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Stefanie Sun (; born July 23, 1978) and also known in Teochew as Sng Yì-che or Sng Ee Tze (her official name), is a Singaporean singer-songwriter.
Biography Stefanie Sun has an elder sister by three years called Sng Yì-kiah (孙燕佳) and a younger sister by six years named Sng Yì-bī (孙燕美). Sun was educated at St Margaret's Secondary School, Raffles Girls' School and went on to attend Saint Andrew's Junior College. She later attended Nanyang Technological University, where she obtained a degree in Marketing. Her abilities were discovered by her music teacher, Lee Wei Song, at his music school. In the Mandarin-speaking world, Sun is more popularly known by her Mandarin name, Sun Yanzi or Sun Yan Zi. Language Most of her songs are sung in Mandarin, with several in English. Sun's ability to speak various dialects is reflected in the songs she sings. In the song "Dark Skies" (天黑黑), she sings in both Mandarin and her native Teochew. It is an adaptation of a traditional Taiwanese folk song that included the first six words in the original Hokkien/Taiwanese - Thi-o·-o·, beh lo̍h-hō· - in the chorus. The album Start contains 6 songs in English: covers of "Venus", "That I Will Be Good", "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough", "Silent All These Years", and "Hey Jude"; and the original song "Someone". Recording career Sun does most of her recording, and conducts most of her publicity events, in Taiwan, which comprises her largest audience. She also visits China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore frequently for promotional rounds where she is warmly received. Her first album was released in June 2000, the self-titled Yan Zi (孙燕姿), published by Warner Music. This was followed in December of the same year by My Desired Happiness (我要的幸福). Both albums achieved commercial success. January 2002 saw the release of Start (自選集), a collection of songs, many of which are cover versions. In 2002 and 2003 Sun sang the official theme songs for Singapore's National Day Parade: "We Will Get There" (一起走到) and "One United People" (全心全意). The former was included on the album Leave. In late 2003, she decided to take a one-year hiatus from making music, believing that she needs to recover her lost sense of direction in her career. She returned in late 2004 with a new album titled Stefanie, intended to be a mirror of her debut album (self-titled as well, but in Chinese). This was to symbolise her return with a fresh attitude. This album was well received by the critics in the Chinese music industry. She also started her own company, Make Music, during this sabbatical. A Perfect Day was released on 2005, almost one year later. Reviews of this new album have been mixed, but Sun had mentioned before that her priority is to make quality music, instead of over-commercialized products that sell well but have a lower level of artistic quality. As of 2006, Sun is in the midst of a regional concert tour. She has staged four full-house concerts at the renowned Hong Kong Coliseum. The performances have received positive reviews from the media as well as overwhelming support from fans. Sun also returned to Singapore in a much-anticipated homecoming concert. Yet, not all is smooth-sailing for her. At the Golden Melody Award 2006 in Taiwan, whilst performing renditions of other male singers' songs, she went off-key and was heavily lambasted in the Chinese pop media, which reported that she has smashed her image of a pop diva with great singing skills. She attributed it to factors like not enough rest, jet lag, inadequate time for sufficient practice etc. Though no precise release date has been set, Sun is working on a new album under EMI Music's Capitol after leaving Warner Music. Her decision to leave Warner after 9 albums was partly due to music executive Sam Chen, whom now works at EMI. He had collaborated with Sun on 8 of her 9 albums. Collaborations Sun collaborated with Japanese singer Mai Kuraki on the last track of Sun's album To Be Continued.... They collaborated again on Mai Kuraki's If I Believe, released in July of 2003. Sun also sang with fellow Singaporean singer, Tanya Chua, the song "Original Point (原点)" in Tanya's album, Amphibian. In the song "First Day", from the album A Perfect Day, she sings with the popular Taiwanese musicians MayDay (五月天) and F.I.R. This is not the first time she has worked with MayDay, given the first was 王子面. Albums Awards and accolades Sun is regarded as one of the most accomplished local artists in her native homeland, Singapore, partly linked with her central role in two National Day theme song. To date, she has won many awards, most notably at the Taiwan Golden Melody Awards, beating established singers Jay Chou and Jolin Tsai. She is said to have inspired other Singaporean artists (such as JJ Lin and Huang Yi Da) to expand overseas. She has won over 33 awards and other accolades for her music in the course of her career in Singapore, Taiwan, mainland China and Hong Kong (as well as at the pan-Asian MTV Asia Awards). She was also awarded the NTU outstanding young alumni award in 2005 and has nabbed tier World's Young Woman Achiever Award barely one and a half years into her career. | |||||||||||||||||
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