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April 04 Chinese Music Part 9: 2001 - Year of the Singing Groups2001 was the year of the singing groups: one female duo was formed in Hong Kong, and, in Taiwan, a female trio and a male quartet were formed. Their names: Twins, S.H.E., and F4 respectively. As the career of the latter has been inconsistent, we'll write about the first two only.
Twins
Band Type: Female Singing Duo
Members: Gillian and Charlene
Gillian Chung
Chinese Name: 鍾欣桐
Cantonese Name: Chung Yan Tung
Mandarin Name: Zhong Xin Tong
(b. 1981 in Hong Kong)
Charlene Choi
Chinese Name: 蔡卓妍
Cantonese Name: Choi Cheuk Yin
Mandarin Name: Cai Zhuo Yan
(b. 1982 in Vancouver, Canada)
Twins is a singing duo of two former models who aren't twins—Charlene and Gillian.
After growing up in Hong Kong, Gillian Chung attended university in Melbourne, Australia during which time she worked as a part-time model. Charlene Choi was born in Vancouver but moved with her family to Hong Kong a few years later. After her schooling, she worked as a full-time model in Hong Kong. In 2001, the Emperor Entertainment Group approached both women individually to ask them to form a singing duo which later came to be known as Twins.
During their first two years together, Twins released 3 EPs and 3 albums, all of which sold well. Most of their songs topped the charts for several weeks. In 2002, they held their first concert and three more in 2003, one of which was in the Mainland Chinese city of Guangzhou. By 2003, they received a remarkable total of 48 musical awards. They released their first Mandarin album in 2005, Trainee Cupid. In 2007, they embarked on a concert tour of Canada and the United States.
Popular songs from Twins include "Thanks for the Breakup" (多谢失恋)
and "Next Station: Queen" (下一站天后)
S.H.E.
Band Type: Female Singing Trio
Members: Ella, Hebe, and Selina
Selina Ren
Chinese Name: 任家萱
Mandarin Name: Ren Jiaxuan
(b. 1981 in Taibei, Taiwan)
Instruments: piano, flute
Hebe Tian
Chinese Name: 田馥甄 a.k.a. 田喜碧
Mandarin Name: Tian Fuzhen a.k.a. Tian Xi Bi
(b. 1983 in Taiwan)
Instruments: piano, flute, and drums
Ella Chen
Chinese Name: 陳嘉樺 a.k.a. 陳艾拉
Mandarin Name: Chen Jiahua a.k.a. Chen Ai La
(b. 1981 in Taiwan)
Instruments: piano and trumpet
This trio of Taiwanese superstar women is currently the most popular group in the Chinese world. As you can guess, the band's name is an acronym of their English names. The three women entered a singing contest. Though Selina won, the other two were both finalists. So they decided to form their own singing group. They have released 10 albums with sales of over 4.5 million since their debut Girls' Dorm in 2001. They have endorsed more than 30 companies including Coca-Cola.
It wasn't until the group's fifth album, 2003's Super Star, that their popularity skyrocketed. The album's title track remains their biggest hit to date. Not only did it top the radio charts but became the most requested song in karaoke venues across the Chinese world. In Singapore YES Radio, it remained in the top four for 10 consecutive weeks. The song won four awards. S.H.E.'s sixth album, Magical Journey, churned out three Number 1 hits, including the smash "He Still Doesn't Understand" and sold one and a half million copies in Asia. The trio began their first major tour drawing a crowd of 25,000 in Taibei and setting an attendance record in Shanghai. Their seventh album, Encore, sold a million copies in its first week of release. It became their most successful album, eventually selling over 2 million copies. Hits from the album included "Migratory Bird" and "I Love You". Their eighth album, Once Upon a Time, set a record with 50,000 pre-orders. Its song "Don't Want To Grow Up" won a Song of the Year award in Hong Kong. In the summer of 2006, the group launched their second major concert tour in Shanghai. Within the tour's first five months, they had attracted over 200,000 fans and collected over 6 million USD.
Listen to S.H.E.'s mega-hit "Superstar"
"He Still Doesn't Understand" (他还是不懂) TrackbacksThe trackback URL for this entry is: http://peltonator.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!184A2363AD187F54!2871.trak Weblogs that reference this entry
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