Cheer Chen

Chen Chi Chen
陳綺貞
Background information
Birth name 陳綺貞
Also known as Cheer Chen
Born (1975-06-06) June 6, 1975[1][2]
Origin Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China
Genres Pop, rock, folk, Indie
Occupation(s) singer-songwriter
Instruments guitar, piano
Years active 1997–present
Labels Teamear Music;
Rock Records
(Magicstone Records 魔岩唱片)
Website www.cheerego.com/
Notable instruments
Gibson Hummingbird, Gibson J-200
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Chen.

Chen Chi Chen (traditional Chinese: 陳綺貞; simplified Chinese: 陈绮贞; pinyin: Chén Qǐzhēn; Wade–Giles: Ch'en2 Ch'i3 Chen1) also known as Cheer Chen; born June 6, 1975 in Taipei, Taiwan) is a popular yet low-profile Taiwanese singer-songwriter, widely recognized as a talented musician among the Chinese music industry.

Graduated from Taiwan National Chengchi University (Bachelor of Philosophy), Chen played in an underground band (Sunscreen 防曬油) as lead singer and guitarist back in the 1990s before she was attached to Rock Records. In 1997 she joined Magicstone, a subsidiary label under Rock Records and her debut album Think Twice was released in July 1998. Since 2003 she published her own music independently and now she is under Teamear Music

Chen is well known as a musician who regularly shuns the limelight and prefers to focus on her musical works rather than appearing on public media. She is also known for paying great attention in ensuring that each and every one of her live performances or concerts fulfills the expectation of her fans. She has on several occasions prepared hand-made entry-passes for her concerts.

Her earlier works are more folk-oriented with much bossa nova and orchestral arrangement (mainly produced by Will Lin with team members Yu-Huan Lee, Cincin Lee, Yun-Chang Dong etc.), but most of her recent works tend to be folk rock and poprock-based (produced by Tiger Chung under Teamear Music). Chung is her boyfriend and also her guitarist as well. He appeared in several of Chen's music videos of her songs, such as Sentimental Kills and Immortal.

Chen currently lives in the New Taipei Luzhou district. She is reported as being concerned with environmental issues. She has been frequently involved in community and public welfare activities.[3]Being the first female singer-composer to perform on the stage of Taipei Arena, she used to remind people to pursue their ambitions boldly and to always dream for a better tomorrow. She said, "Perhaps there are people feeling themselves fragile, insignificant and vulnerable, but they might be the sun that shines for the others, just as the heat of the Sun though unapproachable yet it guards the mother earth from afar even at night; life might not be smooth sailing for everyone in all stages, but we should always embrace hopes for a better tomorrow."[4][The Epoch USA Inc. 1]

Chen has also appeared on stage several times with the famous Taiwanese band Mayday. She sang a duet with Ashin (陳信宏), lead vocalist of the band, in the upbeat love song Eloping To The Moon(私奔到月球). Ashin has also claimed that in Taipei, the only artist that puts on a better show than Mayday is Cheer Chen. Ashin further acknowledged Cheer's intellectual lyrics in his blog, "I think that Cheer is a fantastic lyricist, her lyrics appear to be a soft knife that looks harmless but is actually sharp."[5][6][7]

Biography

Most of Chen's songs are in Mandarin Chinese, and occasionally in other languages such as English. She writes most of her own music and lyrics. Her first recording Demo 1 was released in September 1997. To date she has published 6 studio albums, 4 demo CDs, 6 singles, 2 compilations, 5 DVDs, and a book of photography(lomography) collection.[8] Her songs are generally not complicated yet full of metaphorical meanings, with lots of the seventh and diminished chords. She usually appears with her Gibson Hummingbird acoustic guitar.

Chen has produced several recordings independently since she left Rock Records in 2003. In 2004 & 2005, she was featured in two seasons of Lee The Blues Jeans advertisement with Stanley Huang. The advert song she composed 'Live in Silence' (靜靜的生活) was then rearranged and republished in her fourth album Peripeteia. In 2009, she became the spokesperson for Nikon Coolpix S620, and in 2010 for Nikon D5000 & Nikon D3100. In 2010 she was also featured in an Adidas Originals advert along with many other worldwide celebrities including Hyori Lee, David Beckham and Oasis. In May 2011, she became the spokesperson for Sokenbicha herbal drink for the Taiwanese market.

In 2006, Chen's fourth album Peripeteia won the Best Music Album Producer award (Tiger Chung) and Best Music Video award at the 17th Golden Melody Awards.[9] During that same year, she was also nominated for Best Female Singer and Best Album of the Year. In 2010 she was nominated for the Best Song Writer (The Edge 魚).[10]

In 2009, Chen released her fifth album Immortal, recorded unorthodoxly in the wardrobe of her own chamber instead of a proper studio. This album was mastered by Grammy Award winner Bernie Grundman and was awarded one of the Top 10 Selling Mandarin Albums of the Year at the 2009 IFPI Hong Kong Album Sales Awards.[11] Back from later 2008, Chen started holding her concert tour, with the same theme as the new album Immortal. The tour continues around Taiwan, China Mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, and she held a concert for the very first time in Melbourne on March 11, 2011.

Since 2012, she formed a band together with Tiger Chung and Chien-Chi Chen called "The VERSE" (previously an electronic duo named "The Voice") featuring downbeat/downtempo and French electronic style of experimental music.

Discography

Studio Albums

  1. Think Twice 讓我想一想 (July 1, 1998)
  2. Lonely Without You 還是會寂寞 (April 2000) / Princess From East '01 Series (June 21, 2001 - Japan version)
  3. Groupies 吉他手 (August 1, 2002)
  4. Peripeteia 華麗的冒險 (September 2005)
  5. Immortal 太陽 (January 23, 2009)
  6. Verse, 52 Hertz 52赫茲 (January 23, 2013)
  7. Songs of Transience 時間的歌 (December 6, 2013)

Demo CDs

  1. Demo1 (September 1997)
  2. Demo2 - Cheer's Walkman (March 2000)
  3. Demo3 (November 9, 2001)
  4. Demo4 (December 12, 2011)

Singles

  1. Track 1 - Sentimental Kills (November 15, 2003)
  2. Track 2 - Travel with Sound 旅行的意義 (March 24, 2004)
  3. Track 3 - After 17 (December 31, 2004) also included a track composed for Jing-mei Girls' Senior High School 小小校歌
  4. Track 4 - Pussy (February 8, 2007)
  5. Track 5 - Fly for You 失敗者的飛翔 (July 13, 2008)
  6. Track 6 - Ephemera 蜉蝣 (October 5, 2011)
  7. Track 007 - The Long Goodbye 偶然與巧合 (December 1, 2014)

Compilation Albums

  1. The Best of Cheer Chen - Rock Records HK Golden Decade Classics (October 2002)
  2. The Best of Cheer Chen 1998-2005 - Rock Records TW (March 2005)

DVDs

  1. SIXTEEN DAYS Cheer's Frame-001 (October 2005)
  2. Cheer's FLOWERS Concert Classic Memoirs + 2 CDs (May 2007)
  3. CHEER LOOKS: Cheer's Adventurous Image Diary - Cheer's Frame-002 (September 2007)
  4. IMMORTAL TOUR (May 2010)
  5. A PIECE OF SUMMER II World Tour (September 2012)

Unreleased Songs

  1. Solitude (孤獨) Partially included as a hidden track after the last song(#10) in the first official album Think Twice Taiwan version
  2. A Practice (每天都是一種練習) Partially included as a short track(#7) in the third official album Groupies
  3. Monsoon (季風) Lyrics by Tiger Chung

Books and Printed Works

  1. 《不厭其煩》(BúYànQíFán) - Cheer's Collection of Lomography with short notes (November 5, 2001)
  2. LIVE.LIFE《現場·生活》2006 Calendar (December 2005)
  3. "Placeless Place"《不在他方》(BúZàiTāFāng) - a collection of essays written by Cheer published together with a newly released single "Chance or Coincidence / 偶然與巧合" (December 1, 2014)

References

  1. ↑ She says, "I used to celebrate my birthday on June 7 for the past 20 over years, it is not until this year that I realized that my date of birth should be on June 6." 她說：「以前生日都是過六月七日，一直過了二十多年之後，直到今年才發現，我應該是六月六日生的。」
  2. ↑ "A Brand New Life at 29". The Epoch Times. 8 June 2004.
  3. ↑ "The Ambassadors for World Vision 22nd 30-Hour-Famine". Central Daily News Taiwan. 13 May 2011.
  4. ↑ 也許有人覺得自己脆弱、渺小而不堪一擊，但自己也可能是別人心中的太陽，就如太陽熱度雖然讓人無法接近，卻在夜晚遠遠守護大地；每個人的生命階段不一定順遂，但還是要對明天抱持美好希望。
  5. ↑ 因為我覺得 綺貞的歌詞寫的非常棒，綺貞的歌詞是柔軟的刀子，看來無害但是鋒利。
  6. ↑ "Eloping to the Moon on Sina Blog". Mayday Ashin. http://blog.sina.com.tw. External link in |publisher= (help)
  7. ↑ "Ashin on the lyrics to Eloping to the Moon".
  8. ↑ "Cheer's Bio". http://cheerego.com. External link in |publisher= (help)
  9. ↑ "17th Golden Melody Award Nomination List". The Government Information Office of Taiwan R.O.C.
  10. ↑ "21st Golden Melody Award Nomination List". The Government Information Office of Taiwan R.O.C.
  11. ↑ IFPI Hong Kong 2009 IFPI Hong Kong Album Sales Awards winners list Retrieved 2011-04-19
  1. ↑ "Cheer's Immortal Tour". The Epoch Times. 15 November 2008.

External links

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