Saturday, 24 December 2011
Khalil Fong
Khalil Fong was born on 14 July 1983. He is an American born, Hong Kong-based soul Mandopop singer-songwriter signed to the Warner Music Hong Kong.
Although based in Hong Kong, his career and popularity grew in Taiwan. This is because his songs are sung in Mandarin rather than Cantonese. When asked, Khalil explained that Mandarin was his second language, next to English, and that he could express himself better in Mandarin rather than Cantonese. His albums are released by Warner Music Taiwan in Taiwan.
In addition to his own songs, Khalil Fong has also composed songs for other artists in Hong Kong and Taiwan, such as Amei Chang, Eason Chan, Fiona Sit, Andy Lau, Shiga Lin and Jacky Cheung.
Khalil released his debut album Soul Boy on September 18, 2005. He has won a number of awards, including a silver award for New Male Artist at Commercial Radio. He released his second album "This Love" in December 2006. It featured one of his more popular song Love Love Love. Love Love Love wasn't an immediate hit, though. It turned out to be a sleeper hit, only gaining recognition after his third album Wonderland was launched. Wonderland's music style marked a leave from his previous albums. It featured funkier tunes rather than the slower ballads of his previous albums.
Khalil's fourth album Orange Moon was released in December 2008. It featured slower, more conventional love ballads. In an interview Khalil said that this album (Orange Moon) was meant to be a more romantic album, with most of the songs love themed.
Khalil released a cover album Timeless in August 2009. It featured songs by various singers which, according to him, influenced his music. Among the songs are You are the Sunshine of My Life by his childhood idol Stevie Wonder, Bad by Michael Jackson, and "A Little Bug."
Khalil has released another album, 15, on April 21, 2011. His first new song, 好不容易 (Finally), has already been released to the public in honor of his friend's recent marriage.
How Deep Is Your Love @ LOVE! To Hebe Singapore Concert
by Hebe and Olivia Ong
Lenka Kripac
Lenka (born Lenka Kripac on 19 March 1978) is an Australian singer and songwriter, known for her song "The Show" from her album Lenka, which was in advertisements, including for Old Navy. Previously known in Australia as an actress, she has appeared in Australian television serials and feature films.
As Lenka Kripac, she was a member of the Australian electronic-rock crossover band Decoder Ring for two of their albums. She then moved to California in 2007.
Solo career
After adopting her first name as her sole artistic name, Lenka released her eponymous debut album on 24 September 2008, with "The Show" chosen to be the first single release from the set.The album peaked at number 142 on the US Billboard 200.Lenka creates paper art type of stop-motion animated music videos for each of her singles with James Gulliver Hancock, a visual artist from Australia. The childlike appearance to all her music videos is done on purpose by the duo. Her vocal stylings are a juxtaposition of pop and layered, complicated influences.
She provided vocals on two tracks ("Addicted" and "Sunrise") on German artist Schiller's album Atemlos, released in Germany on 12 March 2010.
Mon Yao Si Ting
Mon is a China singer. She sings mostly in English but developed her career singing in English and Chinese. In addition, she has released rare tracks, recorded in Mandarin, and Cantonese which can be found on limited edition albums.
Mon was graduated from School of Economics and Management, Guangdong Province. She like to singing at her childhood. We can always find her in a chorus. When she was 16-year-old, she started a band, and become a part-time singer.
Olivia Ong
Olivia Ong (born 2 October 1985) is a Singaporean singer. She sings mostly in English but developed her career singing in English and Japanese. In addition, she has released rare tracks, recorded in Mandarin, and Cantonese which can be found on limited edition albums.
Likened to Seiko Matsuda, she won a singing contest and was signed to a Japanese recording company S2S Pte Ltd at the age of 15.
After taking her O-level examinations in Singapore, Ong moved to Japan to further her studies as well as her career as a solo artist. In Singapore, Ong, along with 2 other Singaporean girls formed the Japanese pop (J-pop) group, Mirai. Their first single, "Open Up Your Mind", was one of the theme songs in the Japanese anime Gensoumaden Saiyuki.
She released her bestselling début, A Girl Meets Bossa Nova at only 19.With her sultry, soulful, pristine and innocent vocals, she reinterprets Frank Sinatra's hits such as "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars", among other jazz and pop numbers. She is one of the new wave of Singaporean talent being exported internationally. So far, Ong is the only pop sensation exported exclusively to Japan; previous stars such as Mavis Hee, Kit Chan, Tanya Chua, Joi Chua, Stefanie Sun, Michelle Saram etc., have been promoted mainly in the Greater Chinese market.
In 2009 Ong was signed to Taiwanese record company HIM Music and became a big hit back in Singapore after she sang the theme song of the peranakan-themed drama serial, The Little Nyonya. She has stated that her paternal grandfather is Peranakan.
Her first record under HIM Music was released on 5 March 2010, entitled Olivia. In 2011, Ong recorded a duet, "最後一眼" (Just One Look), with label mate Aaron Yan of Fahrenheit, which was released in his debut EP The Next Me.
Olivia has recently released her latest album entitled 'Romance' on 22 July 2011
Friday, 23 December 2011
Friday, 16 December 2011
Zee Avi
For 25-year-old Malaysian singer/songwriter Zee Avi, “Swell Window” is the gorgeous track that started the journey and also the opening track of her second album, ghostbird. “It’s a song about seizing the moment,” she says, “and for me, a new direction and a new voice came and stayed.”
In the two years since her self-titled debut was joint-released on Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records and Ian Montone’s Monotone Label, Avi’s very free spirit has wandered from major music festivals (SXSW, Outside Lands, Bonnaroo) to huge tours (Lilith Fair) back to her homeland of Sarawak, Borneo Island, where she recently picked up an International Youth Icon Award. For a little perspective, just four years ago, Avi was a former art student in Kuala Lumpur who posted a song on YouTube to catch up with a friend and was quite surprised to find herself the toast of the Internet when thousands of strangers discovered her effortlessly stunning voice. Literal overnight success can easily poison young minds, but Avi is no ordinary mind — while critics were comparing her chilled-out, jazzy, ukulele-based songs to Billie Holiday and Cat Power she was continuing to make visual art and remaining her buoyant, whimsical self. “I’m 25 going on 12 and a half on a good day,” she laughs, flipping through a notebook filled with colorful drawings and lengthy notes.
Avi started writing ghostbird in her Brooklyn kitchen last summer, but followed the wind to the balmy waters of the Florida Everglades where she found endless musings, “with absolute silence and calmness.” In March, she took her fresh batch of tunes to Johnson’s Solar Powered Plastic Plant studios and got down to business with producer Mario Caldato, Jr., best known for his work with the Beastie Boys and beloved Brazilian artists like Bebel Gilberto. It only took two weeks for them to lay down the 11 tracks on Ghostbird (it means “Burung Hantu” which means owl in Avi’s native language), including the closing number on the album, “Stay In The Clouds,” a new addition that was written on the last day of recording.
This album lead Avi to new ideas. “Siboh Kitak Nangis” which translates to “Don’t You Cry,” is the first song in Avi’s dialect on an international album and the poppy groove of “The Book of Morris Johnson” is the first time she has written new music to accompany someone else’s words. “Morris Johnson” was inspired by a Floridian folk artist whose paintings of animals and accompanying text about their instinctual lives “capture naiveté and innocence and enthusiasm,” Avi says. After buying a few of his pieces at an art show, Avi called him up and said, “Morris, I’m ready to be your disciple, I’m ready to turn your words into a song.” (Morris was thrilled — his daughter’s a huge fan.)
The track “Anchor” is one of the handful of songs that made the album from Avi’s New York writing sessions and also what Zee refers to as a “premonition track,” and another NYC track, “Concrete Wall,” is a striking a cappella that features contributions from beloved turntable god Cut Chemist. And yes, she is well aware June has 30 days rather than 31 (the song “31 Days” was inspired by a couch-surfing friend who lamented, ” ‘I was homeless for 31 days in June.’ “) Every song has a different mood, every song is a different voice, every song is a different story,” Avi explains. But the idea of the ghostbird unites the album, and Avi has tucked an owl call into a few tracks on the disc, “So it’s a little scavenger hunt when you listen to it.”
After the album arrives on August 30th, 2011 Avi is itching to get back on tour and show off her live skills. “I want people to feel like they’re being hugged,” she says of the soothingly beautiful ghostbird. “I think this is my swell window right now.”
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