞ discography)
-Saint Vox- (Saint Vox discography)