Jade Villalon

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Jade Valerie
Birth name Jade Valerie Villalon
Born (1980-08-12) 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)
Jade Valerie (2007-present)

Eternity∞ (2009-present)
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,[1] songwriter,[1] and actress.[2][1] From 1999 to 2007, she was the vocalist and lyricist of the Roberto "Geo" Rosan-produced "pop-meets-classical" project, Sweetbox, releasing five original albums and a number of compilations.[1] During this time, each major release achieved either a Gold or Platinum status in Japan and Korea, also earning various awards and chart positions around the world.[1][3]

Following both Villalon and Rosan's departure from this project, the pair worked together once again to release albums under Villalon's own name, Jade Valerie.[1] After two album releases under this name, two additional side-projects were formed, entitled 'Eternity∞' and 'Saint Vox', both releasing a self-titled album respectively. 'Saint Vox' presented a collaboration effort between Villalon's vocal and lyrical work, "Geo"'s arrangements of both original and sampled classical pieces, and the stylings of Japanese violinist, Emiri Miyamoto.[4]

Career

From an 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.

Acting

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.[1]

Music

Jade Valerie Villalon decided she wanted to sing at an 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.[1] 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.

Gemstone

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.

Sweetbox

After Gemstone parted ways, Villalon, 18 at the time, partnered as a singer and songwriter with producer and songwriter, Roberto "Geo" Rosan, for the pop project Sweetbox, and became the project's first multiple-award-winning vocalist. With Sweetbox, many of the project's songs brought attention for being based on famous classical pieces, and others achieved chart success.[5] She released five original albums under the project, Classified, Jade, Adagio, After the Lights and Addicted, as well as multiple compilations and a live DVD.

Throughout Villalon's time leading the project, she toured in many regions of Asia, with her music and voice being featured on a number of radio charts, television spots, product commercials, and video games. During this time, she was awarded as being Asia's #1 cross-over artist, with each her releases achieving Gold or Platinum status in Korea. 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".[1]

Jade Valerie

In 2007, Jade Valerie 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, Valerie released the mini album, Out of the Box,[6] 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, member of Korean group Shinhwa.

After her continuing success, Valerie released a cover of the Christmas carol "Holy Night" near the end of 2008. 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 she had written in 2003. Late in 2009, it was announced that Valerie and Geo had teamed up with Japanese violinist, Emiri Miyamoto, for a collaboration entitled 'Saint Vox'. In 2010, it was announced that Valerie and Geo had written a new song that was released as a single: "Don't Tell Me I'm Wrong" featured the vocals of K-pop vocalist Brian Joo, member of the R&B group Fly To The Sky. Over a year after this release, it was published that Valerie had performed in a duet with The Gypsies, a track that will be released the latter's upcoming album.[3] Mid-2012 saw Valerie collaborating with actor Brandon Jones on a song entitled "In The Moment".

Eternity

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. The album contained singles I Will, Love, and Wonderful World, the latter being featured in a number of Korean television spots. The release was supported by a showcasing event sponsored by Elle Magazine.

Below is the track listing based on the Japanese release of the album.

  1. Wonderful World (3:23) (Pachelbel's "Canon")
  2. Love (3:03) (Pachelbel's "Canon")
  3. Vanity (3:10) (Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto No. 1")
  4. I Will (3:04) (Vivaldi's "Spring")
  5. Worth It All (3:52) (Puccini's "Nessun Dorma")
  6. Change The World (3:13) (Ernest Gold's "Exodus")
  7. How Far (3:31) (Grieg's "Solveig's Song")
  8. Damn (3:33) (|Albinoni's "Adagio in G Minor")
  9. No Apologies (4:12) (Handel's "Sarabande Keyboard Suite in D Minor")
  10. Only Human (3:22) (Greig's "Morning")
  11. So Deep (2:55) (Chopin's "Tristesse Étude Op.10 No.3 in E Major")
  12. You Smile (3:36) (Pachelbel's "Canon")
  13. Hello Goodbye (3:13) (Mozart's "Gran Partita")
  14. Broken Lullaby (3:30) (Éric Satie's "The Gymnopédies")
  15. Turn It Up (Bonus Track)
  16. What You Want (Bonus Track)

Saint Vox

In 2009, Villalon stated that she was working on a project entitled Saint Vox, a collaboration between herself and the violinist Emiri Miyamoto. The self-titled album, Saint Vox, was released November 25, 2009.[7] 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.

Track listing:[7]

Discography

[8] Albums

-Sweetbox- (Sweetbox discography)

-Jade Valerie- (Jade Valerie Discography)

-Eternity∞- (Eternity∞ discography)

  • Eternity∞ (2009)

-Saint Vox- (Saint Vox discography)

  • Saint Vox (2009)

Singles

-Sweetbox- (Sweetbox discography)

-Jade Valerie- (Jade Valerie Discography)

  • Just Another Day (2007)
  • Crush ft. Baek Ji Young (2007)
  • You Don't Know Me featuring Kim Dong Wan (2008)
  • Unbreakable (2008)
  • Razorman (2008)
  • Oh Holy Night (2008)
  • Don't Tell Me I'm Wrong (2010)

-Eternity∞- (Eternity∞ discography)

  • Wonderful World (2009)
  • Only Human (2009)
  • I Will (2009)
  • Wonderful World (Classical Mix 2011) (2011)

-Saint Vox- (Saint Vox discography)

  • Don't Leave Me This Way -Energy Flow- (2009)

-Composed for others-

  • The Cheetah Girls - Human (2007)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Jade Valerie - Official Homepage
  2. ↑ Jade Villalon - Biography, imdb.com
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Jade Valerie - J&L Records Artists
  4. ↑ セイント・ヴォックス. Saint Vox. Retrieved on 2013-06-01.
  5. ↑ - Here On My Own (Lighter Shade Of Blue) Chart Positions
  6. ↑ Jade Valerie - Out Of The Box
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 セイント・ヴォックス. Saint Vox. Retrieved on 2013-06-01.
  8. ↑ Jade Villalon - Discography, musicbrainz.org

External links

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