Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Power Station (Taiwanese band)
Power Station is a Taiwanese rock band, formed by two brothers. Their music is characterized by their fast-paced rock ballads, as well as their electrifying rock anthems. Their looks and long hair stand out from the mainstream Chinese pop scene because of their resemblance to typical western Heavy Metal musicians. In 2001, Power Station released their only album on the Grand Music label , ''Walking along Jhonghsiao East Street Nine Times''. The title track of that album won the Silver Award for Best Mandarin Song at the 24th RTHK Top Ten Golden Song Awards.
New Formosa Band
New Formosa Band is a Taiwanese pop music ensemble. Its members include Chen Sheng and Huang Lianyu. They first became popular in 1992 and are important musicians in the genres of and New Taiwanese Song. They released several albums in the 1990s which blended traditional Taiwanese folk music with pop elements. The group sang in both the traditional style of Taiwanese song and in a more modern pop style, as well as employing the dialect of the Hakka people.
Nan Quan Mama
Nan Quan Mama is Taiwanese music group. The name literally translates as "southfist mother" which is a phrase in to explain having strength but at the same time, being gentle like a mother. They are closely tied with the popular music artist Jay Chou.
The members are Lara Veronin , Devon , Yuhao and Zhang Jie . Each of the members contribute to composing their songs, and also sing together in most of their songs, although some of their songs are composed and sung solely by one of the members, such as the song "Crystal Dragonfly" which was composed and sung by Lara. As of June 2006, they are the official spokespeople for Motorola in Taiwan.
*
*
*
*
* G-Power
* Gary Yang
{| class="wikitable"
!Album
!Album Cover
!Title
!Release Date
|-
!1st
!
!南拳媽媽的夏天
Nan Quan Mama's Summer
!May 14, 2004
|-
!2nd
!
!2號餐
Meal No.2
!August 17, 2005
|-
!3rd
!
!調色盤
Color Palette!
!May 26, 2006
|-
!4th
!
!藏寶圖
Treasure Map
!July 20, 2007
|-
!5th
!
!优の良曲南搞小孩
Difficult Kids
!July 25, 2008
|-
The members are Lara Veronin , Devon , Yuhao and Zhang Jie . Each of the members contribute to composing their songs, and also sing together in most of their songs, although some of their songs are composed and sung solely by one of the members, such as the song "Crystal Dragonfly" which was composed and sung by Lara. As of June 2006, they are the official spokespeople for Motorola in Taiwan.
Members
Current
*
*
*
*
Former
* G-Power
* Gary Yang
Discography
{| class="wikitable"
!Album
!Album Cover
!Title
!Release Date
|-
!1st
!
!南拳媽媽的夏天
Nan Quan Mama's Summer
!May 14, 2004
|-
!2nd
!
!2號餐
Meal No.2
!August 17, 2005
|-
!3rd
!
!調色盤
Color Palette!
!May 26, 2006
|-
!4th
!
!藏寶圖
Treasure Map
!July 20, 2007
|-
!5th
!
!优の良曲南搞小孩
Difficult Kids
!July 25, 2008
|-
Mayday (Taiwanese band)
Mayday The eighth track of their fifth album has a track called John Lennon where the band espouses its dreams to become the "Beatles of the Chinese World" and one day, to become better than them. Other diverse musical influences include the Irish band U2, the British band Oasis, the Japanese pop music artists Mr. Children, Sting as well as the Chinese rocker Wu Bai and China Blue.
In lyrics on recent albums, Ashin has alluded to several cultural icons notably the Chinese mythical monkey-god Sun Wu-Kong, Mickey Mouse, Superman, Neil Armstrong and Che Guevara. Ashin has also cited movies and novels as inspiration for his songs including "Viva Love" which was inspired by avant-garde Taiwanese director Tsai Ming Liang's 1994 movie, Vive L'Amour and the song "Armour" which was influenced by a Chinese drama 《孽子》and Haruki Murakami's novel, Kafka On the Shore.
Mayday evolved from So Band which was formed by Ashin, Monster and the first drummer Qian You Da in 1995 while they were studying in The Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan . They were later joined by Masa and Stone, who were attending the same school. After graduation, the members went to different universities but continued to cut their teeth performing in pubs and eateries. They were also actively involved in promoting the growing rock music trend in Taiwan . In 1997, the band registered under the moniker Mayday who described them as "the ones who would usher in the sound of the future". In June 1998, they also released the Embrace《擁抱》 compilation album for which they took on most of the songwriting, production and recording duties.
In 1999, Guan You became the band's fourth drummer and they went on to release their first full-length studio album 《五月天第一張創作專輯》under Rock Records on July 7th, 1999. Their debut received critical acclaim and gained a following among the . It went on to move more than 300,000 copies, a considerable feat for a new band in the then pessimistic and saturated music industry. The tracks "Peter and Mary" 「志明與春嬌」and "Embrace" 「擁抱」 also caught on among the youth, and became the top songs in the KTV list. "Peter and Mary" was one of the top ten songs of the year according to the The Association of Music Workers in Taiwan . In fact, "Peter and Mary" has been acknowledged by Mayday's Ashin as the "song that brought them from the north of Taiwan to the south, allowing everyone to recognise Mayday." On the 28th of August, they held their first large-scale performance called "168 Performances 「第168場演唱會」," cementing their position as one of the rising bands in Taiwan.
The band's second album Viva Love 《愛情萬歲》was released 7th July, 2000. Sales of Viva Love exceeded their previous album, shifting more than 350,000 copies. Additionally, Viva Love won them the "Best Band" award at the 12th Golden Melody Awards . Mayday also held a series of concerts called "Ten Thousand Youths Standing Up" in Taipei City, Zhang Hua and Gaohsiung City. The concerts were famous for having the most concert-goers in 2000.. They also released an accompanying soundtrack.
After Masa's official release from the military, the band regrouped and made a return to the music industry. To mark the event, Mayday held their City of the Sky 「天空之城」 concert on the 16th of August 2004 at the Taipei Stadium . The concert attracted nearly 400,000 fans which broke the record for most concert-goers at a concert, a record previously held by Michael Jackson.
On the 11th of November 2003, the band also released their 4th studio album Time Machine 《時光機》. Sales of the album hit more than 15,000 within two days , with Mayday seeing no decline in their popularity despite their hiatus. The Time Machine also won Mayday their second "Best Band" award at the 15th Golden Melody Awards.
In the summer of 2004, Mayday also participated in the making of an accompanying soundtrack for the movie 《五月之戀》in which they also presented new arrangements of some of their old songs. Guitarist Stone also had a supporting role in the movie.
5th of November 2004 saw the release of their critically acclaimed 5th studio album God's Children Are All Dancing/Flying Angels With A Falling Soul 《神的孩子都在跳舞》. This album used the simultaneous recording technique to create the distinctive "band" sound of their past albums and was specially recorded in Kawaguchi-to, Japan. In 2005, they also released a best of compilation album Just My Pride ，which included six new songs and favourites culled from previous albums.
Near the end of 2004, Mayday embarked on an ambitious worldwide series of concerts called Final Home - When We Are All Together「Final Home 當我們混在一起」. This took them round the world to America, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan. The concerts lasted for six months until early 2006. A compilation of live performances from those concerts were released in a DVD-CD format and simply titled 《Final Home》.
Not content with performing on the ground, Mayday also took to the top of the Taiwan 101 building to perform. Called the "Nearest to the Sky Concert"/"Our Heads Reaching the Sky Concert" 「史上最接近天空演唱會」, Mayday performed at a height of nearly 390.6 metres from the ground.
Born to Love 《為愛而生》was released on the 29th of December 2006, with Mayday organising an autograph session lasting ten hours that became the first in 2007. In conjunction with their new album and sponsored by Le Tea, they also held Born to Love 《五月天 le power 天使，為愛而生新歌演唱會》 concerts around Taiwan. Tickets to these concerts were packaged within the first edition of the Born to Love albums, and fans formed lines overnight in order to get their hands on the actual tickets that allowed them entrance into the concerts. Mayday played a total of 12 concerts, and the best performances are compiled into a DVD that was packaged with the third edition of the Born to Love album.
2007 also saw the release of Jump! 《離開地球表面》, which included several new songs, live performances from the concert tour of the same name and the promotional tune Going Crazy 《抓狂》 for the video-game Halo 3. Included also is a duet with singer Cheer Chen, Elope to the Moon《私奔到月球》. Not to be outdone by the previous year, Mayday held a concert 《突然很想見到你》on January 1 of 2008 that lasted from 1:00 AM to around 6:00 AM.
Presently, Mayday are in the midst of their Returning to the Surface of the Earth 《回到地球表面》 concerts. They have also begun planning for their 8th studio album, which is slated to be released in the later half of 2008.
*Real Name: Chen Hsin Hung
*Date of Birth: 6 December 1975
*Place of Birth: Taipei, Taiwan
*Instrument: Vocals
*Position: Vocalist
*Height/Weight: 180cm/74kg
*Real Name: Wen Shang Yi
*Date of Birth: 28 November 1976
*Place of Birth: Hsin-Chu, Taiwan
*Instrument: Guitar
*Position: Leader
*Height/Weight: 168cm/62kg
*Real Name: Shih Chin-hang
*Date of Birth: 11 December 1976
*Place of Birth: Taipei, Taiwan
*Instrument: Guitar
*Height/Weight: 172cm/67kg
*Real Name: Tsai Shen-yen
*Date of Birth: 25 April 1977
*Place of Birth: Kaohsiung, Taiwan
*Instrument: Bass, Guitar, Piano, Harmonica
*Height/Weight: 172cm/66kg
*Real Name: Liu Yen-ming
*Date of Birth: 28 July 1973
*Place of Birth: Miaoli, Taiwan
*Instrument: Drums, Keyboards
*Height/Weight: 178cm/60kg
''This is a list of the major concerts held by Mayday wihin Taiwan. It does not include campus performances, autograph cum performance sessions or year-end galas.''
Mayday have long been regarded as one of the best bands in the Chinese music industry and have been hailed as "Asia's First Heavenly Band" or "Taiwan's Heavenly Band" by the media.
*Gui Guan Hotpot
*LEE（Jeans）
*Ford Motor Company ACTIVA
*Uni-President Enterprises Corporation
*Panasonic
*2003 National Games
*2004 World Youth Games
*ChungHwa Telecom
*Family Mart
*7-Eleven Hello Kitty campaign and ibon
*Cathay United Commercial Bank Co., Ltd.
*TsingTao Beer
*2005 Hakka Flower Festival
*BenQ
*Le power Beverages
*Guerlain
*Xbox 360
*2007 福滿多方 Instant Noodles
*2008 Taipei International Book Exhibition
*HeySong Sarsaparilla
On his own as a songwriter and lyricist, Ashin has worked with Wang Lee Hom on his Heroes of the Earth album. He has also written for various other artistes including Fish Leong, Aska Yang on the song Onion, Angelica Lee, Jolin Tsai, Sandee Chen and . Vocals-wise, he has collaborated with Stefanie Sun twice on Mayday's 4th album Time Machine and on the upbeat track First Day which also included F.I.R. He has also dueted with Cheer Chen on the song 'Eloping to the Moon.' A visual arts and design student in high school, Ashin has also dabbled in the design area, working notably with graphic designer No2good on a line of T-shirts by the name of Stay Real and designing a dogtag player for BenQ Music's Player. As an author, Ashin has released two books called Happy.BIRTH.day which he called a "book of rock poems" and his latest book Escape to Japan , which is a travelogue reflection on Japan.
The other members of Mayday have also worked with other artistes mainly in the areas of songwriting and producing. Masa and Monster have helped with songwriting and instrument playing duties on tracks by fellow Rock Records artistes Fish Leong, Victor Huang and Ding Dang. Both Monster and Stone have also produced albums, notably Monster for Ding Dang's debut album and Stone for Victor Huang's 2007 album.
In lyrics on recent albums, Ashin has alluded to several cultural icons notably the Chinese mythical monkey-god Sun Wu-Kong, Mickey Mouse, Superman, Neil Armstrong and Che Guevara. Ashin has also cited movies and novels as inspiration for his songs including "Viva Love" which was inspired by avant-garde Taiwanese director Tsai Ming Liang's 1994 movie, Vive L'Amour and the song "Armour" which was influenced by a Chinese drama 《孽子》and Haruki Murakami's novel, Kafka On the Shore.
History
Formation and Early Years : So Band
Mayday evolved from So Band which was formed by Ashin, Monster and the first drummer Qian You Da in 1995 while they were studying in The Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan . They were later joined by Masa and Stone, who were attending the same school. After graduation, the members went to different universities but continued to cut their teeth performing in pubs and eateries. They were also actively involved in promoting the growing rock music trend in Taiwan . In 1997, the band registered under the moniker Mayday who described them as "the ones who would usher in the sound of the future". In June 1998, they also released the Embrace《擁抱》 compilation album for which they took on most of the songwriting, production and recording duties.
In 1999, Guan You became the band's fourth drummer and they went on to release their first full-length studio album 《五月天第一張創作專輯》under Rock Records on July 7th, 1999. Their debut received critical acclaim and gained a following among the . It went on to move more than 300,000 copies, a considerable feat for a new band in the then pessimistic and saturated music industry. The tracks "Peter and Mary" 「志明與春嬌」and "Embrace" 「擁抱」 also caught on among the youth, and became the top songs in the KTV list. "Peter and Mary" was one of the top ten songs of the year according to the The Association of Music Workers in Taiwan . In fact, "Peter and Mary" has been acknowledged by Mayday's Ashin as the "song that brought them from the north of Taiwan to the south, allowing everyone to recognise Mayday." On the 28th of August, they held their first large-scale performance called "168 Performances 「第168場演唱會」," cementing their position as one of the rising bands in Taiwan.
Release of Viva Love and People Life, Ocean Wild :
The band's second album Viva Love 《愛情萬歲》was released 7th July, 2000. Sales of Viva Love exceeded their previous album, shifting more than 350,000 copies. Additionally, Viva Love won them the "Best Band" award at the 12th Golden Melody Awards . Mayday also held a series of concerts called "Ten Thousand Youths Standing Up" in Taipei City, Zhang Hua and Gaohsiung City. The concerts were famous for having the most concert-goers in 2000.. They also released an accompanying soundtrack.
After Masa's official release from the military, the band regrouped and made a return to the music industry. To mark the event, Mayday held their City of the Sky 「天空之城」 concert on the 16th of August 2004 at the Taipei Stadium . The concert attracted nearly 400,000 fans which broke the record for most concert-goers at a concert, a record previously held by Michael Jackson.
On the 11th of November 2003, the band also released their 4th studio album Time Machine 《時光機》. Sales of the album hit more than 15,000 within two days , with Mayday seeing no decline in their popularity despite their hiatus. The Time Machine also won Mayday their second "Best Band" award at the 15th Golden Melody Awards.
In the summer of 2004, Mayday also participated in the making of an accompanying soundtrack for the movie 《五月之戀》in which they also presented new arrangements of some of their old songs. Guitarist Stone also had a supporting role in the movie.
5th of November 2004 saw the release of their critically acclaimed 5th studio album God's Children Are All Dancing/Flying Angels With A Falling Soul 《神的孩子都在跳舞》. This album used the simultaneous recording technique to create the distinctive "band" sound of their past albums and was specially recorded in Kawaguchi-to, Japan. In 2005, they also released a best of compilation album Just My Pride ，which included six new songs and favourites culled from previous albums.
Final Home Concerts :
Near the end of 2004, Mayday embarked on an ambitious worldwide series of concerts called Final Home - When We Are All Together「Final Home 當我們混在一起」. This took them round the world to America, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan. The concerts lasted for six months until early 2006. A compilation of live performances from those concerts were released in a DVD-CD format and simply titled 《Final Home》.
Not content with performing on the ground, Mayday also took to the top of the Taiwan 101 building to perform. Called the "Nearest to the Sky Concert"/"Our Heads Reaching the Sky Concert" 「史上最接近天空演唱會」, Mayday performed at a height of nearly 390.6 metres from the ground.
Continuing the Dream :
Born to Love 《為愛而生》was released on the 29th of December 2006, with Mayday organising an autograph session lasting ten hours that became the first in 2007. In conjunction with their new album and sponsored by Le Tea, they also held Born to Love 《五月天 le power 天使，為愛而生新歌演唱會》 concerts around Taiwan. Tickets to these concerts were packaged within the first edition of the Born to Love albums, and fans formed lines overnight in order to get their hands on the actual tickets that allowed them entrance into the concerts. Mayday played a total of 12 concerts, and the best performances are compiled into a DVD that was packaged with the third edition of the Born to Love album.
2007 also saw the release of Jump! 《離開地球表面》, which included several new songs, live performances from the concert tour of the same name and the promotional tune Going Crazy 《抓狂》 for the video-game Halo 3. Included also is a duet with singer Cheer Chen, Elope to the Moon《私奔到月球》. Not to be outdone by the previous year, Mayday held a concert 《突然很想見到你》on January 1 of 2008 that lasted from 1:00 AM to around 6:00 AM.
Presently, Mayday are in the midst of their Returning to the Surface of the Earth 《回到地球表面》 concerts. They have also begun planning for their 8th studio album, which is slated to be released in the later half of 2008.
Members
Ashin
*Real Name: Chen Hsin Hung
*Date of Birth: 6 December 1975
*Place of Birth: Taipei, Taiwan
*Instrument: Vocals
*Position: Vocalist
*Height/Weight: 180cm/74kg
Monster
*Real Name: Wen Shang Yi
*Date of Birth: 28 November 1976
*Place of Birth: Hsin-Chu, Taiwan
*Instrument: Guitar
*Position: Leader
*Height/Weight: 168cm/62kg
Stone
*Real Name: Shih Chin-hang
*Date of Birth: 11 December 1976
*Place of Birth: Taipei, Taiwan
*Instrument: Guitar
*Height/Weight: 172cm/67kg
Masa
*Real Name: Tsai Shen-yen
*Date of Birth: 25 April 1977
*Place of Birth: Kaohsiung, Taiwan
*Instrument: Bass, Guitar, Piano, Harmonica
*Height/Weight: 172cm/66kg
Guan You
*Real Name: Liu Yen-ming
*Date of Birth: 28 July 1973
*Place of Birth: Miaoli, Taiwan
*Instrument: Drums, Keyboards
*Height/Weight: 178cm/60kg
Discography
Studio Albums
Live Albums/DVDs
Major concerts
''This is a list of the major concerts held by Mayday wihin Taiwan. It does not include campus performances, autograph cum performance sessions or year-end galas.''
Awards and Accolades
Mayday have long been regarded as one of the best bands in the Chinese music industry and have been hailed as "Asia's First Heavenly Band" or "Taiwan's Heavenly Band" by the media.
Endorsements
*Gui Guan Hotpot
*LEE（Jeans）
*Ford Motor Company ACTIVA
*Uni-President Enterprises Corporation
*Panasonic
*2003 National Games
*2004 World Youth Games
*ChungHwa Telecom
*Family Mart
*7-Eleven Hello Kitty campaign and ibon
*Cathay United Commercial Bank Co., Ltd.
*TsingTao Beer
*2005 Hakka Flower Festival
*BenQ
*Le power Beverages
*Guerlain
*Xbox 360
*2007 福滿多方 Instant Noodles
*2008 Taipei International Book Exhibition
*HeySong Sarsaparilla
Collaborations
Ashin's Collaborations
On his own as a songwriter and lyricist, Ashin has worked with Wang Lee Hom on his Heroes of the Earth album. He has also written for various other artistes including Fish Leong, Aska Yang on the song Onion, Angelica Lee, Jolin Tsai, Sandee Chen and . Vocals-wise, he has collaborated with Stefanie Sun twice on Mayday's 4th album Time Machine and on the upbeat track First Day which also included F.I.R. He has also dueted with Cheer Chen on the song 'Eloping to the Moon.' A visual arts and design student in high school, Ashin has also dabbled in the design area, working notably with graphic designer No2good on a line of T-shirts by the name of Stay Real and designing a dogtag player for BenQ Music's Player. As an author, Ashin has released two books called Happy.BIRTH.day which he called a "book of rock poems" and his latest book Escape to Japan , which is a travelogue reflection on Japan.
Other Members' Collaborations
The other members of Mayday have also worked with other artistes mainly in the areas of songwriting and producing. Masa and Monster have helped with songwriting and instrument playing duties on tracks by fellow Rock Records artistes Fish Leong, Victor Huang and Ding Dang. Both Monster and Stone have also produced albums, notably Monster for Ding Dang's debut album and Stone for Victor Huang's 2007 album.
Lollipop (Taiwanese Group)
Lollipop is a Taiwanese Mandopop boyband signed under EMI Music, Taiwan. The group consists of six members, all chosen from [[Channel V|Channel ]] Taiwan's show 模范棒棒堂 , a show which sought to create new male artists in the entertainment business of Taiwan. In addition to appearing in ''Bang Bang Tang'' regularly until September 2008, they debuted as show hosts with ''Lollipop! Gyashan'' of [[Channel V|Channel ]].
Lollipop signed with EMI Capitol Taiwan on December 2, 2006 and released their first solo EP in January 2007. With acquisition of EMI Music Taiwan, Lollipop is now signed under the label Gold Typhoon. The sextet currently live together in an apartment rented to them by ''BBT'' show host in Taipei, having moved several times since their debut. Under company regulations, they are not allowed to have guests or entertain the fans that sometimes gather outside their apartment. On occasion their neighbours have had to seek the police's help in dispersing the fans.
Stage Name:
Real Name:
Height: 177cm
Birthdate:
Weight: 62kg
Blood type: O
Stage Name:
Real Name:
Height: 173cm
Birthdate:
Weight: 53kg
Blood type: O
Stage Name:
Real Name:
Height: 174cm
Birthdate:
Weight: 60.6kg
Blood type: A
Stage Name:
Real Name:
Height: 172cm
Birthdate:
Weight: 60kg
Blood type: AB
Stage Name:
Real Name:
Height: 176cm
Birthdate:
Weight: 67kg
Blood type: O
Stage Name:
Real Name:
Height: 168cm
Birthdate:
Weight: 60kg
Blood type: Unknown
Owodog, Liljay and A-Wei are members of Taiwanese breakdance group Black Angle Crew. Shortly after Owodog and Liljay joined ''Bang Bang Tang'', the crew peformed at 我愛黑澀會, the female version of ''BBT'' that debuted a year earlier on Channel V.
In 2006, Owodog, Prince, Liljay, and Fabien became among the first group of boys to be selected into ''Bang Bang Tang'' through recommendations and auditions held across Taiwan, the processes of which were shown in the show's first three episodes.
They are among the first 20 members of the show, as it officially debuted on August 17, 2006.
William and A-Wei made their first appearances on ''BBT'' on the October 13, 2006 episode as part of their auditions during the first round of new selections into ''BBT'' and were selected to become members of the show.
On November 27, 2006, the episode in which the six members of the group were selected and revealed was aired. The order in which the members were announced is as follows: Liljay, Prince, Owodog, Fabien, William, and A-Wei. Notably, William and A-Wei's inclusion in the group was determined only moments before the announcements were filmed. The members signed a contract to Channel V, and Dora Ao became their agent. The group, named Lollipop, then officially signed a contract with EMI Capitol on December 2, 2006. Owodog, being the leader in ''BBT'', was named the group leader as well.
Lollipop first EP ''Colorful Lollipop'' was released on January 26, 2007, with six different covers, each featuring a member of the group. Four months later, on May 25, a second EP titled ''Summer's First Experience'' was released along with a photobook compiled with photos taken in Okinawa, as well as a DVD. Lyrics were written by Liljay and Prince for the song "Summer's First Experience."
During the summer of 2007, Lollipop made their acting debut in the drama ''Brown Sugar Macchiato'', a collaboration with . Because of the large number of main characters, fifteen in total, and the many obligations both groups had apart from the drama, the original director quitted after directing five episodes. Nevertheless, the first episode was aired in Taiwan on July 15, 2007. Later, Lollipop admits on Kangxi Lai Le that the drama had been more of an introduction of the two groups instead of a major acting challenge, as the members were told to act like themselves, and that many subplots were explained only briefly due to the large number of main characters. After thirteen episodes, the drama ended on October 7, 2007. Additionally, an official soundtrack was released with songs from Lollipop and .
The same year, Lollipop began hosting their own show ''Lollipop Gyashan'' on October 27 until April 19, 2008, when the show stopped airing.
Their debut album ''Gyashan'' was released on December 28, 2007. ''Gyashan'' entered Mandarin charts in the number one position, outselling 's album ''Waiting for You - Await Your Love'' released the same day.
On January 26, 2008, a year after the release of their first EP, they held their debut concert at the Taipei Arena.
The concert DVD was released on June 6, 2008, breaking chart records with sales rates of more than 35%. Their DVD has topped the charts for a period of one month since.
Lollipop had been appearing regularly on ''Bang Bang Tang'' since August 14, 2006. With Channel 's decision to select a new batch of boys and create a second season, Lollipop and most of the other members "graduated" from ''Bang Bang Tang'' after their last performances as members of the show. Their last official episode aired on August 29, 2008, marking the end of the first season. In total, they had participated in more than 500 episodes of the show. Since the start of ''Bang Bang Tang II'', Lollipop has, on several occasions, returned to the show as guests.
In May, earlier the same year, A-Wei, Prince, and Fabien, part of the main cast, began shooting Lollipop's the second drama with members of and ''Bang Bang Tang''. The drama, called The Legend of Brown Sugar Chivalry, is a wuxia drama set in modern times, which requires the actors and actresses to learn and perform kungfu, sometimes using weapons. Additionally, wire fu and special effects were used upon the cast for qinggong and some fighting scenes. The first episode was released on July 26, 2008 on Star TV Chinese Channel and continues to be aired after the end of the first season of ''Bang Bang Tang''. Later, Owodog became a part of extended cast, while Liljay and William had minor roles.
On October 3, 2008, the original soundtrack was released, the songs of which includes lyric compositions from Liljay and Prince.
After leaving ''Bang Bang Tang'', William hosts a bikini show called ''Wu Di Qing Chun Ke'' with Taiwanese singer Kenji Wu, while Owodog, Awei, and Liljay host ''Na Li Wu Da Kang'' with 's Apple and Channel V's VJ Rong Jia.
After talks with Paco Wong, the chairman of Gold Records, Owodog is reportedly going to be starring in a kungfu film with Theresa Fu and a member of The Flowers. According to recent news, the film is set to start filming near the end of Ocotber, 2008 in Beijing.
Prince and his brother, Mao Di, also a member of ''Bang Bang Tang'', will be part of the film "Ai Dao Di", which is composed of four short films directed by four different directors. The tentative release date is set on February 14, 2009, Valentine's Day
Lollipop visited Hong Kong to promote their television soundtrack Brown Sugar Macchiato on the September 26, 2007.
This was their first overseas promotional activity ever since their debut, and a huge fan turnout caused a great commotion at the shopping mall where they were having their meet-and-greet session.
Lollipop returned to Hong Kong on Christmas to promote their debut album. On February 1, 2008 they traveled Hong Kong for the third time to guest star in the Cantonese movie ''Truth or Dare: 6th Floor Rear Flat 2'', and on the 23rd of the same month, performed at Show Luo's concert as guests. On June 1, 2008, the group also participated in a fundraising concert for the Sichuan Earthquake.
Lollipop visited Mainland China on the March 23, 2008, to promote their debut album. With over 3000 fans, the autograph session was canceled due to safety reasons, as the situation grew out of control. Thus, fans were able to catch only a few glimpses of the group. Nevertheless, Lollipop stayed at the venue and finished signing each album in a separate room.
Lollipop traveled to Singapore on the June 12, 2008, to promote their concert DVD. There was only one autograph session held at a bar in Clarke Quay; thus, the organisers had to give out tickets to limit the amount of fans entering. However, due to the massive fan turnout on the day of the event, there were still more than 100 ticket holders who were banned from entering as the number of people exceeded the estimated amount. Additionally, there were more than 200 fans without tickets waiting outside the bar.
''This list does not include year-end galas or autograph/performance sessions.''
''*Indicates concerts where Lollipop was one of many groups and singers who participated.''
Lollipop signed with EMI Capitol Taiwan on December 2, 2006 and released their first solo EP in January 2007. With acquisition of EMI Music Taiwan, Lollipop is now signed under the label Gold Typhoon. The sextet currently live together in an apartment rented to them by ''BBT'' show host in Taipei, having moved several times since their debut. Under company regulations, they are not allowed to have guests or entertain the fans that sometimes gather outside their apartment. On occasion their neighbours have had to seek the police's help in dispersing the fans.
Members
Owodog
Stage Name:
Real Name:
Height: 177cm
Birthdate:
Weight: 62kg
Blood type: O
Prince
Stage Name:
Real Name:
Height: 173cm
Birthdate:
Weight: 53kg
Blood type: O
LilJay/Brian
Stage Name:
Real Name:
Height: 174cm
Birthdate:
Weight: 60.6kg
Blood type: A
Fabien
Stage Name:
Real Name:
Height: 172cm
Birthdate:
Weight: 60kg
Blood type: AB
William
Stage Name:
Real Name:
Height: 176cm
Birthdate:
Weight: 67kg
Blood type: O
A-Wei
Stage Name:
Real Name:
Height: 168cm
Birthdate:
Weight: 60kg
Blood type: Unknown
History
Background
Owodog, Liljay and A-Wei are members of Taiwanese breakdance group Black Angle Crew. Shortly after Owodog and Liljay joined ''Bang Bang Tang'', the crew peformed at 我愛黑澀會, the female version of ''BBT'' that debuted a year earlier on Channel V.
In 2006, Owodog, Prince, Liljay, and Fabien became among the first group of boys to be selected into ''Bang Bang Tang'' through recommendations and auditions held across Taiwan, the processes of which were shown in the show's first three episodes.
They are among the first 20 members of the show, as it officially debuted on August 17, 2006.
William and A-Wei made their first appearances on ''BBT'' on the October 13, 2006 episode as part of their auditions during the first round of new selections into ''BBT'' and were selected to become members of the show.
The formation of Lollipop
On November 27, 2006, the episode in which the six members of the group were selected and revealed was aired. The order in which the members were announced is as follows: Liljay, Prince, Owodog, Fabien, William, and A-Wei. Notably, William and A-Wei's inclusion in the group was determined only moments before the announcements were filmed. The members signed a contract to Channel V, and Dora Ao became their agent. The group, named Lollipop, then officially signed a contract with EMI Capitol on December 2, 2006. Owodog, being the leader in ''BBT'', was named the group leader as well.
Lollipop first EP ''Colorful Lollipop'' was released on January 26, 2007, with six different covers, each featuring a member of the group. Four months later, on May 25, a second EP titled ''Summer's First Experience'' was released along with a photobook compiled with photos taken in Okinawa, as well as a DVD. Lyrics were written by Liljay and Prince for the song "Summer's First Experience."
Acting and hosting debut
During the summer of 2007, Lollipop made their acting debut in the drama ''Brown Sugar Macchiato'', a collaboration with . Because of the large number of main characters, fifteen in total, and the many obligations both groups had apart from the drama, the original director quitted after directing five episodes. Nevertheless, the first episode was aired in Taiwan on July 15, 2007. Later, Lollipop admits on Kangxi Lai Le that the drama had been more of an introduction of the two groups instead of a major acting challenge, as the members were told to act like themselves, and that many subplots were explained only briefly due to the large number of main characters. After thirteen episodes, the drama ended on October 7, 2007. Additionally, an official soundtrack was released with songs from Lollipop and .
The same year, Lollipop began hosting their own show ''Lollipop Gyashan'' on October 27 until April 19, 2008, when the show stopped airing.
Official debut album
Their debut album ''Gyashan'' was released on December 28, 2007. ''Gyashan'' entered Mandarin charts in the number one position, outselling 's album ''Waiting for You - Await Your Love'' released the same day.
On January 26, 2008, a year after the release of their first EP, they held their debut concert at the Taipei Arena.
The concert DVD was released on June 6, 2008, breaking chart records with sales rates of more than 35%. Their DVD has topped the charts for a period of one month since.
After ''Bang Bang Tang''
Lollipop had been appearing regularly on ''Bang Bang Tang'' since August 14, 2006. With Channel 's decision to select a new batch of boys and create a second season, Lollipop and most of the other members "graduated" from ''Bang Bang Tang'' after their last performances as members of the show. Their last official episode aired on August 29, 2008, marking the end of the first season. In total, they had participated in more than 500 episodes of the show. Since the start of ''Bang Bang Tang II'', Lollipop has, on several occasions, returned to the show as guests.
In May, earlier the same year, A-Wei, Prince, and Fabien, part of the main cast, began shooting Lollipop's the second drama with members of and ''Bang Bang Tang''. The drama, called The Legend of Brown Sugar Chivalry, is a wuxia drama set in modern times, which requires the actors and actresses to learn and perform kungfu, sometimes using weapons. Additionally, wire fu and special effects were used upon the cast for qinggong and some fighting scenes. The first episode was released on July 26, 2008 on Star TV Chinese Channel and continues to be aired after the end of the first season of ''Bang Bang Tang''. Later, Owodog became a part of extended cast, while Liljay and William had minor roles.
On October 3, 2008, the original soundtrack was released, the songs of which includes lyric compositions from Liljay and Prince.
After leaving ''Bang Bang Tang'', William hosts a bikini show called ''Wu Di Qing Chun Ke'' with Taiwanese singer Kenji Wu, while Owodog, Awei, and Liljay host ''Na Li Wu Da Kang'' with 's Apple and Channel V's VJ Rong Jia.
After talks with Paco Wong, the chairman of Gold Records, Owodog is reportedly going to be starring in a kungfu film with Theresa Fu and a member of The Flowers. According to recent news, the film is set to start filming near the end of Ocotber, 2008 in Beijing.
Prince and his brother, Mao Di, also a member of ''Bang Bang Tang'', will be part of the film "Ai Dao Di", which is composed of four short films directed by four different directors. The tentative release date is set on February 14, 2009, Valentine's Day
Overseas expansion
Hong Kong
Lollipop visited Hong Kong to promote their television soundtrack Brown Sugar Macchiato on the September 26, 2007.
This was their first overseas promotional activity ever since their debut, and a huge fan turnout caused a great commotion at the shopping mall where they were having their meet-and-greet session.
Lollipop returned to Hong Kong on Christmas to promote their debut album. On February 1, 2008 they traveled Hong Kong for the third time to guest star in the Cantonese movie ''Truth or Dare: 6th Floor Rear Flat 2'', and on the 23rd of the same month, performed at Show Luo's concert as guests. On June 1, 2008, the group also participated in a fundraising concert for the Sichuan Earthquake.
Mainland China
Lollipop visited Mainland China on the March 23, 2008, to promote their debut album. With over 3000 fans, the autograph session was canceled due to safety reasons, as the situation grew out of control. Thus, fans were able to catch only a few glimpses of the group. Nevertheless, Lollipop stayed at the venue and finished signing each album in a separate room.
Singapore
Lollipop traveled to Singapore on the June 12, 2008, to promote their concert DVD. There was only one autograph session held at a bar in Clarke Quay; thus, the organisers had to give out tickets to limit the amount of fans entering. However, due to the massive fan turnout on the day of the event, there were still more than 100 ticket holders who were banned from entering as the number of people exceeded the estimated amount. Additionally, there were more than 200 fans without tickets waiting outside the bar.
Discography
Albums
EPs
Original soundtracks
Concert DVDs
Variety shows
Dramas
Movies
Concerts
''This list does not include year-end galas or autograph/performance sessions.''
''*Indicates concerts where Lollipop was one of many groups and singers who participated.''
Endorsements
Awards
LTK Commune
LTK Commune is a well-known "underground" band founded in 1990. Their music has been variously described as having elements of , , nakasi, Taiwanese folk songs. In recent years band members have self-consciously applied the label "Taik" to their music – a reference to the Taiwanese ''Taick'' subculture.
The ''LTK'' stands for "Loh Tsui Kweh", an idiosyncratic spelling of the name of the Choshui River in Taiwan, one that evokes nativist sentiments.
The two guitar players – Tsai Hai-en and Ke Jen-chien – share lead vocals. Both attended National Taiwan University but left school early. Between the two of them they have driven the band's evolution. The critic Malaite attributes the group's early grunge influence to Tsai. In addition to Western influences, both of them are, in their own ways, steeped in local, traditionally working class genres. There is also a bass player and a drummer.
LTK Commune's earlier music echoes the island's protest movements of the early 1990s. Earlier themes have consciously reflected concerns and sentiments. With the decline of street protests and the onset of political liberalization, socially-conscious themes have become less foregrounded. The band unabashedly supports Taiwan independence.
Their songs often express the frustration of the Taiwanese working class male. Unapologetically sexual or references and vulgar language are found in some songs, a characteristic embraced by the fans but found outrageous by some critics. Some critics detect a streak of male chauvinism, most notably in the song "Rape, Murder"; others consider the song as a study of the perverse psyche of a rapist-murderer.
Much of the lyrics are in the native Taiwanese language, a choice consistent with the language's working class base, as well as the anti-Kuomintang Opposition culture. Spoken monologues reminiscent of traditional melodrama are a favored device in their narratives.
LTK Commune's live performances are noted for their spontaneity and engagement with the crowd.
The ''LTK'' stands for "Loh Tsui Kweh", an idiosyncratic spelling of the name of the Choshui River in Taiwan, one that evokes nativist sentiments.
The two guitar players – Tsai Hai-en and Ke Jen-chien – share lead vocals. Both attended National Taiwan University but left school early. Between the two of them they have driven the band's evolution. The critic Malaite attributes the group's early grunge influence to Tsai. In addition to Western influences, both of them are, in their own ways, steeped in local, traditionally working class genres. There is also a bass player and a drummer.
LTK Commune's earlier music echoes the island's protest movements of the early 1990s. Earlier themes have consciously reflected concerns and sentiments. With the decline of street protests and the onset of political liberalization, socially-conscious themes have become less foregrounded. The band unabashedly supports Taiwan independence.
Their songs often express the frustration of the Taiwanese working class male. Unapologetically sexual or references and vulgar language are found in some songs, a characteristic embraced by the fans but found outrageous by some critics. Some critics detect a streak of male chauvinism, most notably in the song "Rape, Murder"; others consider the song as a study of the perverse psyche of a rapist-murderer.
Much of the lyrics are in the native Taiwanese language, a choice consistent with the language's working class base, as well as the anti-Kuomintang Opposition culture. Spoken monologues reminiscent of traditional melodrama are a favored device in their narratives.
LTK Commune's live performances are noted for their spontaneity and engagement with the crowd.
K One
K One is a Taiwanese boy band.
K One belongs to the management company, Wingman, managed by former 5566 member, Rio Peng. Other artists that belong to this company include 劉耕宏, Evonne Hsu許慧欣 , Ivy , Alicia, Vivi , Niki, 無限, Wing, Style , and育緯.
* Gino - January 30, 1980
Blood Type: B
Height: 179 cm
Weight: 68 kg
Hobbies: Dancing
Favourite Artistes: David Tao, Eason Chan, eVonne Hsu, N'Sync
Personal Motto: 'You won't have everything go according to your wishes, but you should always keep a clear conscience.'
Personal Character Analysis: Cautious, but tends to worry over minor details; too straightforward and tends to say the wrong things.
Ideal Partner: A girl who is gentle, natural and independent.
* JR - November 5, 1986
Blood Type: B
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 70 kg
* Kido - June 16, 1982
Blood Type: O
Height: 177 cm
Weight: 62 kg
* Li Yang - November 1, 1978
Blood Type: O
Height: 176 cm
Weight: 65 kg
* Darren - March 23, 1982
Blood Type: B
Height: 170 cm
Weight: 55 kg
This 5-man dance group, K One, was formed by Rio Peng, with his company ''Corvette Entertainment'' . However, K One did not do well with their first album; a very likely reason is that Peng did not wish to involve his own artistes with 5566, hoping that K One would make a name for themselves. Another possible reason is that there was already another popular dance group, Energy, in existence; due to this, few people were excited about the arrival of K One. However, Peng ultimately did place K One with Jungiery the following year.
After K One was placed under Jungiery, they were soon put to act in the idol drama, ''Top on the Forbidden City''. This idol drama had a lead cast roster of Gino and JR, and Joanne from the girl group Sweety. To help up this drama's fame, Sam Wang from 5566 also played a supporting role in the drama, and the theme song for this drama, Twist The Fate, was a collaborated work by both 5566 and K-One. This strategy was once again successful; K One's fame rose sharply.
* ''We r K One''
*# We.r.K.One
*# 孙子爱情兵法
*# 南十字星
*# 朋友的立场
*# 急救讯号
*# Angel
*# 心跳任务
*# 踢馆
*# 出师表
*# 古老的证明
* ''Love Power'' 勇敢去愛
*# 勇敢去愛 Love Bravely
*# 冠軍 Champion
*# 頂尖高手 Master Craftsman
*# 公主陛下 Her Highness, My Princess
*# 最愛是你 I Love You the Most
*# 繞圈圈 Going Around in Circles
*# 失戀寵物救援行動 Stray Pet Rescue
*# Seasons in the Sun
*# 最美的一刻 The Most Precious Moment
*# First Love
* ''Love Story of Romeo & Juliet'' 愛的故事-羅密歐與朱利葉
** Disc 1
*# 羅密歐茱麗葉
*# 發現愛
*# 糖梅仙子之舞
*# 浪漫舞會
*# 胡思亂想
*# Gossip
*# 啟始
*# Look into my eyes
*# 不明白 Don't Understand
*# 為你再活一天
*# 如果沒有明天 If There Was No Tomorrow
* ''Beautiful Commemoration'' 美好 紀念日
* ''The King's Way'' 王道
* Top of the Forbidden City - All Members
* Mr. Fighting - Darren
* Prince turns to Frog - Gino
* Green Forest, My Home - Kido
* Smiling Pasta - Gino, Darren
* Star Apple Garden - Li Yang
* Ying Ye 3+1 - Li Yang
K One belongs to the management company, Wingman, managed by former 5566 member, Rio Peng. Other artists that belong to this company include 劉耕宏, Evonne Hsu許慧欣 , Ivy , Alicia, Vivi , Niki, 無限, Wing, Style , and育緯.
Members
* Gino - January 30, 1980
Blood Type: B
Height: 179 cm
Weight: 68 kg
Hobbies: Dancing
Favourite Artistes: David Tao, Eason Chan, eVonne Hsu, N'Sync
Personal Motto: 'You won't have everything go according to your wishes, but you should always keep a clear conscience.'
Personal Character Analysis: Cautious, but tends to worry over minor details; too straightforward and tends to say the wrong things.
Ideal Partner: A girl who is gentle, natural and independent.
* JR - November 5, 1986
Blood Type: B
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 70 kg
* Kido - June 16, 1982
Blood Type: O
Height: 177 cm
Weight: 62 kg
* Li Yang - November 1, 1978
Blood Type: O
Height: 176 cm
Weight: 65 kg
* Darren - March 23, 1982
Blood Type: B
Height: 170 cm
Weight: 55 kg
History
2003
This 5-man dance group, K One, was formed by Rio Peng, with his company ''Corvette Entertainment'' . However, K One did not do well with their first album; a very likely reason is that Peng did not wish to involve his own artistes with 5566, hoping that K One would make a name for themselves. Another possible reason is that there was already another popular dance group, Energy, in existence; due to this, few people were excited about the arrival of K One. However, Peng ultimately did place K One with Jungiery the following year.
2004
After K One was placed under Jungiery, they were soon put to act in the idol drama, ''Top on the Forbidden City''. This idol drama had a lead cast roster of Gino and JR, and Joanne from the girl group Sweety. To help up this drama's fame, Sam Wang from 5566 also played a supporting role in the drama, and the theme song for this drama, Twist The Fate, was a collaborated work by both 5566 and K-One. This strategy was once again successful; K One's fame rose sharply.
Discography
Albums
* ''We r K One''
*# We.r.K.One
*# 孙子爱情兵法
*# 南十字星
*# 朋友的立场
*# 急救讯号
*# Angel
*# 心跳任务
*# 踢馆
*# 出师表
*# 古老的证明
* ''Love Power'' 勇敢去愛
*# 勇敢去愛 Love Bravely
*# 冠軍 Champion
*# 頂尖高手 Master Craftsman
*# 公主陛下 Her Highness, My Princess
*# 最愛是你 I Love You the Most
*# 繞圈圈 Going Around in Circles
*# 失戀寵物救援行動 Stray Pet Rescue
*# Seasons in the Sun
*# 最美的一刻 The Most Precious Moment
*# First Love
* ''Love Story of Romeo & Juliet'' 愛的故事-羅密歐與朱利葉
** Disc 1
*# 羅密歐茱麗葉
*# 發現愛
*# 糖梅仙子之舞
*# 浪漫舞會
*# 胡思亂想
*# Gossip
*# 啟始
*# Look into my eyes
*# 不明白 Don't Understand
*# 為你再活一天
*# 如果沒有明天 If There Was No Tomorrow
* ''Beautiful Commemoration'' 美好 紀念日
Singles
* ''The King's Way'' 王道
Filmography
Dramas
* Top of the Forbidden City - All Members
* Mr. Fighting - Darren
* Prince turns to Frog - Gino
* Green Forest, My Home - Kido
* Smiling Pasta - Gino, Darren
* Star Apple Garden - Li Yang
* Ying Ye 3+1 - Li Yang
JVKV
JVKV is a popular boy band. The group began in the Taiwanese drama ''Meteor Garden'' as F4 with members Jerry Yan, Vanness Wu, Ken Chu, and Vic Zhou. They have also attained popularity in other countries in Asia, such as Japan and the Philippines.
The ''Meteor Garden'' series is an adaptation of the Japanese shōjo manga series, ''Boys Over Flowers'' . Yan plays the lead role of Dao Ming Si, an extremely arrogant and rich university student who meets his match in the poor but proud girl, Shan Cai - played by Barbie Xu. Zhou, Wu and Zhu play his friends Hua Ze Lei, Mei Zuo, and Xi Men respectively. The four boys were the most popular and handsome boys at the university; they were recognised as the group named the "Flower Four", hence the title: F4.
''Meteor Garden'' was released in Taiwan in 2001 and turned the leads into stars virtually overnight. In 2002 ''Meteor Garden'' was released in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and in the Philippines in 2003. The series was smuggled into Mainland China in 2002 despite an official ban by the authorities there on its showing due to its emphasis on power and materialism. A sequel, ''Meteor Garden II,'' was shot in Spain later and released in 2002. The success of "Meteor Garden" is notable because it has launched the idol drama craze.
In 2001, F4 became a boyband and signed a record deal with Sony Music Entertainment. Together they have released three albums, ''Meteor Rain'', ''Fantasy 4ever'', and "Waiting for You Here". In 2002, F4 sang the cover of "Can't Help Falling in Love" included in the Asian version of Walt Disney's ''Lilo & Stitch'' soundtrack. The version of this song is sung by A*Teens, which is a cover of the 1961 Elvis Presley hit of the same title. They also made the Mandarin cover of Yo Te Amo by Chayanne.
F4 has been sponsored by Pepsi, and Samuel & Kevin. The Taiwan Tourism Bureau appointed members of F4 as Tourism Ambassadors on March 9, 2007. Their "Wish to See You in Taiwan" campaign involves filming a television advertisement and a drama series filmed on tourist locations. As tourism ambassadors, F4 members also invited its overseas fans from South Korea and elsewhere to visit Taiwan.
On April 29, 2007, ''Meteor Garden'' producer Angie Chai announced that the group would no longer be known as F4. The change in name stemmed from copyright-related issues. Japanese publisher Shueisha, who owns the copyright to ''Boys Over Flowers'' allowed the group to use F4 as its band name in 2001. However, as Japan had filmed and aired its own live action versions of the popular manga, with its own cast of four, the publisher felt that there may be confusion over the name in different countries. Due to this conflict, the group was renamed JVKV using the first initials of each of the group's members. According to the producer, the members are listed in the new name by the order of their birth dates from oldest to youngest, thus Vanness Wu's name appears before Vic Zhou's.
Despite rumours of disbanding, JVKV released their third album, , on December 28, 2007. Their third album still bore the name F4, not JVKV.
JVKV are also concentrating on their solo careers in acting and music.
Wu has focused more of his attention on movies and music. He released his 2nd album titled "V.Dubb" in April of 2007, five years after his first album, "Body Will Sing". He's been in numerous music videos, "Ai Cuo" with Wang Leehom, Chinese version of "Crazy in Love" with Beyonce and Coco Lee's "Hip Hop Tonight". He has also been involved with several big-screen movies such as "Kung Fu Fighter", "Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon", and "Dragon Squad" just to name a few.
In August 2004, Yan came out with his first solo album titled, 'The First Time' . He's acted in Taiwan drama series "The Hospital" and made a movie, Magic Kitchen 魔幻廚房 .
Zhou has come out with 3 solo albums, "Make a Wish" , "Remember I Love You" , and "I'm not F4" , not to mention, he has acted in at least one drama series every year since his first break in 2001 with the exception of 2003. Within the last year, he will also be coming out with 2 movies, "Linger" and "Tea Fight."
Chu, known to love food and cooking, came out with his own cook book, "Delicious Relations" in 2006 after starring in a string of idol dramas. He has also starred in at least one drama every year since 2001, with the exception of 2005. That year, he came out with his own solo album, "On Ken's Time." He has filmed 3 movies to date. In a recent interview with F4, Chu has mentioned that he is growing increasingly more interested in music.
Three of the four will be acting in "Wish To See You Again." Vic Zhou and Ken Chu will be starring in it, while Vanness will have a guest appearance in a few episodes. Due to scheduling conflicts, Jerry Yan will not be starring in it and instead, Kingone Wang will be playing the part that was initially intended for Jerry. Instead, Jerry Yan is filming a series in Taiwan alongside Wu Chun of Fahrenheit and Show Luo, called "Hot Shot" which will be released in the summer of 2008. The series is based around basketball and the boys' competition on court. This series is highly anticipated due to the star status of the 3 male leads.
''流星雨 '' -
# 流星雨 - Sung by
# 我是真的真的很愛你 - Sung by
# Here We Are - Sung by
# 誰讓你流淚 -Sung by Vanness
# 為你執著 - Sung by
# 第一時間 - Sung by
# 要定妳 - Sung by
# 你不愛我愛誰？ -Sung by Vanness
# 愛不會一直等妳 - Sung by
# 最特別的存在 - Sung by
''Fantasy 4ever'' -
# 絕不能失去你 - Sung by
# 煙火的季節 - Sung by
# 愛的領域 - Sung by
# 一個人的冬季 - Sung by
# 晴天 - - Sung by
# 當你是朋友 - Vanness and Ken Zhu
# 我愛你 - Sung by
# 只有我 - Sung by
# 心理測驗
# 怎麽會是你 - Sung by
# Ask For More - Sung by
# Can't Help Falling in Love - Sung by
''Waiting for you 在這裡等你'' -
# 體驗
# 在這裡等你
# 你是我唯一的執著
# Listen to your heart
# 殘念
# 愛不停止
# 白
# 七天 - 吳建豪
# 無所謂
# 我沒有辦法離開你
Musical career
F4
The ''Meteor Garden'' series is an adaptation of the Japanese shōjo manga series, ''Boys Over Flowers'' . Yan plays the lead role of Dao Ming Si, an extremely arrogant and rich university student who meets his match in the poor but proud girl, Shan Cai - played by Barbie Xu. Zhou, Wu and Zhu play his friends Hua Ze Lei, Mei Zuo, and Xi Men respectively. The four boys were the most popular and handsome boys at the university; they were recognised as the group named the "Flower Four", hence the title: F4.
''Meteor Garden'' was released in Taiwan in 2001 and turned the leads into stars virtually overnight. In 2002 ''Meteor Garden'' was released in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and in the Philippines in 2003. The series was smuggled into Mainland China in 2002 despite an official ban by the authorities there on its showing due to its emphasis on power and materialism. A sequel, ''Meteor Garden II,'' was shot in Spain later and released in 2002. The success of "Meteor Garden" is notable because it has launched the idol drama craze.
In 2001, F4 became a boyband and signed a record deal with Sony Music Entertainment. Together they have released three albums, ''Meteor Rain'', ''Fantasy 4ever'', and "Waiting for You Here". In 2002, F4 sang the cover of "Can't Help Falling in Love" included in the Asian version of Walt Disney's ''Lilo & Stitch'' soundtrack. The version of this song is sung by A*Teens, which is a cover of the 1961 Elvis Presley hit of the same title. They also made the Mandarin cover of Yo Te Amo by Chayanne.
F4 has been sponsored by Pepsi, and Samuel & Kevin. The Taiwan Tourism Bureau appointed members of F4 as Tourism Ambassadors on March 9, 2007. Their "Wish to See You in Taiwan" campaign involves filming a television advertisement and a drama series filmed on tourist locations. As tourism ambassadors, F4 members also invited its overseas fans from South Korea and elsewhere to visit Taiwan.
JVKV
On April 29, 2007, ''Meteor Garden'' producer Angie Chai announced that the group would no longer be known as F4. The change in name stemmed from copyright-related issues. Japanese publisher Shueisha, who owns the copyright to ''Boys Over Flowers'' allowed the group to use F4 as its band name in 2001. However, as Japan had filmed and aired its own live action versions of the popular manga, with its own cast of four, the publisher felt that there may be confusion over the name in different countries. Due to this conflict, the group was renamed JVKV using the first initials of each of the group's members. According to the producer, the members are listed in the new name by the order of their birth dates from oldest to youngest, thus Vanness Wu's name appears before Vic Zhou's.
Despite rumours of disbanding, JVKV released their third album, , on December 28, 2007. Their third album still bore the name F4, not JVKV.
Solo projects
JVKV are also concentrating on their solo careers in acting and music.
Wu has focused more of his attention on movies and music. He released his 2nd album titled "V.Dubb" in April of 2007, five years after his first album, "Body Will Sing". He's been in numerous music videos, "Ai Cuo" with Wang Leehom, Chinese version of "Crazy in Love" with Beyonce and Coco Lee's "Hip Hop Tonight". He has also been involved with several big-screen movies such as "Kung Fu Fighter", "Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon", and "Dragon Squad" just to name a few.
In August 2004, Yan came out with his first solo album titled, 'The First Time' . He's acted in Taiwan drama series "The Hospital" and made a movie, Magic Kitchen 魔幻廚房 .
Zhou has come out with 3 solo albums, "Make a Wish" , "Remember I Love You" , and "I'm not F4" , not to mention, he has acted in at least one drama series every year since his first break in 2001 with the exception of 2003. Within the last year, he will also be coming out with 2 movies, "Linger" and "Tea Fight."
Chu, known to love food and cooking, came out with his own cook book, "Delicious Relations" in 2006 after starring in a string of idol dramas. He has also starred in at least one drama every year since 2001, with the exception of 2005. That year, he came out with his own solo album, "On Ken's Time." He has filmed 3 movies to date. In a recent interview with F4, Chu has mentioned that he is growing increasingly more interested in music.
Three of the four will be acting in "Wish To See You Again." Vic Zhou and Ken Chu will be starring in it, while Vanness will have a guest appearance in a few episodes. Due to scheduling conflicts, Jerry Yan will not be starring in it and instead, Kingone Wang will be playing the part that was initially intended for Jerry. Instead, Jerry Yan is filming a series in Taiwan alongside Wu Chun of Fahrenheit and Show Luo, called "Hot Shot" which will be released in the summer of 2008. The series is based around basketball and the boys' competition on court. This series is highly anticipated due to the star status of the 3 male leads.
Discography
''流星雨 '' -
# 流星雨 - Sung by
# 我是真的真的很愛你 - Sung by
# Here We Are - Sung by
# 誰讓你流淚 -Sung by Vanness
# 為你執著 - Sung by
# 第一時間 - Sung by
# 要定妳 - Sung by
# 你不愛我愛誰？ -Sung by Vanness
# 愛不會一直等妳 - Sung by
# 最特別的存在 - Sung by
''Fantasy 4ever'' -
# 絕不能失去你 - Sung by
# 煙火的季節 - Sung by
# 愛的領域 - Sung by
# 一個人的冬季 - Sung by
# 晴天 - - Sung by
# 當你是朋友 - Vanness and Ken Zhu
# 我愛你 - Sung by
# 只有我 - Sung by
# 心理測驗
# 怎麽會是你 - Sung by
# Ask For More - Sung by
# Can't Help Falling in Love - Sung by
''Waiting for you 在這裡等你'' -
# 體驗
# 在這裡等你
# 你是我唯一的執著
# Listen to your heart
# 殘念
# 愛不停止
# 白
# 七天 - 吳建豪
# 無所謂
# 我沒有辦法離開你
I.n.g
i.n.g is a Taiwanese girl group currently signed under Avex Taiwan, a subsidiary of Avex Trax. The group consists of Ida, Nara, and Gillian. The group debuted on May 52006, with their first album, ''Lucky Star''. Because i.n.g released their album on the same day as Jolin Tsai, a popstar who had built her fame over a longer period of time, their shot at success took a major hit. Of all the CDs sold in Taiwan during the week of May 5, only 2.46% were named ''Lucky Star''. i.n.g debuted at #8 on the G-music charts, but fell down to #11 the next week after Tsai released yet another album. ''Lucky Star'' stayed in the G-music Top 20 for ten weeks, but none of the album's songs were ranked on billboard charts.
In 2006, as guests on Jacky Wu's show, "Qi Tian Da Sheng," i.n.g was lauded for their dancing ability as well as for their overall potential. Wu's praise indirectly spiked sales of ''Lucky Star'', which shot up seven places in the G-music charts during the week of May 26, 2006.
Netizens have criticized i.n.g for imitiating S.H.E, a girl group that debuted five years earlier. In response, i.n.g stated that they looked up to S.H.E as models of success, and had no plans to make themselves into S.H.E clones. Currently, Gillian and Nara are rumoured to be in the running for a spot as a lead in the Taiwanese series Fresh Tomato For Sauce.
Praise and criticism
In 2006, as guests on Jacky Wu's show, "Qi Tian Da Sheng," i.n.g was lauded for their dancing ability as well as for their overall potential. Wu's praise indirectly spiked sales of ''Lucky Star'', which shot up seven places in the G-music charts during the week of May 26, 2006.
Netizens have criticized i.n.g for imitiating S.H.E, a girl group that debuted five years earlier. In response, i.n.g stated that they looked up to S.H.E as models of success, and had no plans to make themselves into S.H.E clones. Currently, Gillian and Nara are rumoured to be in the running for a spot as a lead in the Taiwanese series Fresh Tomato For Sauce.
Hohak Band
Hohak Band is a band composed of ex-members of the Labor Exchange Band plus Huqin performer Xiao Shiwei and guitarist Ke Zhihao. Like Labor Exchange, Hohak Band uses traditional Han-Chinese instruments extensively, alongside Western ones.
The name "Hohak" is for "full of hospitality".
Their initial release is an titled ''Peach Blossoms Are Blooming'' .
The name "Hohak" is for "full of hospitality".
Their initial release is an titled ''Peach Blossoms Are Blooming'' .
Hey Girl (Taiwanese group)
Hey Girl is a group of Taiwanese singers. [[Channel V|Channel ]] held an audition for the show Wo Ai Hei Se Hui , a variety show that aims to create new female entertainers in Taiwan. At the end of 2005, [[Channel V|Channel ]] picked nine members to represent the other girls. These nine members were Gui Gui, Xiao Jie, Mei Mei, Apple, Xiao Xun, Ya Tou, Xiao Man, Tong Tong, and Da Ya. Together, they are affectionately known as the Qiu Niu Niu for short.
The nine members were separated into two groups for their third EP release: Da Ya, Xiao Man, Ya Tou, Gui Gui, and Apple comprised Fen Hong Gao Ya Dian , and Mei Mei, Xiao Xun, Xiao Jie, and Tong Tong comprised Tian Xin Hong Zha Ji .
On October 5, 2007 Tong Tong left Hei Se Hui Mei Mei . It is rumoured that she left because of a rift with band leader Da Ya over an alleged affair with Tong Tong's boyfriend at the time, Hakka-Pac; other sources suggest that Tong Tong was forced to depart due to violations of her contract. Tong Tong reports that she began cutting herself during this stressful time. She is currently working for Momo Kids, a Taiwanese television company featuring children's programming.
Originally, the group's name, Hei Se Hui Mei Mei, is a pun on the words "Mei Mei" and "Hei Se Hui" . Later, after the group's move to Warner Music Taiwan, its name was changed to 黑Girl, and the English name officially became Hey Girl. The change in name resulted from the record company's concerns that scandulous rumors of other members of the show Wo Ai Hei Se Hui would be associated with Hei Se Hui Mei Mei .
* Da Ya
* Gui Gui
* Ya Tou
* Xiao Man
* Apple
* Mei Mei
* Xiao Jie
* Xiao Xun
* Miss No Good - Mei Mei
* Rolling Love - - Xiao Xun
* The Clue Collector - - Gui Gui
* The X-family - Da Ya
* Zhu Zuo Bian Zhu You Bian series - Ya Tou
* Hei Tang Lai Le - Da Ya, Mei Mei, Apple, and Xiao Man
* Brown Sugar Macchiato - all members
* 18 Jin Bu Jin - Xiao Xun
* Angel Lover - Xiao Xun, Da Ya
* Wayward Kenting - Da Ya
* Hei Tang Qun Xia Zhuan - Xiao xun, Ya Tou, Xiao Man, Mei Mei, Xiao Jie
* 2008 - Hey girl
* 2006 - Wo Ai Hei Se Hui
* 2006 - Mei Mei Si Mi De Yi Tian - Fen Hong Gao Ya Dian / Tian Xin Hong Jia Ji
* 2007 - Mei Mei Si Mi Party
* 2007 - Brown Sugar Macchiato OST
The nine members were separated into two groups for their third EP release: Da Ya, Xiao Man, Ya Tou, Gui Gui, and Apple comprised Fen Hong Gao Ya Dian , and Mei Mei, Xiao Xun, Xiao Jie, and Tong Tong comprised Tian Xin Hong Zha Ji .
Departure of Tong Tong
On October 5, 2007 Tong Tong left Hei Se Hui Mei Mei . It is rumoured that she left because of a rift with band leader Da Ya over an alleged affair with Tong Tong's boyfriend at the time, Hakka-Pac; other sources suggest that Tong Tong was forced to depart due to violations of her contract. Tong Tong reports that she began cutting herself during this stressful time. She is currently working for Momo Kids, a Taiwanese television company featuring children's programming.
Name Change
Originally, the group's name, Hei Se Hui Mei Mei, is a pun on the words "Mei Mei" and "Hei Se Hui" . Later, after the group's move to Warner Music Taiwan, its name was changed to 黑Girl, and the English name officially became Hey Girl. The change in name resulted from the record company's concerns that scandulous rumors of other members of the show Wo Ai Hei Se Hui would be associated with Hei Se Hui Mei Mei .
Current members
Fen Hong Gao Ya Dian
* Da Ya
* Gui Gui
* Ya Tou
* Xiao Man
* Apple
Tian Xin Hong Zha Ji
* Mei Mei
* Xiao Jie
* Xiao Xun
Filmography
* Miss No Good - Mei Mei
* Rolling Love - - Xiao Xun
* The Clue Collector - - Gui Gui
* The X-family - Da Ya
* Zhu Zuo Bian Zhu You Bian series - Ya Tou
* Hei Tang Lai Le - Da Ya, Mei Mei, Apple, and Xiao Man
* Brown Sugar Macchiato - all members
* 18 Jin Bu Jin - Xiao Xun
* Angel Lover - Xiao Xun, Da Ya
* Wayward Kenting - Da Ya
* Hei Tang Qun Xia Zhuan - Xiao xun, Ya Tou, Xiao Man, Mei Mei, Xiao Jie
Discography
Albums
* 2008 - Hey girl
Ep
* 2006 - Wo Ai Hei Se Hui
* 2006 - Mei Mei Si Mi De Yi Tian - Fen Hong Gao Ya Dian / Tian Xin Hong Jia Ji
* 2007 - Mei Mei Si Mi Party
Soundtrack
* 2007 - Brown Sugar Macchiato OST
Fahrenheit (Taiwanese band)
Fahrenheit is a boy band that has achieved success in the last two years in Southeast Asia. This group consists of four members: Aaron Yan, Wu Chun, Calvin Chen, and Jiro Wang. They are managed by Jerry Fen's Comic Productions Co., Ltd. and records albums with HIM International Music. They are also managed by WOW Music in Hong Kong. Fahrenheit are often associated with their seniors, S.H.E, and are commonly referred to as the most successful Taiwanese boy band after .
They released their self-titled debut album, '''', on September 15, 2006 while their second album ''Two-sided Fahrenheit'' was released on January 4, 2008.
Derived from the definition of Fahrenheit, each of the four members represents a season or temperature that corresponds with their different personalities. Calvin Chen represents spring, warm; Jiro Wang represents summer, hot; Wu Zun represents autumn, cool, and lastly, Aaron Yan represents winter, cold. Each of the four members also has his respective temperature represented on the Fahrenheit scale: Calvin Chen is at 77 degrees, Jiro Wang is at 95 degrees, Wu Zun is at 59 degrees, and Aaron Yan is at 41 degrees. Each of their temperatures are separated by 18 degrees.
Wu Chun was born and raised in Brunei for most of his life, later graduating with distinction at RMIT, in Melbourne, Australia. He was introduced to the entertainment industry during a trip to Taiwan around Mid-November 2005. A television producer discovered him during this trip, and recommended him to play the lead male role of ''Tokyo Juliet'', which Wu accepted..
Aaron Yan was born in Taiwan, but moved to New York, USA at a young age for elementary school but later returned to Taiwan for high school and college. He attended the Chinese Culture University, majoring in Journalism but later switched universities and majors in his third year. He is currently on a study hiatus due to work commitments. Around early 2005, Comic had been searching for elite bloggers around the web. They discovered Yan, who, at that time, was really popular online, and thus recommended him to go casting for a role in a drama. Yan thought it was a fraud at first, but after several tests, he realized that it was true. He was given a small role in 'I Love My Wife' and was later asked to be in 'It Started With a Kiss' as Ah Bu.
After Calvin Chen graduated high school in Taiwan, he further pursued his college education in Canada, where he completed his Masters degree in Economics at University of Victoria. He then further continued his life in Canada by joining a pageant-like competition in Vancouver, where he won first place with a free ticket to Taiwan and a contract with a .
In 2000, Jiro Wang started to work since he graduated from Taiwan's Fu-Shin community college, and did part-time jobs where ever he could, such as commercial modelling. BMG, the label that signed him, planned to package him with Jay Chou and Jordan Chan to form a boyband called 3J, but because of 9/11, BMG's stocks crashed and the 3J plan was scrapped. He later joined the army for 2 years, and came back around 2003. Since he was still popular around Taiwan, he was given two roles as a guest-star in 'The Pawnshop No.8' and 'I Love My Wife'. Then Comic Productions approached him, and was given the supporting role as Ah Jin in 'It Started with A Kiss'. That was where he was grouped with Aaron, Calvin and Wu Chun.
Although unstable at first, Fahrenheit first gained minor recognition around late 2005 when their first all-together series, ''KO One'', was broadcasted on television in Taiwan. Because it felt awkward to have only three members in a boyband, Wu Chun joined the group later in late 2005. On December 28, 2005, Fahrenheit officially became a boy band.
Before Fahrenheit released their first album in September 15 of 2006, they gained minor attention as singers from contributing in several Taiwanese drama soundtracks. Their popularity immediately rose after the soundtracks were released, but was only limited to Taiwan and Mainland China. After their first album was released, their fan base had extended to Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia . Overseas fans such as from North America and Europe are also getting more familiar with them.
As soon as announcements for their pre-order was released on August 30, 2006, the album broke past 10,000 copies. After its release in September 15, 2006, the album entered the G-music charts and was ranked #2. It was less than 1% below Still Fantasy album, which came out two weeks prior to the release. Fahrenheit's album sold passed an impressive 80,000 copies in Taiwan within the first month. Ultimately on the G-music Mandarin Charts their album was ranked 11th for the top 20 of 2006 and stayed in the charts for 17 weeks. Their primary song, or ''zhuda'' song, "I Have My Youth" was on Hong Kong's Global Rhythm List as the Top 16th song for weeks. Their duet with of girl group S.H.E also won them several popular awards. Fahrenheit was also the first new foreign boy band to have won third place for '''' at TVB8 Awards. Although unable to defeat their seniors S.H.E and , who had won first place and second place respectively, they have beaten Hong Kong's local boy bands such as Sun Boy'z and . In less than a year, Fahrenheit has already won eight awards. Despite the outburst of winning multiple awards, there had been debates where fans disagreed with the awards that they have won. The most debated topic was when Fahrenheit won HITO Music Awards 2007's '''' award, arguing that Fahrenheit is too inexperienced to have won the award.
With the help of starring in popular dramas, Fahrenheit has been the fastest moving boy band and has quickly gained their status as one of the top boy bands of the year in Taiwan. Within a year, they had already debuted in over 30 different magazine covers all over Asia. They make frequent appearances in Taiwan's ''Play'' and ''Color'' magazine covers. After their predecessors , they are the second Taiwanese boy band to hold a concert in Indonesia with only just one album released. They already held two mini concerts: one in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia on March 31 and one in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong on April 19. Also, they held 2 concerts sponsored by Watsons Water at the end of September 2007: one in Hongkong on September 28, 2007 and one in Guangzhou on September 29, 2007.
Fahrenheit attended to an opening ceremony for their new music label in Hong Kong, WOW Music, at , Hong Kong, on April 19, 2007, the same evening where they held their mini concert in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. They also attended with fellow label mate as well as with other popular artists like Candy Lo and Mavis Fan. More than a thousand fans showed up at the mall, the majority being Fahrenheit's fans. There were fans who faced danger and climbed on roofs, cars, narrow roads, etc. to catch a glimpse of them. Some fans also fainted and were stepped on due to the number of people. Over fifty security guards and ten policemen had to appear at the venue to protect Fahrenheit as well as the other artists. There were also some fans who rented vans to chase after Fahrenheit's vans. Some fans also became victims of car accidents because of this. At their mini concert in ''Hard Rock Cafe'', the organizers had to cut down Fahrenheit's performance because the fans were going overboard and out of control. Fahrenheit expressed that they do not want their fans to do anything dangerous. Fahrenheit's company explained that if fans do not correct this behavior they will cut some of Fahrenheit's future trips to Hong Kong.
Ever since Fahrenheit's meteoric rise to stardom, has been giving quite a bit exposure for Fahrenheit, such as promoting the group in two of S.H.E's major concerts in Taipei and Singapore where they were seen performing their duet with as well as their own songs. Ever since their exposure had hit the Hong Kong market their company does not want to miss this chance for more promotion for the group and is currently organizing Fahrenheit's first major concert in Hong Kong in September at the HKCEC. It was reported that they are originally going to hold a concert in Hong Kong's renowned coliseum, Hong Kong Coliseum, but because all of the performances slots are full, they have to move their concert to a different venue. The director of WOW Music expressed that Fahrenheit is currently slated for performing in the HKCEC for two to three nights. In the winter of 2008 they will debut in the Hong Kong Coliseum. as part of their All-Asia Concert. During their All-Asia press conference for the release of their second album in Hong Kong, it was revealed that plans for the All-Asia Concert were in the works. Confirmed concert stops include Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.
All four members of this group have contradicting vocal ranges to complement each other when harmonizing. voice ranges from within the to the baritone. Therefore, Wu usually harmonizes as the supporting voice but sings more in songs when they are intended for a lower key. Wu's voice can be easily distinguished from his accent. vocal ranges is less wide when compared to Wu's, but Wang has a higher voice, closer to a tenor approach with vocal belting techniques. His voice is the easiest to distinguish out of the four because of its nasal sound. Calvin Chen and Aaron Yan are the baritone to tenor vocalists of the group, and therefore are the predominant voices in most of their songs. Although their voices are difficult to distinguish at times, Yan's voice has a richer and higher voice and usually does the singing the melody with a vibrato while Chen usually does the supporting vocals. Ultimately, Yan has been acknowledged as the member with the most impressive vocal ability. In most songs, Wu Chun sings the harmony, while Calvin takes the higher harmony, and Aaron sings the melody and often any parts of the songs which require a rich and high voice, and Jiro either does melody as well, or does the other parts of the songs, i.e rapping.
Fahrenheit's songs mainly fall into the bubblegum pop and category. However, songs like "Teachable Child" and "Loved" are intended for a light R&B approach. Songs similar to "The Secret of Immortality" and "Superb" are leaning toward the pop rock and rap genre, where they displayed their ability to rap and harmonize well.
Their much anticipated 2nd album, Two-sided Fahrenheit, was released on 4th of January 2008. The new album saw the four employ more advanced harmonizing techniques as well as some progression from bubblegum pop to more mature ballads, such as "Yi Wan Ge Kuai Le" (一萬個快樂）. Nonetheless, the band's youthful energy was retained in songs such as the opening song for the drama Romantic Princess -- "Xin Wo" ， which is a duet by Fahrenheit and their seniors S.H.E. On the album "Xiao Xiao Da Ren Wu" (小小大人物）is the Disney theme song for 2008.
* October 12, 2006: ''Fahrenheit: First Self-Titled Album, Wild Day Out Special Edition''
* November 27, 2006: ''Fahrenheit: First Self-Titled Album, Final Collectible Edition''
* March 23, 2007: ''Fahrenheit: First Self-Titled Album, Top Celebration Edition'' - Mainland China Limited
* April 24, 2007: ''Fahrenheit: First Self-Titled Album, Spring Limited Edition'' - Hong Kong Limited
* November 21, 2007: ''Fahrenheit: First Self-Titled Album'' - Japan Limited
* February 1, 2008: ''Two-sided Fahrenheit, Asia No.1 Edition''
Similar to their seniors , each member of Fahrenheit has first gained recognition in participating in certain idol dramas.
Jiro Wang was the first discovered among the four, appearing as a small character in ''The Pawnshop No. 8'' and a supporting role in '''' as ''Ah Jin''. Closely tracing his popularity that ''It Started With a Kiss'' has given him, his company decided to give him the lead role for ''KO One'' as well as Calvin Chen and Aaron Yan for they were discovered around that same time. After ''KO One'' aired, HIM International Music decided that it was time for Fahrenheit to release their first studio album to fulfill fans' requests. Wang and Yan will reprise their roles in ''It Started With a Kiss'''s sequel, ''It Started With a Kiss II''.
Wu Chun, however, was heading toward a different road. The last to join Fahrenheit, Wu starred in a separate drama with Ariel Lin, a manga-based drama titled ''Tokyo Juliet''. Following the success ''Tokyo Juliet'' has brought him, he was soon chosen to star in ''Hanazakarino Kimitachihe '' along with fellow band member Wang and S.H.E member . Wu also guest starred in ''KO One'', but had a very short appearance.
''Hana-Kimi's'' pilot episode started off strong, posting a rating of 3.05 Until the premiere of Show Luo and ''Corner With Love'', ''Hana-Kimi'' was the ratings king in its time slot. Barbie Xu bet that ''Corner With Love's'' first episode would reach a ratings zenith of 2.9; however, she was off by quite a bit, as ''Corner'' wound up with a mere 2.81, peaking at around 3.25. ''Corner With Love'' proved to be no match for ''Hana-Kimi'' in subsequent episodes, as the latter drama's ratings broke 5.0 by its twelfth episode. Ratings-wise, ''Hana-Kimi'' was dominant for each of its 15 episodes, ending off with a finale that averaged around 5.98. In light of ''Hana-Kimi'' 's success, reports claimed that and Wu would be acting in the sequel to ''It Started With a Kiss'' as a couple. However, the director of the sequel stepped out and rebunked the rumor.
In a report at Liberty Times, it was confirmed that Wu would be starring in a new alongside Angela Chang. Chen would also slated to take part as the second male lead in the drama. Filming for this drama, eventually confirmed to be Romantic Princess , began in early May. Romantic Princess has since premiered in Taiwan with a rating of 3.33 for its pilot episode. It was broadcasted weekly and ended its run after 13 episodes. Its ratings remain constantly in the 3-4 range, edging out its main competitors, Sweet Relationship starring Vic Zhou and Bull Fighting starring Mike He and Hebe Tien.
The other members of Fahrenheit were also busy with their own filming commitments. Following the success of KO One is its sequel, . Wang, Yan and Chen reprised their roles as Da Dong, Xiao Yu and Ya Se Wang respectively whilst taking on new roles in this new drama set in a separate dimension. Wu guest-starred and only appeared in the last two episodes of the 55-episode long drama. Shooting for The X-Family started in June, 2006, and ended in April, 2007. The drama has since enjoyed a full run on GTV, showing every Monday to Friday, and has recently concluded. Its popularity led to a slew of follow ups, including an online game as well as an original soundtrack that was promoted in numerous Asian countries.
Idol dramas aside, it was also reported in various Chinese sources that Wu will be starring in a new Hong Kong-based film with Gillian Chung of . Another report claimed that Wu is currently preparing for a new drama directed by actor/director Stephen Chow. On April 27, 2007, the media announced that Alex Fong will take Wu's place in the new Hong Kong film, ''Bathing Beauty'' . However reports claiming a future project with Chow is still unconfirmed.
On March 17 2008, a press conference was held to announce that Wu will be filming a movie, Butterfly Lovers with Charlene Choi, the other half of popular Hong Kong group, as Gillian Chung had voluntarily gave up her role after being embroiled in the Edison Chen sex photos scandal.
Currently, Jiro Wang is busy filming GTV drama, Rolling Love . After being casted as second male lead for a few of his drama series, the youngest member of Fahrenheit Aaron Yan will be starring as the main lead in the GTV drama The Clue Collector and will be working on 桃花爱无敌 with Guigui once again. Wu is involved in yet another idol drama, Hot Shot （篮球火）, acting alongside established artistes, Show Luo and Jerry Yan.
* February 14, 2007: ''Fahrenheit Photo Notebook''
* June 20, 2007: ''Fahrenheit: First Photo Album''
* November 16, 2007: ''Fahrenheit First'' - Japan Limited
* 2006: ''Master Kang's 3+2 Crackers''
* 2006: ''Heme: Man Simple''
* 2006: ''Honey-Fruit and Vegetable Juice''
* 2007: ''OraLabs Ouboshi SPF15 Vanilla Flavored Chapstick''
* 2007: ''7-11'' - with S.H.E
* 2007-2008: ''C.C.Lemon''
* 2007: ''Cadanro''
* 2007: ''Taisun Freeze''
* 2007-2008: ''Taisun Xian Cao Mi''
* 2007-2008: ''Ai Lian Jin Shi''
* 2007: ''Hong Kong Disneyland: Mickey's Summer Blast''
* 2007: ''Watsons Water''
* 2007: ''Watsons Water''
* 2008: ''Mengniu Yoghurt'' - with S.H.E
In the later months of 2006 when the quartet were busy preparing for their debut album, the youngest member, Aaron Yan, tore a ligament in the knee while filming a dancing shoot for their music video "I Have My Youth", also known as "Wo You Wo De Young" . Yan had to be brought to the hospital to do surgery. He was hospitalized for well over three weeks. For four months the other three members of Fahrenheit had to attend to overseas album promotions and without the presence of Yan. The then composed rumors saying that Yan was a disadvantage for the group and that he was dragging the group behind, which would cause disbandment. More rumors surfaced saying that was planning to dispose Yan so Fahrenheit could become a group of three instead of four, therefore complementing more with the prefabricated S.H.E. However, Fahrenheit stepped out and confirmed that Yan is still in the group despite his inconvenient condition. To prevent more rumors from happening, as soon as Yan was available he appeared more often in the future promotions with the other members, clearly seen using crutches.
In mid-January when the boy band Fahrenheit were guests on the Chinese program, ''Super Winners'' , fans had filed complaints toward the host, Frankie Kao, for his disrespectful and careless attitude towards Fahrenheit and their fans. Fans listed their arguments, criticizing Kao for being contemptuous; before the program was to be recorded Fahrenheit and their fans had to wait for over two hours because Kao had to practice his dance for the opening Kao demanded 100 Million Renminbi as retribution for the damage it would cause on his image. However, after the episode of the program was aired, Kao canceled the lawsuit because he was satisfied with the result.
Recently, HIM Comic Productions announced that online accounts of members Arron, Jiro, Calvin, and Chun have been hacked. It was recently discovered by the company that Wu Chun's Yahoo and Wretch account, Arron's Wretch account and MSN account, Jiro and Calvin's MSN accounts have been hacked. The company has already sent out a warning and apologies to all the fans who could be receiving offensive or virus-infected mails from any of the Fahrenheit members' accounts. This was already evident in Arron Yan's last blog post where he mentioned things about privacy and hacked e-mails. Currently, Fahrenheit's blogs are in an idle state and the layout and some photos were altered or removed.
*
*
*
*
*
They released their self-titled debut album, '''', on September 15, 2006 while their second album ''Two-sided Fahrenheit'' was released on January 4, 2008.
Background
Derived from the definition of Fahrenheit, each of the four members represents a season or temperature that corresponds with their different personalities. Calvin Chen represents spring, warm; Jiro Wang represents summer, hot; Wu Zun represents autumn, cool, and lastly, Aaron Yan represents winter, cold. Each of the four members also has his respective temperature represented on the Fahrenheit scale: Calvin Chen is at 77 degrees, Jiro Wang is at 95 degrees, Wu Zun is at 59 degrees, and Aaron Yan is at 41 degrees. Each of their temperatures are separated by 18 degrees.
Wu Chun was born and raised in Brunei for most of his life, later graduating with distinction at RMIT, in Melbourne, Australia. He was introduced to the entertainment industry during a trip to Taiwan around Mid-November 2005. A television producer discovered him during this trip, and recommended him to play the lead male role of ''Tokyo Juliet'', which Wu accepted..
Aaron Yan was born in Taiwan, but moved to New York, USA at a young age for elementary school but later returned to Taiwan for high school and college. He attended the Chinese Culture University, majoring in Journalism but later switched universities and majors in his third year. He is currently on a study hiatus due to work commitments. Around early 2005, Comic had been searching for elite bloggers around the web. They discovered Yan, who, at that time, was really popular online, and thus recommended him to go casting for a role in a drama. Yan thought it was a fraud at first, but after several tests, he realized that it was true. He was given a small role in 'I Love My Wife' and was later asked to be in 'It Started With a Kiss' as Ah Bu.
After Calvin Chen graduated high school in Taiwan, he further pursued his college education in Canada, where he completed his Masters degree in Economics at University of Victoria. He then further continued his life in Canada by joining a pageant-like competition in Vancouver, where he won first place with a free ticket to Taiwan and a contract with a .
In 2000, Jiro Wang started to work since he graduated from Taiwan's Fu-Shin community college, and did part-time jobs where ever he could, such as commercial modelling. BMG, the label that signed him, planned to package him with Jay Chou and Jordan Chan to form a boyband called 3J, but because of 9/11, BMG's stocks crashed and the 3J plan was scrapped. He later joined the army for 2 years, and came back around 2003. Since he was still popular around Taiwan, he was given two roles as a guest-star in 'The Pawnshop No.8' and 'I Love My Wife'. Then Comic Productions approached him, and was given the supporting role as Ah Jin in 'It Started with A Kiss'. That was where he was grouped with Aaron, Calvin and Wu Chun.
Although unstable at first, Fahrenheit first gained minor recognition around late 2005 when their first all-together series, ''KO One'', was broadcasted on television in Taiwan. Because it felt awkward to have only three members in a boyband, Wu Chun joined the group later in late 2005. On December 28, 2005, Fahrenheit officially became a boy band.
Musical career
Rise to stardom
Before Fahrenheit released their first album in September 15 of 2006, they gained minor attention as singers from contributing in several Taiwanese drama soundtracks. Their popularity immediately rose after the soundtracks were released, but was only limited to Taiwan and Mainland China. After their first album was released, their fan base had extended to Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia . Overseas fans such as from North America and Europe are also getting more familiar with them.
As soon as announcements for their pre-order was released on August 30, 2006, the album broke past 10,000 copies. After its release in September 15, 2006, the album entered the G-music charts and was ranked #2. It was less than 1% below Still Fantasy album, which came out two weeks prior to the release. Fahrenheit's album sold passed an impressive 80,000 copies in Taiwan within the first month. Ultimately on the G-music Mandarin Charts their album was ranked 11th for the top 20 of 2006 and stayed in the charts for 17 weeks. Their primary song, or ''zhuda'' song, "I Have My Youth" was on Hong Kong's Global Rhythm List as the Top 16th song for weeks. Their duet with of girl group S.H.E also won them several popular awards. Fahrenheit was also the first new foreign boy band to have won third place for '''' at TVB8 Awards. Although unable to defeat their seniors S.H.E and , who had won first place and second place respectively, they have beaten Hong Kong's local boy bands such as Sun Boy'z and . In less than a year, Fahrenheit has already won eight awards. Despite the outburst of winning multiple awards, there had been debates where fans disagreed with the awards that they have won. The most debated topic was when Fahrenheit won HITO Music Awards 2007's '''' award, arguing that Fahrenheit is too inexperienced to have won the award.
Popularity and success
With the help of starring in popular dramas, Fahrenheit has been the fastest moving boy band and has quickly gained their status as one of the top boy bands of the year in Taiwan. Within a year, they had already debuted in over 30 different magazine covers all over Asia. They make frequent appearances in Taiwan's ''Play'' and ''Color'' magazine covers. After their predecessors , they are the second Taiwanese boy band to hold a concert in Indonesia with only just one album released. They already held two mini concerts: one in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia on March 31 and one in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong on April 19. Also, they held 2 concerts sponsored by Watsons Water at the end of September 2007: one in Hongkong on September 28, 2007 and one in Guangzhou on September 29, 2007.
Fahrenheit attended to an opening ceremony for their new music label in Hong Kong, WOW Music, at , Hong Kong, on April 19, 2007, the same evening where they held their mini concert in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. They also attended with fellow label mate as well as with other popular artists like Candy Lo and Mavis Fan. More than a thousand fans showed up at the mall, the majority being Fahrenheit's fans. There were fans who faced danger and climbed on roofs, cars, narrow roads, etc. to catch a glimpse of them. Some fans also fainted and were stepped on due to the number of people. Over fifty security guards and ten policemen had to appear at the venue to protect Fahrenheit as well as the other artists. There were also some fans who rented vans to chase after Fahrenheit's vans. Some fans also became victims of car accidents because of this. At their mini concert in ''Hard Rock Cafe'', the organizers had to cut down Fahrenheit's performance because the fans were going overboard and out of control. Fahrenheit expressed that they do not want their fans to do anything dangerous. Fahrenheit's company explained that if fans do not correct this behavior they will cut some of Fahrenheit's future trips to Hong Kong.
Major concerts
Ever since Fahrenheit's meteoric rise to stardom, has been giving quite a bit exposure for Fahrenheit, such as promoting the group in two of S.H.E's major concerts in Taipei and Singapore where they were seen performing their duet with as well as their own songs. Ever since their exposure had hit the Hong Kong market their company does not want to miss this chance for more promotion for the group and is currently organizing Fahrenheit's first major concert in Hong Kong in September at the HKCEC. It was reported that they are originally going to hold a concert in Hong Kong's renowned coliseum, Hong Kong Coliseum, but because all of the performances slots are full, they have to move their concert to a different venue. The director of WOW Music expressed that Fahrenheit is currently slated for performing in the HKCEC for two to three nights. In the winter of 2008 they will debut in the Hong Kong Coliseum. as part of their All-Asia Concert. During their All-Asia press conference for the release of their second album in Hong Kong, it was revealed that plans for the All-Asia Concert were in the works. Confirmed concert stops include Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.
Musical style
All four members of this group have contradicting vocal ranges to complement each other when harmonizing. voice ranges from within the to the baritone. Therefore, Wu usually harmonizes as the supporting voice but sings more in songs when they are intended for a lower key. Wu's voice can be easily distinguished from his accent. vocal ranges is less wide when compared to Wu's, but Wang has a higher voice, closer to a tenor approach with vocal belting techniques. His voice is the easiest to distinguish out of the four because of its nasal sound. Calvin Chen and Aaron Yan are the baritone to tenor vocalists of the group, and therefore are the predominant voices in most of their songs. Although their voices are difficult to distinguish at times, Yan's voice has a richer and higher voice and usually does the singing the melody with a vibrato while Chen usually does the supporting vocals. Ultimately, Yan has been acknowledged as the member with the most impressive vocal ability. In most songs, Wu Chun sings the harmony, while Calvin takes the higher harmony, and Aaron sings the melody and often any parts of the songs which require a rich and high voice, and Jiro either does melody as well, or does the other parts of the songs, i.e rapping.
Fahrenheit's songs mainly fall into the bubblegum pop and category. However, songs like "Teachable Child" and "Loved" are intended for a light R&B approach. Songs similar to "The Secret of Immortality" and "Superb" are leaning toward the pop rock and rap genre, where they displayed their ability to rap and harmonize well.
Their much anticipated 2nd album, Two-sided Fahrenheit, was released on 4th of January 2008. The new album saw the four employ more advanced harmonizing techniques as well as some progression from bubblegum pop to more mature ballads, such as "Yi Wan Ge Kuai Le" (一萬個快樂）. Nonetheless, the band's youthful energy was retained in songs such as the opening song for the drama Romantic Princess -- "Xin Wo" ， which is a duet by Fahrenheit and their seniors S.H.E. On the album "Xiao Xiao Da Ren Wu" (小小大人物）is the Disney theme song for 2008.
Discography
Studio albums
Repackaged editions
* October 12, 2006: ''Fahrenheit: First Self-Titled Album, Wild Day Out Special Edition''
* November 27, 2006: ''Fahrenheit: First Self-Titled Album, Final Collectible Edition''
* March 23, 2007: ''Fahrenheit: First Self-Titled Album, Top Celebration Edition'' - Mainland China Limited
* April 24, 2007: ''Fahrenheit: First Self-Titled Album, Spring Limited Edition'' - Hong Kong Limited
* November 21, 2007: ''Fahrenheit: First Self-Titled Album'' - Japan Limited
* February 1, 2008: ''Two-sided Fahrenheit, Asia No.1 Edition''
Soundtrack contributions/ Other songs
Appearances in other albums
Film career
Similar to their seniors , each member of Fahrenheit has first gained recognition in participating in certain idol dramas.
Jiro Wang was the first discovered among the four, appearing as a small character in ''The Pawnshop No. 8'' and a supporting role in '''' as ''Ah Jin''. Closely tracing his popularity that ''It Started With a Kiss'' has given him, his company decided to give him the lead role for ''KO One'' as well as Calvin Chen and Aaron Yan for they were discovered around that same time. After ''KO One'' aired, HIM International Music decided that it was time for Fahrenheit to release their first studio album to fulfill fans' requests. Wang and Yan will reprise their roles in ''It Started With a Kiss'''s sequel, ''It Started With a Kiss II''.
Wu Chun, however, was heading toward a different road. The last to join Fahrenheit, Wu starred in a separate drama with Ariel Lin, a manga-based drama titled ''Tokyo Juliet''. Following the success ''Tokyo Juliet'' has brought him, he was soon chosen to star in ''Hanazakarino Kimitachihe '' along with fellow band member Wang and S.H.E member . Wu also guest starred in ''KO One'', but had a very short appearance.
''Hana-Kimi's'' pilot episode started off strong, posting a rating of 3.05 Until the premiere of Show Luo and ''Corner With Love'', ''Hana-Kimi'' was the ratings king in its time slot. Barbie Xu bet that ''Corner With Love's'' first episode would reach a ratings zenith of 2.9; however, she was off by quite a bit, as ''Corner'' wound up with a mere 2.81, peaking at around 3.25. ''Corner With Love'' proved to be no match for ''Hana-Kimi'' in subsequent episodes, as the latter drama's ratings broke 5.0 by its twelfth episode. Ratings-wise, ''Hana-Kimi'' was dominant for each of its 15 episodes, ending off with a finale that averaged around 5.98. In light of ''Hana-Kimi'' 's success, reports claimed that and Wu would be acting in the sequel to ''It Started With a Kiss'' as a couple. However, the director of the sequel stepped out and rebunked the rumor.
In a report at Liberty Times, it was confirmed that Wu would be starring in a new alongside Angela Chang. Chen would also slated to take part as the second male lead in the drama. Filming for this drama, eventually confirmed to be Romantic Princess , began in early May. Romantic Princess has since premiered in Taiwan with a rating of 3.33 for its pilot episode. It was broadcasted weekly and ended its run after 13 episodes. Its ratings remain constantly in the 3-4 range, edging out its main competitors, Sweet Relationship starring Vic Zhou and Bull Fighting starring Mike He and Hebe Tien.
The other members of Fahrenheit were also busy with their own filming commitments. Following the success of KO One is its sequel, . Wang, Yan and Chen reprised their roles as Da Dong, Xiao Yu and Ya Se Wang respectively whilst taking on new roles in this new drama set in a separate dimension. Wu guest-starred and only appeared in the last two episodes of the 55-episode long drama. Shooting for The X-Family started in June, 2006, and ended in April, 2007. The drama has since enjoyed a full run on GTV, showing every Monday to Friday, and has recently concluded. Its popularity led to a slew of follow ups, including an online game as well as an original soundtrack that was promoted in numerous Asian countries.
Idol dramas aside, it was also reported in various Chinese sources that Wu will be starring in a new Hong Kong-based film with Gillian Chung of . Another report claimed that Wu is currently preparing for a new drama directed by actor/director Stephen Chow. On April 27, 2007, the media announced that Alex Fong will take Wu's place in the new Hong Kong film, ''Bathing Beauty'' . However reports claiming a future project with Chow is still unconfirmed.
On March 17 2008, a press conference was held to announce that Wu will be filming a movie, Butterfly Lovers with Charlene Choi, the other half of popular Hong Kong group, as Gillian Chung had voluntarily gave up her role after being embroiled in the Edison Chen sex photos scandal.
Currently, Jiro Wang is busy filming GTV drama, Rolling Love . After being casted as second male lead for a few of his drama series, the youngest member of Fahrenheit Aaron Yan will be starring as the main lead in the GTV drama The Clue Collector and will be working on 桃花爱无敌 with Guigui once again. Wu is involved in yet another idol drama, Hot Shot （篮球火）, acting alongside established artistes, Show Luo and Jerry Yan.
Related Publications
* February 14, 2007: ''Fahrenheit Photo Notebook''
* June 20, 2007: ''Fahrenheit: First Photo Album''
* November 16, 2007: ''Fahrenheit First'' - Japan Limited
Endorsements
* 2006: ''Master Kang's 3+2 Crackers''
* 2006: ''Heme: Man Simple''
* 2006: ''Honey-Fruit and Vegetable Juice''
* 2007: ''OraLabs Ouboshi SPF15 Vanilla Flavored Chapstick''
* 2007: ''7-11'' - with S.H.E
* 2007-2008: ''C.C.Lemon''
* 2007: ''Cadanro''
* 2007: ''Taisun Freeze''
* 2007-2008: ''Taisun Xian Cao Mi''
* 2007-2008: ''Ai Lian Jin Shi''
* 2007: ''Hong Kong Disneyland: Mickey's Summer Blast''
* 2007: ''Watsons Water''
* 2007: ''Watsons Water''
* 2008: ''Mengniu Yoghurt'' - with S.H.E
Controversies
Disbandment
Aaron Yan's injury
In the later months of 2006 when the quartet were busy preparing for their debut album, the youngest member, Aaron Yan, tore a ligament in the knee while filming a dancing shoot for their music video "I Have My Youth", also known as "Wo You Wo De Young" . Yan had to be brought to the hospital to do surgery. He was hospitalized for well over three weeks. For four months the other three members of Fahrenheit had to attend to overseas album promotions and without the presence of Yan. The then composed rumors saying that Yan was a disadvantage for the group and that he was dragging the group behind, which would cause disbandment. More rumors surfaced saying that was planning to dispose Yan so Fahrenheit could become a group of three instead of four, therefore complementing more with the prefabricated S.H.E. However, Fahrenheit stepped out and confirmed that Yan is still in the group despite his inconvenient condition. To prevent more rumors from happening, as soon as Yan was available he appeared more often in the future promotions with the other members, clearly seen using crutches.
Remedy disputes
A disrespectful host
In mid-January when the boy band Fahrenheit were guests on the Chinese program, ''Super Winners'' , fans had filed complaints toward the host, Frankie Kao, for his disrespectful and careless attitude towards Fahrenheit and their fans. Fans listed their arguments, criticizing Kao for being contemptuous; before the program was to be recorded Fahrenheit and their fans had to wait for over two hours because Kao had to practice his dance for the opening Kao demanded 100 Million Renminbi as retribution for the damage it would cause on his image. However, after the episode of the program was aired, Kao canceled the lawsuit because he was satisfied with the result.
Hacked Online Accounts
Recently, HIM Comic Productions announced that online accounts of members Arron, Jiro, Calvin, and Chun have been hacked. It was recently discovered by the company that Wu Chun's Yahoo and Wretch account, Arron's Wretch account and MSN account, Jiro and Calvin's MSN accounts have been hacked. The company has already sent out a warning and apologies to all the fans who could be receiving offensive or virus-infected mails from any of the Fahrenheit members' accounts. This was already evident in Arron Yan's last blog post where he mentioned things about privacy and hacked e-mails. Currently, Fahrenheit's blogs are in an idle state and the layout and some photos were altered or removed.
Awards
Official
*
*
*
*
Lyrics
*
F.I.R.
F.I.R. is a popular ese band. Renowned producer Ian Chen formed his own band and recruited the other two members to form F.I.R. They are well known throughout Asia with their hit "Lydia," which was the theme song for the Taiwanese TV drama "The Outsiders." The drama was aired in Taiwan without revealing the singer of the theme song. The song attracted many fans, which led to F.I.R.'s big success when they finally debuted in 2004. Since their debut, they have often been compared with the disbanded Japanese rock group, Do As Infinity, because of the similar music styles and formation of band members.
The name F.I.R. comes from the initials of the names of the three members: Faye, Ian, and Real. It is also a backronym for "Fairyland in Reality", one of their albums.
*Name: 詹雯婷
*Birth date:
*Name: 陳建寧
*Birth date:
*Musical Instrument: Guitar, , Keytar
*Name: 黃漢青
*Birthdate:
*Musical Instruments: Guitar, , piano, arranging music on the computer
*Band Position: Electric Guitar, some , some arranging the music and sound
*I Wanna Fly - Path to Dream All Record CD+2VCD
:
# I Wanna Fly 我要飛
# Demo: Lydia
# Demo: Our Love 我們的愛
# Demo: Your Smile 你的微笑
# Demo: Tarot Cards 塔羅牌
*Glory Days- Anniversary CD+DVD
:
# Fly Away
# Thousand Years of Love 千年之戀
# LOVE*3
# The Reason of Giving Up 死心的理由
*Spread Love
Cited Sources:
*Guitarist, Real, attended Do As Infinity's final concert event on November 25, 2005 in Budokan, Japan. He commented that he has been a fan of D.A.I. for quite some time. Real also signed a comment on a message board for D.A.I. outside the concert hall before going inside.
*Faye is reportedly a big-time fan of the band, U2, claiming to have bought all their albums under her collection. She even acknowledged that she loves to sing U2's songs in her spare time.
*Faye used to be classmates with Jolin Tsai together at Fu Jen Catholic University, Taipei.
*In 2006, Faye incidentally met up with Chris Martin, lead vocalist of the famous band Coldplay on a train in Japan. Faye, being a fan of Chris Martin, was able to part ways with a picture together.
*In August 2006, F.I.R performed at the MTV Mandarin Awards Concert in Taiwan. They performed such hits as, Flight Tribe , How Do I Live , and Get High.
*Faye and Ah Qing are now dating, He has proposed to her on Christmas.
The name F.I.R. comes from the initials of the names of the three members: Faye, Ian, and Real. It is also a backronym for "Fairyland in Reality", one of their albums.
Member Profiles
Lead Vocal: Faye
*Name: 詹雯婷
*Birth date:
Producer/Keyboard: Ian
*Name: 陳建寧
*Birth date:
*Musical Instrument: Guitar, , Keytar
Guitar: Real
*Name: 黃漢青
*Birthdate:
*Musical Instruments: Guitar, , piano, arranging music on the computer
*Band Position: Electric Guitar, some , some arranging the music and sound
Discography
Studio albums
Mini-Albums
*I Wanna Fly - Path to Dream All Record CD+2VCD
:
# I Wanna Fly 我要飛
# Demo: Lydia
# Demo: Our Love 我們的愛
# Demo: Your Smile 你的微笑
# Demo: Tarot Cards 塔羅牌
*Glory Days- Anniversary CD+DVD
:
# Fly Away
# Thousand Years of Love 千年之戀
# LOVE*3
# The Reason of Giving Up 死心的理由
Single
*Spread Love
Awards
2004
2005
2006
Cited Sources:
Trivia
*Guitarist, Real, attended Do As Infinity's final concert event on November 25, 2005 in Budokan, Japan. He commented that he has been a fan of D.A.I. for quite some time. Real also signed a comment on a message board for D.A.I. outside the concert hall before going inside.
*Faye is reportedly a big-time fan of the band, U2, claiming to have bought all their albums under her collection. She even acknowledged that she loves to sing U2's songs in her spare time.
*Faye used to be classmates with Jolin Tsai together at Fu Jen Catholic University, Taipei.
*In 2006, Faye incidentally met up with Chris Martin, lead vocalist of the famous band Coldplay on a train in Japan. Faye, being a fan of Chris Martin, was able to part ways with a picture together.
*In August 2006, F.I.R performed at the MTV Mandarin Awards Concert in Taiwan. They performed such hits as, Flight Tribe , How Do I Live , and Get High.
*Faye and Ah Qing are now dating, He has proposed to her on Christmas.
Energy (band)
Energy is a Taiwanese hip pop boy band formed in 2002. The original band consisted of five males, namely Milk, Ady, , Penny and Joe. Toro and Milk left the band in 2003 and 2005 respectively. Xiao Gang joined the band in mid 2007.
*Commonly known as: Niu Nai
*Stage Name: Ye Yi Hua
*Real Name: Ye Nai Wen
*Birth Date:
*Left the band as of 10 October 2005
*Commonly known as: Shu Wei
*Real Name: Zhang Shu Wei
*Birth Date:
*Commonly known as: Toro
*Real Name: Alvan Guo Wei Yun
*Birth Date:
*Left the band as of July 2003
*Commonly known as: Kun Da
*Real Name: Xie Kun Da
*Birth Date:
*Commonly known as: A Di
*Real Name: Xiao Jing Hong
*Birth Date:
*Commonly known as: Xiao Gang
*Real Name: Tang Zhen Gang
*Birth Date:
Five-member Energy had a distinctive Hip-Hop sound, which is sometimes mixed with electric guitars, like in their breakout hit "Let Go" . Energy uses dance to perform their fast tracks, often compared to Korean boy bands. They also recorded chart topping ballads like "Love Me for Another Day" and "One Day" . Energy's popularity grew at a time where other mainstream boy bands like 5566 and K One emerged. Energy had a fan base of mostly fans or people who liked Japanese rock. However, Energy also attracted mainstream radio play with their pop ballads.
Energy's first studio album ''Energy! Come On!'' was released within the same year of the band's formation. The cover of Korean boyband Shinhwa's "Come On" had huge publicity in Chinese pop culture, but this caused controversy between Shinhwa's and Energy's fans. Shinhwa fans claimed that Energy copied Shinhwa's dance moves and musical style. However, the two bands were not in conflict. The album also contains pop ballads such as "Loving You the Second Time" and "Never Say Goodbye" .
Their second album, ''Invulnerable'', features the title track "Invulnerable" , which is a cover of JTL's "Enter The Dragon". This track continues the band's signature rapcore cum dance sound. The single "Love Me for Another Day" is the best selling single throughout Energy's history, so much that Energy was labelled as a one-hit-wonder in view of this song. Other notable songs are "Boom", advertising Converse, which is a cover of Saliva's song. And "Ra-Men Song", advertising a brand of instant noodles. This song features Singapore's Terry Lee rapping with Energy in English. Ady injured himself while filming a music video for the album, and had to give their Asian tour a miss. He also missed out on the filming of music videos and promotional videos for the album.
Their final album as a five member band, ''E3'', was released shortly after. The single "Capturing Evil" , a Triple 8 cover, is the theme song for an online computer game. Like the previous two albums, ballads were the minority of the tracks. The music video for "Only Me" shows Toro behaving coldly towards the other bands members. Although the scenes in the video are obvious acting, Toro left the band not long after this video was released. He formed a new trio called "Typhoon" , of similar musical style to Energy. This other band has only one album - titled Overflow - to date.
Without Toro, the band's popularity declined. The musical style of four-member Energy was softer then before, and lacked the Rapcore sound which attrated most early fans. The remaining members continued their career with a Greatest Hits Collection entitled ''Energy 4 Ever'', which includes previous songs like "More Than Words" and "Loving You The Second Time" . A second disc contained four new tracks and two remixes of their previous title tracks. A limited edition of this album contains a VCD advertising ''Michael's Dance'', a television drama Energy was shooting at the time. Touring by the band proved "tough" as Toro's lines had to be covered by the remaining members. Energy expressed that they were optimistic about the situation, and even joked about Toro's departure during public events.
In 2004, Energy launched their first idol drama serial titled "Michael's Dance" . This was seen as an attempt to revive their popularity. Its original soundtrack released contains songs recorded by them, including "Hey You" and "I Hear the Angels Sing" . "Hey You" featured heavy rapping while the latter track was a melodic ballad. Both songs, and "Dark Times" had slight Biblical references. The soundtrack also contained songs by other artistes like Sugababes or . A notable track is "Let's Go" , which is performed by Energy and their good friend Show Luo . A "Behind the Scenes" VCD of this drama serial is previously included in ''Energy 4 Ever'' as a bonus disc. This disc acts as an announcement of the show. Penny sang a solo track for this drama serial titled ''It Isn't Raining'' . This song is not listed in the soundtrack, nor released on any other CD. This song was performed by Penny himself in Energy's FINAL FANTASY concert.
The album ''FINAL FANTASY'' , released in 2005, signaled the end of a four member band. The hits "Heaven and Earth" ( and "Taste of Tears" had a more pop sound compared to early Energy music. This album ''FINAL FANTASY'' was criticised for using an excess of freestyle battle. The popular music video for ''Heaven and Earth'' has Ady trapped in a castle, and the other three members saving him. This seemed to allude ''Only Me'' and Toro's departure, telling fans that Ady was leaving the band. During Energy's Asian tour, fans tried to persuade the band to not disband. A documentary of this effort is released in the second edition of "FINAL FANTASY". After a series of FINAL FANTASY concerts, Milk turned to his solo career, which included hosting, advertising, and recording his first EP, titled "Puppet", which was released in 2006. Milk released his first solo album in 2008.
After the four man split, Energy attended several award ceremonies without Milk. They only performed their award winning hit "We" . The announcement of a new album ''New Generation'' confirmed that Milk was no longer in Energy.
After a year of inactivity, the three-member Energy released an album titled ''New Generation'' in mid-2006. This album has a more pop-rock sound, slightly different from what Energy had always been. The cover song "New Generation" features them dancing with extended arms, matching the ape-man theme of the album. The hit ballad, "Love Went Out of Control" , is a cover of "One" by TVXQ, a Korean boyband. The lyrics for ''Love Went Out of Control'' is written by Penny, the rapper of the trio. This fact was emphasized by the band during live performances because Energy was criticised for not writing their own songs, and repeatedly covering other band's singles. The most notable track, "Quick Kill" is written by Taiwanese rock band . The two bands met in a charity drive in Singapore, and MayDay agreed to compose a song for Energy. MayDay sings in the song and appears in the music video. The last song of the album, "Defeat" is written by well known songwriter Chou Chuan-huing . He, too, lends his voice. In this album, Energy distinctively dropped the rapcore attitude they had in their previous years. However, Penny still gets to show off his rap vocals despite the band changing its musical style. The band's logo is also revised, despite having an iconic logo for five years. China's release of this album has two songs taken out because of "inappropriate content". One of the removed songs was ''Quick Kill'', Energy's collaboration with MayDay. The band remarked in an interview that it was a "pity that the China audience don't get to enjoy the full album".
In mid-2007, Xiao Gang came as an addition to three-member Energy. Xiao Gang had helped Energy and K ONE to come up with dance moves, and reportedly is Penny's close friend. On tour, Energy described the addition as a move to make the band "more complete".
Energy's latest 2007 album, ''Born To Be Bad'' was released on 22 October 2007 in two versions, one of which is a limited edition. The album received generally positive reviews. Energy was praised for being 'more vocally sound', and having unique musical ideas. The title track "Born To Be Bad" received huge radio play and publicity because of its unique mix of hip-hop and . Energy's recording company initially didn't want the band to dance for this song, but Energy managed to convince them otherwise. To train their dancing skills, Energy came up with an exercise routine called the "Requires three thousand lives" The title track ''Born To Be Bad'' enjoyed huge publicity due to its unique mix of hip hop and rock. "Too Much Freedom, Save Me" , a track similar to ''Born To Be Bad'' contains heavy drum beats and guitar riffs. This album enjoyed commercial success also because of the pop ballads. The lyrics of the hit single "Stars" are entirely written by Joe and Ady. Another melodic ballad, "Promise Me" had a musical style that was described by fans as the 'Energy flavour', similar to that of their earlier ballads.
T-Rush, a hip-hop girl group is featured in two of Energy's songs, namely "You Better Not Come Home" and "Live It Up", of heavy rap influence. This group toured with Energy during their first Asian tour and made a guest appearance in Energy's first concert in Taiwan.
Energy performed a song with Show Luo in the "Michael's Dance OST" called ''Let's Go''. This song makes use of 'Freestyle battle', where Energy and Show taunts one another in rapcore. The music video for this song has Energy and Show outwitting each other in breakdance, which takes place in what seems like a dance hall filled with fans. The video ends with the two sides becoming friends, which mirrors the real life situation. There's the interesting mention of 'U2' in this song, if it refers to the Irish rock band is not clear.
Other Featured Artists
* Terry Lee in ''Ra-Men Song''
* in ''Quick Kill''
* Vanessa in ''Got to be Real''
* Chou Chuan-huing in ''Defeat''
* Wilber Pan & Evonne Hsu in ''Universal Love''
Toro has been a great influence on Energy's music for their early years. He wrote a few songs for the band and was the rap firepower for most of the fast numbers and power ballads. Shortly after the release of Energy's 3rd album ''E3'', Toro left the band. This caused Energy to have two unfinished music videos, and rumors that a great argument took place within the band. Nevertheless, the band finished filming the two videos without Toro, and even toured as a four member group. This took place at a time where boybands rarely had single members leaving them.
In a solo career, Toro had several gigs where he performed Energy's hits like ''Invulnerable''. He also recorded a single called ''Give It Up''. Toro had several major acts in his new management company, including writing songs for other boybands like 5566 or K ONE, which were assumed rivals of Energy. However, he is reportedly still friends with his ex-bandmates. In 2004, Toro formed the Hip Hop trio "Typhoon", together with Darren & Xiao Chun . This band's music style is similar to early Energy's, and has only one album to date - ''Overflow''. Although Typhoon's popularity peak wasn't as high as Energy's, the trio gained recognition through variety programmes and acts with 5566.
Ady, the lead singer of the band, injured his back badly while filming a video for the album ''Invulnerable''. It was in the middle of an outdoor dance sequence when Ady fell to the floor in pain. He was rushed to the hospital immediately. Because of this, he was unable to tour and promote that album with the rest of the band. He also couldn't dance in the music video of ''Boom'', but appears in some scenes.
The album ''FINAL FANTASY'' was announced when Ady's back injury started to worsen. This spawned rumors that Ady was leaving the band for good, and Energy was no more. In their FINAL FANTASY LIVE concert, Ady only danced sparingly and couldn't take part in other dance sequences. At no time during the whole concert did the band mention anything about disbanding.
The ballad "We" is the third single from Energy's ''Final Fantasy'' album. The lyrics of this slow number is made up of 15 Energy song titles stringed together. These titles are chosen by Energy themselves, and the tune is composed by Singapore's JJ Lin.
The music video of this song is released in 2 versions, one with more footage of the band members. Energy's 6 albums are featured throughout the video in order of release. The last part of the video shows Energy looking to a big screen where their first concert in Taiwan is being shown.
Both versions of ''We'' is in the bonus DVD of ''Final Fantasy '', which is the very last release of four-member Energy.
Energy is known to perform many Chinese versions of other songs, and has been criticised for this fact.
Energy! Come On!
:''Released on 12 July 2002''
# Intro
# ''Let Go'' 放手
# Come On
# ''Loving You the Second Time'' 第二次?上你
# You better not come home
# More Than Words
# ''Kicked a Metal Plate'' 踢到?板
# ''Summer Time'' 夏令??
# 7 Days
# One Time
# ''Love Radius'' ?情半?
# Together
# ''Never Say Goodbye'' 永?不?再?
# Outro
Invulnerable ?懈可?
:''Released on 7 January 2003''
# Intro
# ''Invulnerable'' ?懈可?
# ''Doomsday Show'' 末日秀
# ''Love Me for Another Day'' 多?我一天
# Boom
# Ra-Men Song
# ''Treasure Island'' 金??
# ''Through a Light Year'' 穿越一光年
# Got To Be Real
# ''Return Immediately'' ?上回?
# ''A Song for You'' ?你的歌
E3
:''Released on 22 July 2003
# Intro
# ''Capturing Evil'' 退魔?
# ''Attitude'' 什??度
# ''One Day'' 某年某月某一天
# Live It Up
# Get Away
# ''Extreme Danger'' ?度危?
# ''Only Me'' 只有我
# One Last Chance
# ''Choke'' ?
# Oh! Yes
Energy 4 Ever
:''Released on 16 January 2004''
Disk #1
# ''Invulnerable'' ?懈可?
# ''Let Go'' 放手
# More Than Words
# ''Love Me for Another Day'' 多?我一天
# ''Loving You the Second Time'' 第二次?上你
# Come On
# ''Capturing Evil'' 退魔?
# ''One Day'' 某年某月某一天
# Ra-Men Song
# ''Doomsday Show'' 末日秀
# ''Only Me'' 只有我
# ''Never Say Goodbye'' 永?不?再?
Disk #2
# One Love
# ''Eagle Flying'' ?在?
# Missing You
# ''Continue'' ??
# ''Upholding Justice'' 捍?正?
# ''Protecting Love'' 守??情
Disk #3
# Idol Drama ''Michael's Dance'' - Behind the Scenes
Hey You!
:''Released on 9 July 2004''
# ''Fighting Michael'' 鼓?米迦勒
# Hey You
# ''I Hear the Angels Sing'' 我??天使歌唱
# Sweet Sunshine
# ''Let's Go'' 一起走吧
# Ride With Me
# Ghost
# ''Dark Times'' 黑暗?期
# ''Till the End'' 一直到最後
# ''I Hear the Angels Sing'' 我??天使歌唱
# Leave Me Alone
# Where the hood At
# ''Clown'' 小丑
# Hey You
# Round Round
# ''Song for Xiaolong'' ?小?之歌
# ''Song of Evil'' 邪?之歌
# ''Till the End'' 一直到最後
# Thong Song
Final Fantasy 最後的??
:''Released on 3 June 2005''
# ''Heaven and Earth'' 天?地
# ''Taste of Tears'' 眼?的味道
# ''We'' 我?
# Cowboy
# ''Last Time'' 最後一次
# We Are Family
# Yeah
# Everything In My Heart
# Holiday
# 2005.06.03
# ''I Will Return'' 我?回?
New Generation 猩人类
:''Released on 25 August 2006''
# ''New Generation'' 猩人?
# ''Love Went Out of Control'' ?失控
# ''Quick Kill'' 秒?
# ''Rogue'' ??
# ''Best'' 最好
# ''Love Weather Balloon'' ?情?向球
# ''Floating Lies'' 漂浮的?言
# ''False Game'' ?假哂幸葬?br /> # ''Defeat'' 打?
Born To Be Bad 天生反骨
:''Released on 12 October 2007''
# ''Born To Be Bad'' 天生反骨
# ''Addicted'' 上?
# ''Cables'' ?索
# ''Stars'' 星空
# ''Mega-Temptation'' ??引力
# ''Guerrilla Street''游?街?
# ''Don't Care'' 不管
# ''Fall in Love With You in One Second'' 一秒?上你
# ''Promise Me'' 答?我
# ''Too Much Freedom, Save Me'' 太自由救救我
Members
Milk
*Commonly known as: Niu Nai
*Stage Name: Ye Yi Hua
*Real Name: Ye Nai Wen
*Birth Date:
*Left the band as of 10 October 2005
Joe
*Commonly known as: Shu Wei
*Real Name: Zhang Shu Wei
*Birth Date:
Toro
*Commonly known as: Toro
*Real Name: Alvan Guo Wei Yun
*Birth Date:
*Left the band as of July 2003
Penny
*Commonly known as: Kun Da
*Real Name: Xie Kun Da
*Birth Date:
Ady
*Commonly known as: A Di
*Real Name: Xiao Jing Hong
*Birth Date:
Xiao Gang
*Commonly known as: Xiao Gang
*Real Name: Tang Zhen Gang
*Birth Date:
History
Early years
Five-member Energy had a distinctive Hip-Hop sound, which is sometimes mixed with electric guitars, like in their breakout hit "Let Go" . Energy uses dance to perform their fast tracks, often compared to Korean boy bands. They also recorded chart topping ballads like "Love Me for Another Day" and "One Day" . Energy's popularity grew at a time where other mainstream boy bands like 5566 and K One emerged. Energy had a fan base of mostly fans or people who liked Japanese rock. However, Energy also attracted mainstream radio play with their pop ballads.
Energy's first studio album ''Energy! Come On!'' was released within the same year of the band's formation. The cover of Korean boyband Shinhwa's "Come On" had huge publicity in Chinese pop culture, but this caused controversy between Shinhwa's and Energy's fans. Shinhwa fans claimed that Energy copied Shinhwa's dance moves and musical style. However, the two bands were not in conflict. The album also contains pop ballads such as "Loving You the Second Time" and "Never Say Goodbye" .
Their second album, ''Invulnerable'', features the title track "Invulnerable" , which is a cover of JTL's "Enter The Dragon". This track continues the band's signature rapcore cum dance sound. The single "Love Me for Another Day" is the best selling single throughout Energy's history, so much that Energy was labelled as a one-hit-wonder in view of this song. Other notable songs are "Boom", advertising Converse, which is a cover of Saliva's song. And "Ra-Men Song", advertising a brand of instant noodles. This song features Singapore's Terry Lee rapping with Energy in English. Ady injured himself while filming a music video for the album, and had to give their Asian tour a miss. He also missed out on the filming of music videos and promotional videos for the album.
Their final album as a five member band, ''E3'', was released shortly after. The single "Capturing Evil" , a Triple 8 cover, is the theme song for an online computer game. Like the previous two albums, ballads were the minority of the tracks. The music video for "Only Me" shows Toro behaving coldly towards the other bands members. Although the scenes in the video are obvious acting, Toro left the band not long after this video was released. He formed a new trio called "Typhoon" , of similar musical style to Energy. This other band has only one album - titled Overflow - to date.
Four members
Without Toro, the band's popularity declined. The musical style of four-member Energy was softer then before, and lacked the Rapcore sound which attrated most early fans. The remaining members continued their career with a Greatest Hits Collection entitled ''Energy 4 Ever'', which includes previous songs like "More Than Words" and "Loving You The Second Time" . A second disc contained four new tracks and two remixes of their previous title tracks. A limited edition of this album contains a VCD advertising ''Michael's Dance'', a television drama Energy was shooting at the time. Touring by the band proved "tough" as Toro's lines had to be covered by the remaining members. Energy expressed that they were optimistic about the situation, and even joked about Toro's departure during public events.
In 2004, Energy launched their first idol drama serial titled "Michael's Dance" . This was seen as an attempt to revive their popularity. Its original soundtrack released contains songs recorded by them, including "Hey You" and "I Hear the Angels Sing" . "Hey You" featured heavy rapping while the latter track was a melodic ballad. Both songs, and "Dark Times" had slight Biblical references. The soundtrack also contained songs by other artistes like Sugababes or . A notable track is "Let's Go" , which is performed by Energy and their good friend Show Luo . A "Behind the Scenes" VCD of this drama serial is previously included in ''Energy 4 Ever'' as a bonus disc. This disc acts as an announcement of the show. Penny sang a solo track for this drama serial titled ''It Isn't Raining'' . This song is not listed in the soundtrack, nor released on any other CD. This song was performed by Penny himself in Energy's FINAL FANTASY concert.
The album ''FINAL FANTASY'' , released in 2005, signaled the end of a four member band. The hits "Heaven and Earth" ( and "Taste of Tears" had a more pop sound compared to early Energy music. This album ''FINAL FANTASY'' was criticised for using an excess of freestyle battle. The popular music video for ''Heaven and Earth'' has Ady trapped in a castle, and the other three members saving him. This seemed to allude ''Only Me'' and Toro's departure, telling fans that Ady was leaving the band. During Energy's Asian tour, fans tried to persuade the band to not disband. A documentary of this effort is released in the second edition of "FINAL FANTASY". After a series of FINAL FANTASY concerts, Milk turned to his solo career, which included hosting, advertising, and recording his first EP, titled "Puppet", which was released in 2006. Milk released his first solo album in 2008.
After the four man split, Energy attended several award ceremonies without Milk. They only performed their award winning hit "We" . The announcement of a new album ''New Generation'' confirmed that Milk was no longer in Energy.
2006 to Present
After a year of inactivity, the three-member Energy released an album titled ''New Generation'' in mid-2006. This album has a more pop-rock sound, slightly different from what Energy had always been. The cover song "New Generation" features them dancing with extended arms, matching the ape-man theme of the album. The hit ballad, "Love Went Out of Control" , is a cover of "One" by TVXQ, a Korean boyband. The lyrics for ''Love Went Out of Control'' is written by Penny, the rapper of the trio. This fact was emphasized by the band during live performances because Energy was criticised for not writing their own songs, and repeatedly covering other band's singles. The most notable track, "Quick Kill" is written by Taiwanese rock band . The two bands met in a charity drive in Singapore, and MayDay agreed to compose a song for Energy. MayDay sings in the song and appears in the music video. The last song of the album, "Defeat" is written by well known songwriter Chou Chuan-huing . He, too, lends his voice. In this album, Energy distinctively dropped the rapcore attitude they had in their previous years. However, Penny still gets to show off his rap vocals despite the band changing its musical style. The band's logo is also revised, despite having an iconic logo for five years. China's release of this album has two songs taken out because of "inappropriate content". One of the removed songs was ''Quick Kill'', Energy's collaboration with MayDay. The band remarked in an interview that it was a "pity that the China audience don't get to enjoy the full album".
In mid-2007, Xiao Gang came as an addition to three-member Energy. Xiao Gang had helped Energy and K ONE to come up with dance moves, and reportedly is Penny's close friend. On tour, Energy described the addition as a move to make the band "more complete".
Energy's latest 2007 album, ''Born To Be Bad'' was released on 22 October 2007 in two versions, one of which is a limited edition. The album received generally positive reviews. Energy was praised for being 'more vocally sound', and having unique musical ideas. The title track "Born To Be Bad" received huge radio play and publicity because of its unique mix of hip-hop and . Energy's recording company initially didn't want the band to dance for this song, but Energy managed to convince them otherwise. To train their dancing skills, Energy came up with an exercise routine called the "Requires three thousand lives" The title track ''Born To Be Bad'' enjoyed huge publicity due to its unique mix of hip hop and rock. "Too Much Freedom, Save Me" , a track similar to ''Born To Be Bad'' contains heavy drum beats and guitar riffs. This album enjoyed commercial success also because of the pop ballads. The lyrics of the hit single "Stars" are entirely written by Joe and Ady. Another melodic ballad, "Promise Me" had a musical style that was described by fans as the 'Energy flavour', similar to that of their earlier ballads.
Associated Acts
T-Rush, a hip-hop girl group is featured in two of Energy's songs, namely "You Better Not Come Home" and "Live It Up", of heavy rap influence. This group toured with Energy during their first Asian tour and made a guest appearance in Energy's first concert in Taiwan.
Energy performed a song with Show Luo in the "Michael's Dance OST" called ''Let's Go''. This song makes use of 'Freestyle battle', where Energy and Show taunts one another in rapcore. The music video for this song has Energy and Show outwitting each other in breakdance, which takes place in what seems like a dance hall filled with fans. The video ends with the two sides becoming friends, which mirrors the real life situation. There's the interesting mention of 'U2' in this song, if it refers to the Irish rock band is not clear.
Other Featured Artists
* Terry Lee in ''Ra-Men Song''
* in ''Quick Kill''
* Vanessa in ''Got to be Real''
* Chou Chuan-huing in ''Defeat''
* Wilber Pan & Evonne Hsu in ''Universal Love''
Toro/Typhoon
Toro has been a great influence on Energy's music for their early years. He wrote a few songs for the band and was the rap firepower for most of the fast numbers and power ballads. Shortly after the release of Energy's 3rd album ''E3'', Toro left the band. This caused Energy to have two unfinished music videos, and rumors that a great argument took place within the band. Nevertheless, the band finished filming the two videos without Toro, and even toured as a four member group. This took place at a time where boybands rarely had single members leaving them.
In a solo career, Toro had several gigs where he performed Energy's hits like ''Invulnerable''. He also recorded a single called ''Give It Up''. Toro had several major acts in his new management company, including writing songs for other boybands like 5566 or K ONE, which were assumed rivals of Energy. However, he is reportedly still friends with his ex-bandmates. In 2004, Toro formed the Hip Hop trio "Typhoon", together with Darren & Xiao Chun . This band's music style is similar to early Energy's, and has only one album to date - ''Overflow''. Although Typhoon's popularity peak wasn't as high as Energy's, the trio gained recognition through variety programmes and acts with 5566.
Ady's Injury
Ady, the lead singer of the band, injured his back badly while filming a video for the album ''Invulnerable''. It was in the middle of an outdoor dance sequence when Ady fell to the floor in pain. He was rushed to the hospital immediately. Because of this, he was unable to tour and promote that album with the rest of the band. He also couldn't dance in the music video of ''Boom'', but appears in some scenes.
The album ''FINAL FANTASY'' was announced when Ady's back injury started to worsen. This spawned rumors that Ady was leaving the band for good, and Energy was no more. In their FINAL FANTASY LIVE concert, Ady only danced sparingly and couldn't take part in other dance sequences. At no time during the whole concert did the band mention anything about disbanding.
"We"
The ballad "We" is the third single from Energy's ''Final Fantasy'' album. The lyrics of this slow number is made up of 15 Energy song titles stringed together. These titles are chosen by Energy themselves, and the tune is composed by Singapore's JJ Lin.
The music video of this song is released in 2 versions, one with more footage of the band members. Energy's 6 albums are featured throughout the video in order of release. The last part of the video shows Energy looking to a big screen where their first concert in Taiwan is being shown.
Both versions of ''We'' is in the bonus DVD of ''Final Fantasy '', which is the very last release of four-member Energy.
Chinese Covers
Energy is known to perform many Chinese versions of other songs, and has been criticised for this fact.
Discography
Albums
:''Released on 12 July 2002''
# Intro
# ''Let Go'' 放手
# Come On
# ''Loving You the Second Time'' 第二次?上你
# You better not come home
# More Than Words
# ''Kicked a Metal Plate'' 踢到?板
# ''Summer Time'' 夏令??
# 7 Days
# One Time
# ''Love Radius'' ?情半?
# Together
# ''Never Say Goodbye'' 永?不?再?
# Outro
:''Released on 7 January 2003''
# Intro
# ''Invulnerable'' ?懈可?
# ''Doomsday Show'' 末日秀
# ''Love Me for Another Day'' 多?我一天
# Boom
# Ra-Men Song
# ''Treasure Island'' 金??
# ''Through a Light Year'' 穿越一光年
# Got To Be Real
# ''Return Immediately'' ?上回?
# ''A Song for You'' ?你的歌
:''Released on 22 July 2003
# Intro
# ''Capturing Evil'' 退魔?
# ''Attitude'' 什??度
# ''One Day'' 某年某月某一天
# Live It Up
# Get Away
# ''Extreme Danger'' ?度危?
# ''Only Me'' 只有我
# One Last Chance
# ''Choke'' ?
# Oh! Yes
:''Released on 16 January 2004''
Disk #1
# ''Invulnerable'' ?懈可?
# ''Let Go'' 放手
# More Than Words
# ''Love Me for Another Day'' 多?我一天
# ''Loving You the Second Time'' 第二次?上你
# Come On
# ''Capturing Evil'' 退魔?
# ''One Day'' 某年某月某一天
# Ra-Men Song
# ''Doomsday Show'' 末日秀
# ''Only Me'' 只有我
# ''Never Say Goodbye'' 永?不?再?
Disk #2
# One Love
# ''Eagle Flying'' ?在?
# Missing You
# ''Continue'' ??
# ''Upholding Justice'' 捍?正?
# ''Protecting Love'' 守??情
Disk #3
# Idol Drama ''Michael's Dance'' - Behind the Scenes
:''Released on 9 July 2004''
# ''Fighting Michael'' 鼓?米迦勒
# Hey You
# ''I Hear the Angels Sing'' 我??天使歌唱
# Sweet Sunshine
# ''Let's Go'' 一起走吧
# Ride With Me
# Ghost
# ''Dark Times'' 黑暗?期
# ''Till the End'' 一直到最後
# ''I Hear the Angels Sing'' 我??天使歌唱
# Leave Me Alone
# Where the hood At
# ''Clown'' 小丑
# Hey You
# Round Round
# ''Song for Xiaolong'' ?小?之歌
# ''Song of Evil'' 邪?之歌
# ''Till the End'' 一直到最後
# Thong Song
:''Released on 3 June 2005''
# ''Heaven and Earth'' 天?地
# ''Taste of Tears'' 眼?的味道
# ''We'' 我?
# Cowboy
# ''Last Time'' 最後一次
# We Are Family
# Yeah
# Everything In My Heart
# Holiday
# 2005.06.03
# ''I Will Return'' 我?回?
:''Released on 25 August 2006''
# ''New Generation'' 猩人?
# ''Love Went Out of Control'' ?失控
# ''Quick Kill'' 秒?
# ''Rogue'' ??
# ''Best'' 最好
# ''Love Weather Balloon'' ?情?向球
# ''Floating Lies'' 漂浮的?言
# ''False Game'' ?假哂幸葬?br /> # ''Defeat'' 打?
:''Released on 12 October 2007''
# ''Born To Be Bad'' 天生反骨
# ''Addicted'' 上?
# ''Cables'' ?索
# ''Stars'' 星空
# ''Mega-Temptation'' ??引力
# ''Guerrilla Street''游?街?
# ''Don't Care'' 不管
# ''Fall in Love With You in One Second'' 一秒?上你
# ''Promise Me'' 答?我
# ''Too Much Freedom, Save Me'' 太自由救救我
Dong Cheng Wei
Dong Cheng Wei is a . It was an underground band that was formed during the band members' high school years. It gain certain amount of popularity because of the success of the lead vocal, Jiro Wang and the TV appearance on both KO One and The X-Family.
Current Band Members: Jiro Wang , Shu Chen , Ming Li , Dum Deng , Michael Chen
The name of the band had changed 3 times. Karma was the original name. DJ-WIS was a name taken from the first letter of the band members' names: "DJ-WIS" . In between their active years, the band once disbanded due to various reasons: Jiro Wang's throat problem and his busy schedule of filming, band members continue with their studying in school, etc. But the band reunited of filming The X-Family. Shu Chen also composed some songs in The X-Family OST.
The current band title is a dedication of saying "Dong Cheng's Band" .
The band composed a song called "人間逃亡記" during the Karma era, lyrics by Jiro Wang.
Television Appearance
Biography
Current Band Members: Jiro Wang , Shu Chen , Ming Li , Dum Deng , Michael Chen
The name of the band had changed 3 times. Karma was the original name. DJ-WIS was a name taken from the first letter of the band members' names: "DJ-WIS" . In between their active years, the band once disbanded due to various reasons: Jiro Wang's throat problem and his busy schedule of filming, band members continue with their studying in school, etc. But the band reunited of filming The X-Family. Shu Chen also composed some songs in The X-Family OST.
The current band title is a dedication of saying "Dong Cheng's Band" .
Music
The band composed a song called "人間逃亡記" during the Karma era, lyrics by Jiro Wang.
Chthonic (band)
Chthonic is a Taiwanese symphonic black metal band, formed in 1995 in Taipei. The group incorporates influences from traditional Taiwanese music including instruments such as the ''erhu'' .
Since their formation, Chthonic released four studio albums, starting in 1999 with the debut ''Where the Ancestors' Souls Gathered'', followed by 2000's ''9th Empyrean'', in 2002 ''Relentless Recurrence'', and 2006's ''Seediq Bale''.
The band's stated goal is to use their music to bring ancient history and mythology into the modern era, especially the tragic history and unique myths of Taiwan . The name "Chthonic" is a Greek word which refers to the earth and can have implications of the underworld.
In 2003, they won the Best Band Award at the Taiwan Golden Melodies Award Ceremony. The band is also banned in parts of China for their political views.
The lead vocalist, Freddy Lim, is notably active in the political scene and supports Taiwan independence.
In 2007 he and other artists organized an international music festival to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the 228 Incident, entitled "Spirit of Taiwan: With justice we cure this nation".
On March 30, 2007, it was confirmed that Chthonic were to be part of the 2007 Ozzfest tour as a rotating second stage act. While taking part in Ozzfest, they also toured as a support act for in July and August and as a headliner in September.
On August 3, 2007, Chthonic flew from the United States to Germany to play at Wacken Open Air. Unfortunately, their instruments were not delivered on time, so Su-Nung had to play a keyboard instead of his ''erhu''.
While some songs have their lyrics partly or entirely written in Taiwanese, Japanese, or Taiwanese aboriginal language, most of the band's songs have their lyrics written entirely in classical Chinese , which is rarely seen in contemporary Chinese music. Taking advantage of classical Chinese's feature of being a monosyllabic language, many songs, especially those in earlier albums, used plenty of parallel sentences in their lyrics to create an epic atmosphere.
The themes mostly surround early Taiwanese colonizers' defiant spirit, fictional war between aborigine's gods with Han's gods, Taiwanese folklore and mythology, and the historical event known as Wushe Incident, which is a rebellion against Japanese governor by Seediq people.
Although the lyrics are quite profound compared to most contemporary Taiwanese songs, many Taiwanese people don't prefer black metal vocals and said that they couldn't understand anything sung by Freddy, which is probably why Chthonic is said to be more famous in western countries than in Taiwan.
*Freddy, Left Face of Maradou –
*Doris, Thunder Tears – , backing vocals
*Jesse, The Infernal –
*Dani, Azathothian Hands –
*CJ, Dispersed Fingers – piano, synthesizer
*Su-Nung, The Bloody String – erhu
*Alexia – keyboard
*A-Jay – drums
*Luis – keyboard, vocals
*Sheryl – keyboard
*Vivien – keyboard
*Ambrosia – keyboard
*Null – guitar
*Wang – drums
*Zac – guitar
*Yu – bass
*Ellis – guitar
*Terry – drums
*Man 6 – bass
*Reno Killerich – drums; on ''Seediq Bale''
*Sandee Chan – vocals; on ''Seediq Bale''
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bar:Drum text:"Wang" from:01/01/1998 till:11/07/1999 color:Album
bar:Drum text:"A-Jay" from:11/07/1999 till:01/01/2005 color:Album
bar:Drum text:"Dani" from:01/01/2005 till:end color:Album
bar:ErHu text:"Freddy" from:01/01/1996 till:01/01/2006 color:Album
bar:ErHu text:"Sunong" from:01/01/2006 till:end color:Album
*''Where the Ancestors' Souls Gathered''
*''9th Empyrean''
*''Relentless Recurrence''
*''Seediq Bale''
*''Satan's Horns''
*''Deep Rising''
*''Nightmare''
*''Anthology: A Decade on the Throne''
*''''
*''A Decade on the Throne Live'' – Live DVD + 2CD
*''A Decade on the Throne Live'' – Live DVD + 2CD
*''Spred the Qi'' – Double VCD
==759 Interview with Freddy Lim], ''Bright Eyes'', January 26, 2007
*, Ashiana Videos, August 20, 2007
Since their formation, Chthonic released four studio albums, starting in 1999 with the debut ''Where the Ancestors' Souls Gathered'', followed by 2000's ''9th Empyrean'', in 2002 ''Relentless Recurrence'', and 2006's ''Seediq Bale''.
History
The band's stated goal is to use their music to bring ancient history and mythology into the modern era, especially the tragic history and unique myths of Taiwan . The name "Chthonic" is a Greek word which refers to the earth and can have implications of the underworld.
In 2003, they won the Best Band Award at the Taiwan Golden Melodies Award Ceremony. The band is also banned in parts of China for their political views.
The lead vocalist, Freddy Lim, is notably active in the political scene and supports Taiwan independence.
In 2007 he and other artists organized an international music festival to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the 228 Incident, entitled "Spirit of Taiwan: With justice we cure this nation".
On March 30, 2007, it was confirmed that Chthonic were to be part of the 2007 Ozzfest tour as a rotating second stage act. While taking part in Ozzfest, they also toured as a support act for in July and August and as a headliner in September.
On August 3, 2007, Chthonic flew from the United States to Germany to play at Wacken Open Air. Unfortunately, their instruments were not delivered on time, so Su-Nung had to play a keyboard instead of his ''erhu''.
Lyrical themes
While some songs have their lyrics partly or entirely written in Taiwanese, Japanese, or Taiwanese aboriginal language, most of the band's songs have their lyrics written entirely in classical Chinese , which is rarely seen in contemporary Chinese music. Taking advantage of classical Chinese's feature of being a monosyllabic language, many songs, especially those in earlier albums, used plenty of parallel sentences in their lyrics to create an epic atmosphere.
The themes mostly surround early Taiwanese colonizers' defiant spirit, fictional war between aborigine's gods with Han's gods, Taiwanese folklore and mythology, and the historical event known as Wushe Incident, which is a rebellion against Japanese governor by Seediq people.
Although the lyrics are quite profound compared to most contemporary Taiwanese songs, many Taiwanese people don't prefer black metal vocals and said that they couldn't understand anything sung by Freddy, which is probably why Chthonic is said to be more famous in western countries than in Taiwan.
Members
Current members
*Freddy, Left Face of Maradou –
*Doris, Thunder Tears – , backing vocals
*Jesse, The Infernal –
*Dani, Azathothian Hands –
*CJ, Dispersed Fingers – piano, synthesizer
*Su-Nung, The Bloody String – erhu
Former members
*Alexia – keyboard
*A-Jay – drums
*Luis – keyboard, vocals
*Sheryl – keyboard
*Vivien – keyboard
*Ambrosia – keyboard
*Null – guitar
*Wang – drums
*Zac – guitar
*Yu – bass
*Ellis – guitar
*Terry – drums
*Man 6 – bass
Session members
*Reno Killerich – drums; on ''Seediq Bale''
*Sandee Chan – vocals; on ''Seediq Bale''
Timeline
ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:35
PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:50
Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1996 till:01/01/2008
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
Colors =
id:Album value:black legend:Album
id:NoAlbum value:rgb legend:NoAlbum
Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom
ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:1996
PlotData=
width:22 textcolor:white fontsize:10 align:left mark: anchor:from shift:
bar:Vocal text:Freddy from:01/01/1996 till:end color:Album
bar:Guitar text:"Ellis" from:01/01/1996 till:01/01/1998 color:NoAlbum
bar:Guitar text:"Zac" from:01/01/1998 till:01/01/1999 color:Album
bar:Guitar text:"Null" from:01/01/1999 till:01/05/2000 color:NoAlbum
bar:Guitar text:"Jesse" from:01/05/2000 till:end color:Album
bar:Bass text:"Man 6" from:01/01/1996 till:01/01/1997 color:NoAlbum
bar:Bass text:"Yu" from:01/01/1997 till:11/07/1999 color:Album
bar:Bass text:"Doris" from:11/07/1999 till:end color:Album
bar:Keyboard text:"Ambrosia" from:01/05/1996 till:01/03/2001 color:Album
bar:Keyboard text:"Vivien" from:01/03/2001 till:20/11/2002 color:Album
bar:Keyboard text:"Sheryl" from:20/11/2002 till:01/07/2003 color:NoAlbum
bar:Keyboard text:"Luis" from:01/07/2003 till:01/01/2004 color:NoAlbum
bar:Keyboard text:"Alexia" from:01/01/2004 till:01/10/2005 color:Album
bar:Keyboard text:"CJ" from:01/10/2005 till:end color:Album
bar:Drum text:"Terry" from:01/01/1996 till:01/01/1998 color:NoAlbum
bar:Drum text:"Wang" from:01/01/1998 till:11/07/1999 color:Album
bar:Drum text:"A-Jay" from:11/07/1999 till:01/01/2005 color:Album
bar:Drum text:"Dani" from:01/01/2005 till:end color:Album
bar:ErHu text:"Freddy" from:01/01/1996 till:01/01/2006 color:Album
bar:ErHu text:"Sunong" from:01/01/2006 till:end color:Album
Discography
Studio albums
*''Where the Ancestors' Souls Gathered''
*''9th Empyrean''
*''Relentless Recurrence''
*''Seediq Bale''
EP
*''Satan's Horns''
Singles
*''Deep Rising''
*''Nightmare''
Compilation albums
*''Anthology: A Decade on the Throne''
*''''
Live album
*''A Decade on the Throne Live'' – Live DVD + 2CD
Videography
DVD
*''A Decade on the Throne Live'' – Live DVD + 2CD
Other
*''Spred the Qi'' – Double VCD
==759 Interview with Freddy Lim], ''Bright Eyes'', January 26, 2007
*, Ashiana Videos, August 20, 2007
Blacklist Studio
Blacklist Studio was a group of Taiwanese musicians who came together and released a ground-breaking album in 1989 called ''Songs of Madness'' . Reportedly five years in the making, this work came out at a critical juncture in , two years after the lifting of the decades-long martial law. The album was critical in the formation of the genre known as New Taiwanese Song.
Its members included Wang Ming Hui and Chen Ming Chang .
The first album's notes reveal the seriousness with which the group assessed its own role in Taiwan's musical development. They believed that Taiwanese music ought to reflect the times, that it was important for the new generations to "correctly" see the relationship between the mother tongue and themselves. Unlike virtually all other previous works, their songs sought to engage post-World War II social changes in a frank, way.
The songs' styles cover Taiwanese folk, , and . One song has a clip of the Republic of China national anthem. Another samples environmental sounds from the street. Most of the songs told stories, sometimes through humorous or ironic dialogues between ordinary citizens. is used exclusively in all of the songs.
The titles below are official ones provided by Rock Records:
# Imperial Taipei
# Mad
# Too Sad to Speak
# Papa's Words
# Dragon Festival Celebration
# Taxi
# A Democracy Bumpkin
# Shin-chuang Street
# Sow a Seed
Its members included Wang Ming Hui and Chen Ming Chang .
The first album's notes reveal the seriousness with which the group assessed its own role in Taiwan's musical development. They believed that Taiwanese music ought to reflect the times, that it was important for the new generations to "correctly" see the relationship between the mother tongue and themselves. Unlike virtually all other previous works, their songs sought to engage post-World War II social changes in a frank, way.
The songs' styles cover Taiwanese folk, , and . One song has a clip of the Republic of China national anthem. Another samples environmental sounds from the street. Most of the songs told stories, sometimes through humorous or ironic dialogues between ordinary citizens. is used exclusively in all of the songs.
Discography
''Songs of Madness''
The titles below are official ones provided by Rock Records:
# Imperial Taipei
# Mad
# Too Sad to Speak
# Papa's Words
# Dragon Festival Celebration
# Taxi
# A Democracy Bumpkin
# Shin-chuang Street
# Sow a Seed
''Lullaby''
B.A.D
B.A.D. was a Taiwanese boy band whose members are Ben Pai, Alex Tien, and Danny Huang. The group's name comes from the first initial of each member's name. Pai, Tien, and Huang met at a singing competition in , and began working together in the spring of 1998. The trio was recommended to Liu Wei-tz'u, a manager who eventually sent them to Taiwan to work with EMI. put the group into the spotlight. That album, ''All I...'', earned a Best Group Award at the 13th Golden Melody Awards and a nomination for Best New Artist at the 8th CMA Awards. In 2003, B.A.D. was nominated again for Best Group at the Golden Melody Awards, but lost to S.H.E.
Each member of B.A.D. grew up in Taiwan prior to studying in the United States. Ben Pai, born August 21979, attended California State University, Los Angeles during his tenure with the group. Alex Tien, born September 121979, attended the University of Southern California during his time with the group, and graduated in June 2002.
Members
Each member of B.A.D. grew up in Taiwan prior to studying in the United States. Ben Pai, born August 21979, attended California State University, Los Angeles during his tenure with the group. Alex Tien, born September 121979, attended the University of Southern California during his time with the group, and graduated in June 2002.
7 Flowers
7 Flowers is a Taiwanese female group under Jungiery. In other words, 7 Flowers is part of J-Star.
*
*
*
*
The name, 7 Flowers, is actually because there was 7 girls in this group. But because of personal and some contract issues, some of the girl left, so that only 4 girls are left in this group.
The group first debuted in 2004, with 6 members and 1 member in training. 7 Flowers made their first appearance in the ''Top On The Forbidden City OST''. In 2005 Joe Chen Qiao En and Joyce Zhao Hong Qiao starred in the drama ''The Prince Who Turns Into a Frog'' with 183 Club. 7 Flowers also contributed in ''The Magicians of Love OST''. ''The Prince Who Turns Into a Frog'' got most of the fame for 7 Flowers. Joyce Zhao Hong Qiao also played supporting role of Rita in ''Smiling Pasta''
* 7 Flowers
* ''Top On The Forbidden City Original TV Drama Soundtrack''
* ''The Prince Who Turns Into a Frog Original TV Soundtrack''
* ''The Magicians Of Love Original TV Soundtrack''
Members
*
*
*
*
History
The name, 7 Flowers, is actually because there was 7 girls in this group. But because of personal and some contract issues, some of the girl left, so that only 4 girls are left in this group.
The group first debuted in 2004, with 6 members and 1 member in training. 7 Flowers made their first appearance in the ''Top On The Forbidden City OST''. In 2005 Joe Chen Qiao En and Joyce Zhao Hong Qiao starred in the drama ''The Prince Who Turns Into a Frog'' with 183 Club. 7 Flowers also contributed in ''The Magicians of Love OST''. ''The Prince Who Turns Into a Frog'' got most of the fame for 7 Flowers. Joyce Zhao Hong Qiao also played supporting role of Rita in ''Smiling Pasta''
Discography
Albums
* 7 Flowers
OSTs
* ''Top On The Forbidden City Original TV Drama Soundtrack''
* ''The Prince Who Turns Into a Frog Original TV Soundtrack''
* ''The Magicians Of Love Original TV Soundtrack''
5566 (band)
5566 is a Taiwanese boy band, part of J-Star. Their name is derived from their original five members , working in six entertainment fields . To date, they have starred in three idol dramas: My MVP Valentine, Westside Story, and Mr. Fighting . They have also released four albums: '''', '''', '''', and ''''; two compilation albums: ''C'est Si Bon Greatest Hits'', ''I Love 56 - Re-emerging Legends: 5 Years Greatest Hits''; and taken part in four OSTs: ''My MVP Valentine OST'', ''Westside Story OST'', ''Mr. Fighting OST'', and ''Ying Ye 3 Jia 1''. Up-to-date 5566 has released a total of eleven work pieces .
5566 not only work together as a group, but also separately. For instance, Sam Wang is famous for his appearances in many TV series as well as his membership in another of the company's band called 183 Club, which effectively makes him the busiest 5566 member; Tony Sun and Zax Wang often have dramas to shoot; while Jason Hsu has been featured in many local promotional campaigns. Zax Wang and Jason Hsu are also hosts of SETTV's entertainment show, Showbiz . 5566 as a group has hosted TTV's Young Guns and CTS's Dou Zhen Ju Le Bu . Additionally, leader Tony Sun is also known to take part in a lot of the behind-the-scenes work at Jungiery.
Each of 5566's members has had various degrees of success prior to the group's formation.
Tony Sun has gained much solo experience by releasing several well-received albums in the in the 1990s; he even gained the title of the "Taiwanese little champion". However, his popularity waned when he had to fulfill his mandatory military service. Sun was signed under Jungiery since his earlier days; this was how he used his connection with the company to secure the second part of his career.
Zax Wang was a member of short-lived boyband POSTM3N. After the group disbanded, he was planning to start a cellphone shop with a colleague when Sun De Rong, Jungiery's head, contacted him. Wang took up the deal.
Sam Wang was a national soccer player and a model before signing with Jungiery. He is also a member of another Jungiery boyband 183 Club.
Jason Hsu was originally obese and unpopular in school. However, he started appearing in several commercials when he successfully lost weight, giving him the looks of an idol. He was also a model. Jungiery offered him a contract, and he gladly accepted.
5566 was formed at 21 January 2002 by manager Sun De Rong .
5566's debut and sudden rise to popularity has been a controversial topic. They showcased their multiple talents in their debut interview, yet their hard work was not respected, drawing lots of criticism and earning them a negative nickname, "Turkey", which is still used today. This continued until their first , , aired on local television. The drama, featuring 5566 in its lead roles, exceeded expectations by having a higher viewership rating than several other idol dramas at the time. Not only did this drama help skyrocket 5566 to fame, it was also the driving force behind the careers of Angela Chang and Johnny Yan.
Due to a serious injury that he suffered during the filming of a variety show, Rio Peng temporary pulled out from group activities to recover. Although the remaining 5566 members confirmed that Peng was still part of the group, Peng would eventually leave the group, forming his own management company, ''Wingman Entertainment''.
In December, 5566 released their first album, which sold 240,000 copies in Taiwan. However, ever since the album was re-released in two additional versions, 5566 would become infamous for regularly repackaging their albums. This holds true till today; the ''Westside Story OST'' and the ''Top on the Forbidden City OST'' are the only two albums that remain unrepackaged.
Promotional activity for their first album continued during the first few months of this year. When activities ended, 5566 temporarily bade farewell to their home country for overseas promotion in Southeast Asia. After this was finished, 5566 began work for their second , Westside Story. This drama was also well-received, and the ''Westside Story OST'' complimented the drama nicely, faring well on the music charts.
2003 also saw the start of Jungiery's marketing strategy, which was to utilize 5566's fame to increase the popularity of other Jungiery artists. This was seen on the ''Westside Story OST'', where a song by the now-defunct bubblegum-pop group R&B and a duet between Tony Sun and Cyndi Wang were included. Both R&B and Cyndi Wang became well-known artistes almost instantly.
Rio Peng, with his company ''Corvette Entertainment'' , formed the 5-man dance group K One. However, K One did not do well with their first album; a very likely reason is that Peng did not wish to involve his own artistes with 5566, hoping that K One would make a name for themselves. Another possible reason is that there was already another popular dance group, Energy, in existence; due to this, few people were excited about the arrival of K One. However, Peng ultimately did place K One with Jungiery the following year.
After K One was placed under Jungiery, they were soon put to act in the idol drama, ''Top on the Forbidden City''. This idol drama had a lead cast roster of K One's Gino and JR, and Joanne from the girl group Sweety. To help up this drama's fame, Sam Wang also played a supporting role in the drama, and the theme song for this drama, Twist The Fate, was a collaborated work by both 5566 and K-One. This strategy was once again successful; K One's fame rose sharply.
During the period "Top on the Forbidden City" was aired, 5566 began advertising for the 7-11 convenience store chain. 7-11 released special junk food and instant food varieties based on 5566's own ideas. 5566 recorded a short jingle, C'est Si Bon, to aid this campaign.
After "Top on the Forbidden City" was finished, Cyndi Wang's own idol drama, Le Robe de Mariage des Cieux, took over. Its OST featured Cyndi Wang, R&B , and new male vocal band 183 Club, which included Sam Wang. Seeing the changes in the line-up of R&B, fans speculated the group would crumble, and 183 Club would eventually rise to rival the fame of 5566. Both of these guesses ended up being true: the original R&B members left Jungiery one by one, and the remaining members were re-grouped with other Jungiery trainees into bubblegum-pop group La-La; meanwhile 183 Club's fame surpassed that of 5566's in China.
A few weeks later, 5566 released their first compilation album, ''C'est Si Bon Greatest Hits''. This compilation featured songs from their previous three works, and three new songs, one of which was the re-recorded full version of C'est Si Bon, which also featured juniors 7 Flowers. The song was initially only a jingle for the 7-11 advertisement. By popular demand, verses were newly written and composed to make a full song. The ending of promotions of this Greatest Hits album also signaled the end of 5566's core activities for the year.
2004 is also the year in which member Jason Hsu starred in his own tv series / idol drama, , alongside former co-star Chen Qiao En. The other three 5566 members were featured as special guest stars in episode one.
5566 sprang to an early start in 2005 with their new idol drama, Mr. Fighting. Unexpectedly, both the drama and the OST did not do as well as expected. Many thought 5566 was beginning to lose their grip on the entertainment industry. Jungiery's manager, seeming to notice this and fearing that the whole J-Star group would collapse if their main pillar fell with no backups for support, then decided to shift his attention to 183 Club. After this drama, problems between Avex Trax and Jungiery arose, and Jungiery defected to .
In summer, 183 Club's idol drama, The Prince Who Turns Into a Frog, aired. This drama focused on 183 Club and 7 Flowers, with 183 Club member Ming Dao and 7 Flowers vice-leader playing the lead roles, while supporting cast consisted of Sam Wang and 7 Flowers leader . The OST also only featured 183 Club, 7 Flowers, and the new vocal duo VJ.
Shortly before the drama ended, 5566 released their third album, ''''. This album was also 5566's first musical work released under the label. This album featured more of Tony Sun's vocals, as there were complaints that Zax Wang's vocals were featured too much in their second album. Despite this, the above mentioned decline and many fans' voicing a deterioration of quality slightly dented the album's performance.
2006 was a hiatus year for 5566's activities. Tony Sun and Zax Wang both went to Mainland China to film their own dramas; Sam Wang along with 183 Club starred in idol drama The Magicians of Love which aired early in the year, and released an album during the summer; Jason Hsu at first stayed in Taiwan to attend various promotional campaigns, as he was still studying. Later on, Jason starred in the movie, My Sassy Teacher, and also went to the Philippines to play a role in the series, Captain Barbell.
On November 19th, Zax Wang's daughter was born. She is affectionately known to the public as "Le Le". Le Le's mother is Taiwanese entertainer Ji Qin.
5566 took part in the 41st Golden Bell Awards as award presenters and performed various songs from their OSTs.
To kick the year off, 5566, along with Jungiery, released a new compilation album in the Love Miracle series, Love Miracle 3. This compilation, following the tradition, included some new songs as well as selected older songs. 5566 recorded two new songs for this album, On Fire , and Red Youth Is Knocking. Jungiery martial arts group Tai Chi collaborated with 5566 in the music video of On Fire. The same group had previously collaborated with 5566 in the song "One World One Dream" from their third album, both vocally and visually.
In May, 5566 released a special compilation album titled I Love 56 - Re-emerging Legends: 5 Years Greatest Hits. This album did not feature any new songs and was exclusively released in the Mainland China area.
2007 was a year in which all of 5566's members appeared as lead actors in their own individual dramas. In February, Zax Wang co-starred with Taiwanese singer Pace Wu in the drama . The other three members made their appearances one after another in the later half of the summer holidays: Jason Hsu co-starred with "Prince-Frog Couple" Ming Dao and Joe Chen in idol drama Ying Ye 3 Jia 1 ; Tony Sun starred in the Taiwan-Mainland-Hong Kong collaboration martial arts drama The Sword and the Chess of Death; and Sam Wang starred in idol drama E Nü Ah Chu . Tony also starred in a new idol drama titled Full Count during fall.
On November 24th, 5566 attended the 42nd Golden Bell Awards. They were award presenters like in the previous year, but did not perform.
5566 kicked off the new year with their fourth studio album, Bravo, which hit shelves on January 4th in Taiwan, and January 8th in Mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia regions. The title song, Bravo , was themed towards the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games. Five hundred fans attended the first autograph session in Taiwan, but more than 1000 fans attended their first ever autograph session in Hong Kong, on January 27, 2008. Furthermore, their songs Bravo , Roaming In China , and Bright Moon have successfully made their way into Singapore's music charts. While 5566's fame slowly rises in Asia, Sun De Rong, 5566's manager, has also openly stated plans to slowly withdraw from the Taiwan market and increase focus on the Mainland China market.
5566 dubbed the Chinese version of Animal Planet's Animal Winter Olympics, also in January. The program aired on February 9th & 10th, respectively.
5566 was invited to The Olympics 100-Day Countdown celebration on April 30th in Beijing, China. They performed the song with Chris Yu, 游鴻明, which was also the composer of the song. 5566 also performed "Beijing Welcomes You" with other 100 singers in front of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. 5566 also took part in the recording and music video of the official Olympics song, "Beijing Welcomes You", along with 100 other artistes from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
5566 was originally appointed to be the spokespeople to promote the Taiwan team for the Beijing Olympics. However, because of political issues, they are unable to do so.
5566 has, on many occasions, earned media attention for their controversial acts. They have sometimes aroused public criticism for their disrespectful behavior towards other people, mishandling of affairs, and vehement denial of several claims. On the internet, heated debates were sparked between hardcore 5566 fans and anti-5566 communities. However, these "controversial acts" were/are often drastically exaggerated by the media; the 5566 members are known "victims" of paparazzi reporters.
Grouping
5566 not only work together as a group, but also separately. For instance, Sam Wang is famous for his appearances in many TV series as well as his membership in another of the company's band called 183 Club, which effectively makes him the busiest 5566 member; Tony Sun and Zax Wang often have dramas to shoot; while Jason Hsu has been featured in many local promotional campaigns. Zax Wang and Jason Hsu are also hosts of SETTV's entertainment show, Showbiz . 5566 as a group has hosted TTV's Young Guns and CTS's Dou Zhen Ju Le Bu . Additionally, leader Tony Sun is also known to take part in a lot of the behind-the-scenes work at Jungiery.
History
Pre-debut
Each of 5566's members has had various degrees of success prior to the group's formation.
Tony Sun has gained much solo experience by releasing several well-received albums in the in the 1990s; he even gained the title of the "Taiwanese little champion". However, his popularity waned when he had to fulfill his mandatory military service. Sun was signed under Jungiery since his earlier days; this was how he used his connection with the company to secure the second part of his career.
Zax Wang was a member of short-lived boyband POSTM3N. After the group disbanded, he was planning to start a cellphone shop with a colleague when Sun De Rong, Jungiery's head, contacted him. Wang took up the deal.
Sam Wang was a national soccer player and a model before signing with Jungiery. He is also a member of another Jungiery boyband 183 Club.
Jason Hsu was originally obese and unpopular in school. However, he started appearing in several commercials when he successfully lost weight, giving him the looks of an idol. He was also a model. Jungiery offered him a contract, and he gladly accepted.
2002
5566 was formed at 21 January 2002 by manager Sun De Rong .
5566's debut and sudden rise to popularity has been a controversial topic. They showcased their multiple talents in their debut interview, yet their hard work was not respected, drawing lots of criticism and earning them a negative nickname, "Turkey", which is still used today. This continued until their first , , aired on local television. The drama, featuring 5566 in its lead roles, exceeded expectations by having a higher viewership rating than several other idol dramas at the time. Not only did this drama help skyrocket 5566 to fame, it was also the driving force behind the careers of Angela Chang and Johnny Yan.
Due to a serious injury that he suffered during the filming of a variety show, Rio Peng temporary pulled out from group activities to recover. Although the remaining 5566 members confirmed that Peng was still part of the group, Peng would eventually leave the group, forming his own management company, ''Wingman Entertainment''.
In December, 5566 released their first album, which sold 240,000 copies in Taiwan. However, ever since the album was re-released in two additional versions, 5566 would become infamous for regularly repackaging their albums. This holds true till today; the ''Westside Story OST'' and the ''Top on the Forbidden City OST'' are the only two albums that remain unrepackaged.
2003
Promotional activity for their first album continued during the first few months of this year. When activities ended, 5566 temporarily bade farewell to their home country for overseas promotion in Southeast Asia. After this was finished, 5566 began work for their second , Westside Story. This drama was also well-received, and the ''Westside Story OST'' complimented the drama nicely, faring well on the music charts.
2003 also saw the start of Jungiery's marketing strategy, which was to utilize 5566's fame to increase the popularity of other Jungiery artists. This was seen on the ''Westside Story OST'', where a song by the now-defunct bubblegum-pop group R&B and a duet between Tony Sun and Cyndi Wang were included. Both R&B and Cyndi Wang became well-known artistes almost instantly.
Rio Peng, with his company ''Corvette Entertainment'' , formed the 5-man dance group K One. However, K One did not do well with their first album; a very likely reason is that Peng did not wish to involve his own artistes with 5566, hoping that K One would make a name for themselves. Another possible reason is that there was already another popular dance group, Energy, in existence; due to this, few people were excited about the arrival of K One. However, Peng ultimately did place K One with Jungiery the following year.
2004
After K One was placed under Jungiery, they were soon put to act in the idol drama, ''Top on the Forbidden City''. This idol drama had a lead cast roster of K One's Gino and JR, and Joanne from the girl group Sweety. To help up this drama's fame, Sam Wang also played a supporting role in the drama, and the theme song for this drama, Twist The Fate, was a collaborated work by both 5566 and K-One. This strategy was once again successful; K One's fame rose sharply.
During the period "Top on the Forbidden City" was aired, 5566 began advertising for the 7-11 convenience store chain. 7-11 released special junk food and instant food varieties based on 5566's own ideas. 5566 recorded a short jingle, C'est Si Bon, to aid this campaign.
After "Top on the Forbidden City" was finished, Cyndi Wang's own idol drama, Le Robe de Mariage des Cieux, took over. Its OST featured Cyndi Wang, R&B , and new male vocal band 183 Club, which included Sam Wang. Seeing the changes in the line-up of R&B, fans speculated the group would crumble, and 183 Club would eventually rise to rival the fame of 5566. Both of these guesses ended up being true: the original R&B members left Jungiery one by one, and the remaining members were re-grouped with other Jungiery trainees into bubblegum-pop group La-La; meanwhile 183 Club's fame surpassed that of 5566's in China.
A few weeks later, 5566 released their first compilation album, ''C'est Si Bon Greatest Hits''. This compilation featured songs from their previous three works, and three new songs, one of which was the re-recorded full version of C'est Si Bon, which also featured juniors 7 Flowers. The song was initially only a jingle for the 7-11 advertisement. By popular demand, verses were newly written and composed to make a full song. The ending of promotions of this Greatest Hits album also signaled the end of 5566's core activities for the year.
2004 is also the year in which member Jason Hsu starred in his own tv series / idol drama, , alongside former co-star Chen Qiao En. The other three 5566 members were featured as special guest stars in episode one.
2005
5566 sprang to an early start in 2005 with their new idol drama, Mr. Fighting. Unexpectedly, both the drama and the OST did not do as well as expected. Many thought 5566 was beginning to lose their grip on the entertainment industry. Jungiery's manager, seeming to notice this and fearing that the whole J-Star group would collapse if their main pillar fell with no backups for support, then decided to shift his attention to 183 Club. After this drama, problems between Avex Trax and Jungiery arose, and Jungiery defected to .
In summer, 183 Club's idol drama, The Prince Who Turns Into a Frog, aired. This drama focused on 183 Club and 7 Flowers, with 183 Club member Ming Dao and 7 Flowers vice-leader playing the lead roles, while supporting cast consisted of Sam Wang and 7 Flowers leader . The OST also only featured 183 Club, 7 Flowers, and the new vocal duo VJ.
Shortly before the drama ended, 5566 released their third album, ''''. This album was also 5566's first musical work released under the label. This album featured more of Tony Sun's vocals, as there were complaints that Zax Wang's vocals were featured too much in their second album. Despite this, the above mentioned decline and many fans' voicing a deterioration of quality slightly dented the album's performance.
2006
2006 was a hiatus year for 5566's activities. Tony Sun and Zax Wang both went to Mainland China to film their own dramas; Sam Wang along with 183 Club starred in idol drama The Magicians of Love which aired early in the year, and released an album during the summer; Jason Hsu at first stayed in Taiwan to attend various promotional campaigns, as he was still studying. Later on, Jason starred in the movie, My Sassy Teacher, and also went to the Philippines to play a role in the series, Captain Barbell.
On November 19th, Zax Wang's daughter was born. She is affectionately known to the public as "Le Le". Le Le's mother is Taiwanese entertainer Ji Qin.
5566 took part in the 41st Golden Bell Awards as award presenters and performed various songs from their OSTs.
2007
To kick the year off, 5566, along with Jungiery, released a new compilation album in the Love Miracle series, Love Miracle 3. This compilation, following the tradition, included some new songs as well as selected older songs. 5566 recorded two new songs for this album, On Fire , and Red Youth Is Knocking. Jungiery martial arts group Tai Chi collaborated with 5566 in the music video of On Fire. The same group had previously collaborated with 5566 in the song "One World One Dream" from their third album, both vocally and visually.
In May, 5566 released a special compilation album titled I Love 56 - Re-emerging Legends: 5 Years Greatest Hits. This album did not feature any new songs and was exclusively released in the Mainland China area.
2007 was a year in which all of 5566's members appeared as lead actors in their own individual dramas. In February, Zax Wang co-starred with Taiwanese singer Pace Wu in the drama . The other three members made their appearances one after another in the later half of the summer holidays: Jason Hsu co-starred with "Prince-Frog Couple" Ming Dao and Joe Chen in idol drama Ying Ye 3 Jia 1 ; Tony Sun starred in the Taiwan-Mainland-Hong Kong collaboration martial arts drama The Sword and the Chess of Death; and Sam Wang starred in idol drama E Nü Ah Chu . Tony also starred in a new idol drama titled Full Count during fall.
On November 24th, 5566 attended the 42nd Golden Bell Awards. They were award presenters like in the previous year, but did not perform.
2008
5566 kicked off the new year with their fourth studio album, Bravo, which hit shelves on January 4th in Taiwan, and January 8th in Mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia regions. The title song, Bravo , was themed towards the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games. Five hundred fans attended the first autograph session in Taiwan, but more than 1000 fans attended their first ever autograph session in Hong Kong, on January 27, 2008. Furthermore, their songs Bravo , Roaming In China , and Bright Moon have successfully made their way into Singapore's music charts. While 5566's fame slowly rises in Asia, Sun De Rong, 5566's manager, has also openly stated plans to slowly withdraw from the Taiwan market and increase focus on the Mainland China market.
5566 dubbed the Chinese version of Animal Planet's Animal Winter Olympics, also in January. The program aired on February 9th & 10th, respectively.
5566 was invited to The Olympics 100-Day Countdown celebration on April 30th in Beijing, China. They performed the song with Chris Yu, 游鴻明, which was also the composer of the song. 5566 also performed "Beijing Welcomes You" with other 100 singers in front of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. 5566 also took part in the recording and music video of the official Olympics song, "Beijing Welcomes You", along with 100 other artistes from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
5566 was originally appointed to be the spokespeople to promote the Taiwan team for the Beijing Olympics. However, because of political issues, they are unable to do so.
Discography
Albums
Dramas
Controversy
5566 has, on many occasions, earned media attention for their controversial acts. They have sometimes aroused public criticism for their disrespectful behavior towards other people, mishandling of affairs, and vehement denial of several claims. On the internet, heated debates were sparked between hardcore 5566 fans and anti-5566 communities. However, these "controversial acts" were/are often drastically exaggerated by the media; the 5566 members are known "victims" of paparazzi reporters.
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