Tanya Chua

Tanya Chua

Tanya Chua at the 17th Golden Melody Awards in June 2006
Background information
Chinese name 蔡健雅
Pinyin Cài Jiànyǎ (Mandarin)
Born (1975-01-28) 28 January 1975
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
Ancestry Chinese
Website www.tangymusicgroup.com
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Chua.

Tanya Chua (born 28 January 1975) is a 3-time Best Female Vocalist Golden Melody Award-winning Singaporean singer-songwriter. She released her debut album, Bored,[1] in December 1997. Chua then moved to Taiwan in 2006 to focus on the Chinese music industry.[2] She was a judge on Sing My Song for its first two seasons.[3]

Life and music career

Early years

Chua was born in Singapore in a Chinese family as the younger of two daughters. She attended CHIJ Saint Nicholas Girls' School[4] and graduated from Singapore Polytechnic with a Diploma in Business Administration in 1996. Chua started out singing in English, releasing her first English album, Bored, in 1997.[5] She was also the first Singaporean to win a prize in the Asia Song Festival,[6] coming in first in the "Unpublished" category in 1998 before she furthered her studies at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California.

Chua 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. In 2001, Chua performed for her own country during the Singapore National Day Parade 2001 with the theme song titled "Where I Belong".[7]

Rise to prominence

In 2003, Chua signed a new contract with Warner Music in Taiwan, releasing the album Stranger,[5] which topped sales charts in Taiwan.[8] Her second Warner album, Amphibian (2005), won her a Best Female Artist at Taiwan's Golden Melody Awards.[9] 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.[10] Her Goodbye and Hello (2007) album was nominated in 7 categories at the 19th Golden Melody Awards where she repeated her Best Mandarin Female Artist win and also garnered a Best Album Producer award.[11] She followed up with three Singapore Hit Awards for Best Local Lyrics, Outstanding Local Music Achievement, and Asia Media (Female Artiste) in November 2009.[12]

Tanya has written as well as produced a number of songs for other singers, like Gigi Leung, Fish Leong, Faye Wong, Stefanie Sun,[13] Valen Hsu, Karen Mok, A-mei, Sammi Cheng, Sandy Lam, S.H.E, Rene Liu, Tiger Huang, Na Ying and Tarcy Su (all female singers). She was praised by Taiwanese producer and songwriter Jonathan Lee as being a "musician" and not just a mere "performer".[14] In 2008 Lee gave her a handmade guitar in appreciation of her talents.[15]

In 2009, Chua's seventh album If You See Him (若你碰到他) was awarded one of the Top 10 Selling Mandarin Albums of the Year at the 2009 IFPI Hong Kong Album Sales Awards, presented by the Hong Kong branch of IFPI.[16] After 14 years, Chua returns to Singapore to perform for a leg of her "Tanya Chua and the Cities" world tour in 2011.[17]

In 2011, Chua released her eighth Mandarin studio album entitled Sing It Out of Love (說到愛) and also released an English album entitled Just Say So,[3] becoming the first artist to do so. In 2012, Chua won the Best Mandarin Female Artist in the Golden Melody Awards for the third time breaking the record as the first female artist to win 3 times in this category.

In 2013, her ninth Mandarin studio album entitled Angel & Devil (天使與魔鬼的對話) was released, and earned her a nomination for "Best Female Mandarin Singer" at the 25th Golden Melody Awards. One of the songs in this album “十万毫升泪水”was also used as sub theme song for the hit Singapore drama series “The Dream Makers”. The drama series led to the popularity of both "十万毫升泪" as well as the theme Song “幸福不难” written by Singaporean singer-songwriter Serene Koong, and resulted in Tanya winning “Best Local Music Composition” for this song at the 2013 Singapore Hit Awards.[18]

Chua has been a judge on Sing My Song.[3][19]

Discography

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
  • Released: 6 June 2003
  • Label: Warner Music
  • Language: Mandarin
5th Amphibian / 雙棲動物
  • Released: 7 January 2005
  • Label: Warner Music
  • Language: Mandarin
6th Goodbye & Hello
  • Released: 19 October 2007
  • Label: Asia Muse
  • Language: Mandarin
7th If You See Him / 若你碰到他
  • Released: 19 August 2009
  • Label: Asia Muse
  • Language: Mandarin
8th Sing It Out of Love / 說到愛
  • Released: 18 November 2011
  • Label: Asia Muse
  • Language: Mandarin
9th Angel & Devil / 天使與魔鬼的對話
  • Released: 30 September 2013
  • Label: Asia Muse
  • Language: Mandarin
10th Aphasia / 失語者
  • Released: 13 November 2015
  • Label: Asia Muse
  • Language: Mandarin

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 Jupiter
  • Released: 13 July 2003
  • Label: Warner Music
  • Language: English
4th Just Say So
  • Released: 18 November 2011
  • Label: Asia Muse
  • Language: English

Compilation albums

Album # Album information
1st Tacit Understanding / 默契
2nd T-Time (新歌+精選)
  • Released: 2 June 2006
  • Label: Warner Music
  • Language: Mandarin
3rd My Space (新歌+精選)
  • Released: July 2008
  • Label: Asia Muse
  • Language: Mandarin, English

Other albums

Album # Album information
1st Secret Lavender
  • Released: January 2002
  • Label: S2S Japan
  • Language: English

Soundtracks

Album # Album information
1st Hot Pants
  • Released: 1997
  • Label: WAYANG WAYANG
  • Language: English
2nd Chicken Rice War Original Soundtrack
  • Released: 2000
  • Label: Yellow Music
  • Language: English
3rd Monga Original Soundtrack
  • Released: Feb 2010
  • Label: Sony Music / Wonderful Music
  • Language: Mandarin

Singles and extended plays

Single # Single information
1st Where I Belong
  • Released: 2001
  • Label: Yellow Music
  • Language: English Mandarin
2nd Treasure The World/珍爱这世界
  • Released: 2003
  • Label: Yellow Music
  • Language: Mandarin

Awards

Years Awards
1998
  • Asia Song Festival 1998 (Philippines), Best Music Composition (Hear Me)
1999
  • 6th Singapore Hit Awards, Best Local Music Composition (好無聊)
2000
  • 7th Singapore Hit Awards, Best Local Music Composition (记念)
2004
  • 11th Singapore Hit Awards, Best Local Music Composition (夜盲症)
  • 11th Singapore Hit Awards, Best Local Music Arrangement (無底洞)
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 Awards, 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屆東方風雲榜, Top 5 Regional Artise (Singapore)
2008
  • 19th Taiwan Golden Melody Awards, Best Annual Female Vocalist (Goodbye & Hello)
  • 19th Taiwan Golden Melody Awards, Best Album Producer (Goodbye & Hello)
  • 14th Singapore Hit Awards, Best Local Artiste (Goodbye & Hello)
  • 14th Singapore Hit Awards, Best Composing Artiste (Goodbye & Hello)
  • 8th Global Chinese Music Awards, Best Album (Goodbye & Hello)
  • 8th Global Chinese Music Awards, Best Album Producer (Goodbye & Hello)
  • 8th Global Chinese Music Awards, Regional Most Outstanding Award(Singapore)
  • 8th Global Chinese Music Awards, Most Popular 20 Golden Hits for '达尔文'
  • 8th Global Chinese Music Awards, Regional Most Outstanding Award(Singapore)

References

  1. Yu, Aitong (2009-06-20). "Q&A: Tanya Chua". Singapore: SCMP.
  2. "Don't sweat the K-pop wave, says Tanya Chua". Lollipop SG. 28 November 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 "Tanya Chua Too Busy for Mr Right". Singapore: The New Paper. 2015-07-15. Retrieved 2015-12-13.
  4. "Singer Tanya Chau on her music". CNN.com. 2000-08-17. Retrieved 2015-12-13.
  5. 1 2 "Chua Goes Hip-hop in Cover Version .". New Straits Times. 16 September 2003. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  6. Composers and Authors Society of Singapore. 1st Singaporean to Win Asia Song Festival. June 1998.
  7. "National display of joy". Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  8. "Singapore girl does it again". New Straits Times. 31 July 2003. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  9. "Tanya Chua, Leehom Wang win top music awards". The China Post. 11 June 2006. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  10. "MTV Asia artist profile". MTV Asia. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  11. "Singaporean Tanya Chua scoops top honours at Taiwan's Golden Melody Awards". Channel NewsAsia. 6 July 2008. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  12. "Tanya Chua wins rights to own songs". Channel NewsAsia. 12 November 2009. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  13. http://www.ewen.cc/yx/bkview.asp?bkid=167002&cid=514980
  14. http://stars.zaobao.com.sg/pages8/caijianya091110.shtml
  15. http://ent.ifeng.com/music/hk/200803/0328_1839_466708.shtml
  16. IFPI Hong Kong 2009 IFPI Hong Kong Album Sales Awards winners list Retrieved 19 April 2011
  17. "Tanya Chua returns to Singapore for her Tanya and The Cities world tour". Asia Pacific Arts. 13 April 2011.
  18. "The Singapore Hit Awards 2013: The winners". Today Online. 23 November 2013.
  19. Adam, Ariani Bte (2015-02-02). ""Sing My Song" garners 33.75 million web hits". Shanghai: Television Asia.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tanya Chua.
Awards and achievements
Top Chinese Music Chart Awards
Preceded by
Fish Leong
Best Female Aritist, Hong Kong & Taiwan
2009
Succeeded by
not awarded yet
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