Tanya Chua
Chua in 2015
Born (1975-01-28) 28 January 1975 (age 49)
Singapore
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • record producer
Years active1997–present
AgentCrystal Resonance
Musical career
GenresPop
Instrument(s)
  • Vocals
  • piano
  • guitar
  • drums
  • harmonica
Labels
Chinese name
Chinese蔡健雅

Tanya Chua (Chinese: 蔡健雅; pinyin: Cài Jiànyǎ; born 28 January 1975) is a Singaporean singer-songwriter. She launched her singing career by releasing her debut studio album Bored in 1997.[1] She was part of the trio that sang Moments of Magic (1999), Singapore's official millennium song. Her albums, Amphibian (2005), Goodbye & Hello (2007), Sing It Out of Love (2011) and Depart (2021), each won her a Golden Melody Award for Best Mandarin Female Singer award.

A veteran in the industry with a career spanning more than two decades,[2] Chua is the first and only person to win the Best Mandarin Female Singer award four times at the Golden Melody Awards, and has achieved popularity in Greater China and among the Chinese-speaking world.[3]

Life and career

1975–1996: Early years and career beginnings

Chua was born in Singapore on 28 January 1975. She attended CHIJ Saint Nicholas Girls' School,[4] and achieved a diploma in business administration at Singapore Polytechnic in 1996.

1997–2002: Universal Music

In 1997, Chua signed a recording deal with Singaporean management company Music & Movement, and debuted her singing career by releasing an English album titled Bored.[5] In 1998, she attended the electric guitar classes at Musicians Institute in Los Angeles. In 1999, Chua signed a recording deal with PolyGram, and released her first self-titled Mandarin album. In the same year, she released her second English album Luck. The song "The Wicked Signs of Trying to Be a Superstar" was written by Taiwanese singer-songwriter David Tao.

In March 2000, Chua released her second Mandarin album Remember under Universal Music Group which acquired PolyGram on the same year. The album earned her a nomination for Best New Artist at the 11th Golden Melody Awards. In the same year, she wrote the theme song of the Singaporean film Chicken Rice War, and appeared on the film herself. In 2001, Chua released her third Mandarin album I Do Believe which earned her a nomination for Best Mandarin Female Singer at the 13th Golden Melody Awards. In the same year, she performed in the Singapore National Day Parade with her self-written theme song titled "Where I Belong".[6] In 2002, Japanese record label S2S released an English album titled Secret Lavender which contained seven songs from Chua. Her composition "Wrong Number" for Chinese singer Faye Wong earned her a Golden Melody Award nomination for Best Composition.

2003–2006: Warner Music

Chua in 2006

In 2003, Chua signed a recording deal with Warner Music Taiwan, and released her fourth Mandarin album Stranger which earned her a nomination for Best Mandarin Female Singer at the 15th Golden Melody Awards.[5] In the same year, she released her fourth English album Jupiter. In 2004, Chua produced Hong Kong singer Gigi Leung's album Belongingness. In 2005, Chua released her fifth Mandarin album Amphibian. At the 17th Golden Melody Awards, she won her first Best Mandarin Female Singer award along with other nominations for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Album Producer.[7] In 2006, Chua moved to Taipei, and launched her own music production company Tangy Music.

2007–2015: AsiaMuse Entertainment

In May 2007, Chua signed a recording deal with Taiwanese record label AsiaMuse Entertainment.[8] The following month, she was featured as background vocals in Taiwanese singer Chang Chen-yue's song "Yearning Is a Kind of Sickness". In October of the same year, she released her sixth Mandarin album Goodbye & Hello which earned her two awards for Best Mandarin Female Singer and Best Album Producer out of seven nominations at the 19th Golden Melody Awards.[9]

In 2008, Chua released her live album My Space which was nominated for Best Mandarin Female Singer at the 20th Golden Melody Awards.[10]

In 2009, Chua released her seventh Mandarin album If You See Him. The album earned her four nominations including Best Mandarin Album, Best Mandarin Female Singer, Best Album Producer, and Best Composition at the 21st Golden Melody Awards.[10] The album also won her a Hong Kong Top Sales Music Award for Ten Best Sales Releases Mandarin.[11] In 2010, Chua produced Chinese singer Na Ying's album So What. In 2011, Chua released her eighth Mandarin album Sing It Out of Love. She made history of becoming the first person to win the Best Mandarin Female Singer award thrice at the 23rd Golden Melody Awards, along with seven other nominations for that album.[12] In the same year, she released her fifth English album Just Say So.[13]

In 2013, Chua released her ninth Mandarin album Angel vs. Devil, which earned her a nomination for Best Mandarin Female Singer at the 25th Golden Melody Awards. In the same year, she became one of the judges in the Chinese singing contest Sing My Song with Liu Huan, Yang Kun, and Emil Chau. In 2015, she came back as one of the judges in the second season of the show.[13][14] In November of the same year, Chua released her tenth Mandarin album Aphasia which earned her six nominations at the 27th Golden Melody Awards. Subsequently, her contract with AsiaMuse Entertainment expired.

2018–present: Return to Universal Music

In July 2017, Chua re-signed a recording deal with Universal Music.[15] The following year, Chua released her eleventh Mandarin album Kisses for the World. The lead single from the album "The Will" earned her a Best Composition nomination at the 30th Golden Melody Awards.[16] Chua also sang Nightglow,[17] the official theme song for miHoYo's mobile ACG title Honkai Impact 3 second CG: Final Lesson.[18]

In 2020, her concert tour "Kisses for the World" was announced. Tickets for the show sold out within 5 minutes but was postponed from May 2020 to January 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[19][20] In August of the same year, Chua started writing songs for her twelfth Mandarin album DEPART which was released in August 2021.[21] At the 33rd Golden Melody Awards, Chua won four out of eight nominations, including three major awards for Best Female Mandarin Singer, Best Mandarin Album and Album of the Year for the album. The win for Best Female Mandarin Singer award made Chua the most awarded artist in the category, breaking her tie with A-mei, with four wins.[2][3][22][23]

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

Asia Song Festival

Year Category Nominated work Result Ref
1998 Best Composition Tanya Chua for 'Hear Me' Won

Golden Melody Awards

Year Category Nominated work Result Ref
2000 Best New Artist Tanya Chua for Tanya Nominated
2000 Best Composition Tanya Chua for "Wrong Number" Nominated
Best Mandarin Female Singer Tanya Chua for I Do Believe Nominated
2004 Tanya Chua for Stranger Nominated
2006 Best Mandarin Album Amphibian Nominated
Producer of the Year, Album Tanya Chua for Amphibian Nominated
Best Mandarin Female Singer Won
2008 Song of the Year "Darwin" Nominated [24]
Best Mandarin Album Goodbye & Hello Nominated
Best Composition Tanya Chua for "Blank Space" Nominated
Producer of the Year, Album Tanya Chua for Goodbye & Hello Won
Best Mandarin Female Singer Won
2009 Tanya Chua for My Space Nominated [25]
2010 Best Mandarin Album If You See Him Nominated [26]
Best Composition Tanya Chua for "Projectile" Nominated
Producer of the Year, Album Tanya Chua for If You See Him Nominated
Best Mandarin Female Singer Nominated
2012 Song of the Year "Sing It Out of Love" Nominated [27]
Best Mandarin Album Sing It Out of Love Nominated
Best Composition Tanya Chua for "Sing It Out of Love" Nominated
Best Music Arrangement Tanya Chua, Doug Petty, Charlton Pettus, Brian Allen, Jamie Wollam for "Sing It Out of Love" Nominated
Producer of the Year, Album Tanya Chua for Sing It Out of Love Nominated
Best Mandarin Female Singer Won
2014 Tanya Chua for Angel vs. Devil Nominated [28]
2016 Best Mandarin Album Aphasia Nominated [29]
Best Composition Tanya Chua for "Aphasia" Nominated
Producer of the Year, Album An Dong and Tanya Chua for Aphasia Nominated
Best Mandarin Female Singer Tanya Chua for Aphasia Nominated
2019 Best Composition Tanya Chua for "The Will" Nominated [30]
2022 Album of the Year Depart Won [31]
Song of the Year "Bluebirds" Nominated
Best Mandarin Album Depart Won
Best Composition Tanya Chua for "Bluebirds" Nominated
Producer of the Year, Album Tanya Chua for Depart Nominated
Best Mandarin Female Singer Won
Best Vocal Recording Album Depart Won

References

  1. ^ Yu, Aitong (20 June 2009). "Q&A: Tanya Chua". Singapore: SCMP.
  2. ^ a b "Big wins for veteran Singapore singer at Taiwan music awards". Reuters. 3 July 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  3. ^ a b Ang, Benson (3 July 2022). "Tanya Chua crowned best female singer at Taiwan's Golden Melody Awards for record 4th time | The Straits Times". The Straits Times. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  4. ^ "Singer Tanya Chau on her music". CNN.com. 17 August 2000. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Chua Goes Hip-hop in Cover Version ". New Straits Times. 16 September 2003. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  6. ^ "National display of joy". Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  7. ^ "Tanya Chua, Leehom Wang win top music awards". The China Post. 11 June 2006. Archived from the original on 31 March 2009. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  8. ^ "MTV Asia artist profile". MTV Asia. Archived from the original on 15 October 2009. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  9. ^ "Singaporean Tanya Chua scoops top honours at Taiwan's Golden Melody Awards". Channel NewsAsia. 6 July 2008. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
  10. ^ a b "有望金曲奖三度封后 蔡健雅将成台湾乐坛第一人-搜狐音乐". music.yule.sohu.com. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  11. ^ IFPI Hong Kong 2009 IFPI Hong Kong Album Sales Awards winners list Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 19 April 2011
  12. ^ 网易 (15 May 2012). "第23届金曲奖提名揭晓 蔡健雅五月天田馥甄领跑". www.163.com. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  13. ^ a b "Tanya Chua Too Busy for Mr Right". Singapore: The New Paper. 15 July 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  14. ^ Adam, Ariani Bte (2 February 2015). ""Sing My Song" garners 33.75 million web hits". Shanghai: Television Asia. Archived from the original on 24 March 2015.
  15. ^ "金曲歌后蔡健雅再度加盟環球，「像是回到初戀情人的懷抱！」". Vogue Taiwan (in Chinese). 18 July 2017. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  16. ^ "第30屆金曲獎入圍暨得獎名單".
  17. ^ "「Nightglow」——《崩坏3》印象曲（演唱者：蔡健雅）_哔哩哔哩_bilibili".
  18. ^ "《崩坏3》全新动画短片「最后一课」_哔哩哔哩_bilibili".
  19. ^ 自由時報電子報 (14 February 2020). "Tanya攻蛋遭搶光！被叫「健雅」傻眼：很熟吼 – 自由娛樂". 自由時報電子報. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  20. ^ Lee, Eachen (30 January 2021). "蔡健雅《給世界最悠長的吻》演唱會歌單！TANYA攜手林俊傑美聲合唱〈拋物線〉". Harper's BAZAAR (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  21. ^ "終於踏出那一步！蔡健雅無預警曝光喜訊 公司驚：變積極了 | 娛樂星聞". 3 February 2022. Archived from the original on 3 February 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  22. ^ Yen, William (3 July 2022). "Golden Melody: Tanya Chua wins Best Mandarin Female Singer – Focus Taiwan". focustaiwan.tw. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  23. ^ "Singapore veteran star Tanya Chua crowned best female singer at Taiwan's Golden Melody Awards for record fourth time". The Star. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  24. ^ "2008第19屆金曲獎流行音樂作品類得獎名單" (in Chinese).
  25. ^ "第20屆金曲獎 周杰倫封王 陳珊妮稱后" (in Chinese).
  26. ^ "第21屆金曲獎 流行音樂類 入圍得獎名單" (in Chinese).
  27. ^ "第23屆流行音樂金曲獎 – 得獎名單及入圍作品簡介" (in Chinese).
  28. ^ "第25屆流行音樂金曲獎入圍名單" (in Chinese).
  29. ^ "第27屆流行音樂金曲獎入圍名單" (in Chinese).
  30. ^ "第30屆金曲獎入圍暨得獎名單" (in Chinese).
  31. ^ "第33屆金曲獎入圍名單" (in Chinese).

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