Valen Hsu
Encyclopedia
Valen Hsu, also known as Xiu Xiu (琇琇), was born on 20 September 1974 in Taipei
, Taiwan
, Republic of China
. She is a Taiwanese
Mandopop
singer-songwriter
. Hsu is widely known for her sad love ballads which have earned her the nickname "The Queen of Love Songs". Her songs are mostly sung in Mandarin Chinese and some in Cantonese.
, where many known pop artists began their careers. She was offered a contract with Taiwan’s What’s Music Record label and began work on her first commercial album, all before the age of 19.
and Sandy Lam
and becoming an integral part of a new Mando-Pop
era including Coco Lee
and A-Mei
.
In 1999, after the sale of What’s Music to Universal Records (Taiwan), she recorded a duet with Enrique Iglesias
entitled You’re My No. 1, released on Enrique’s Asian version of his Enrique album. She ended her contract with What’s Music in 2001 and signed on with EMI Taiwan. The first album with her new record label was titled I Just Want to Tell You, and it was produced by Yosinori Kameda, a famous Japanese music producer. In 2001, she decided to broaden her professional career by acting in her first TV drama with F4
, Taiwan’s boy-band equivalent to 'N Sync
. She further broadened her acting career in 2003 by performing on stage with Zuni Icosahedron, an independent cultural collective concentrating on alternative theater and multi-media performances. In 2004, she decided to take a hiatus from the music industry to pursue other interests, including learning English in New York City
.
Valen Hsu is known for her vocals, which are wispy yet strong and crystal-clear. Her singing voice and technique have been compared to Hong Kong's Faye Wong. In 1998, the Japanese magazine publication Asia Pop voted her as the best female pop vocalist in Asia. She has been known to deliver CD-quality live performances. Occasionally, she will play the piano while singing live at her concerts.
Her 13th studio album entitled 66° Pohjoista Leveyttä was released on December 21, 2007. She traveled to Finland's Arctic Circle to film her music videos for this new album. Filming took place mainly in two cities: Helsinki
and Rovaniemi
. The first single is called "Fireworks". She recorded a duet with Amguulan
, a very talented singer from Mongolia
, "Man and Woman" became one of the most popular song throughout 2008.
After a 19 months hiatus, Valen released her latest album My Love Journey 1km. She invited her friend Josh to co-produced this album with her. Her first single is called 'Let's go when love arrives', 2nd song is a soft rock 'With You'
" as translated. She stars alongside Hong Kong actors Aaron Kwok
and Charlie Yeung
. The film was released in 2006 and subsequently won several Golden Horse Awards (Asia's equivalent to the Academy Awards) on the same year, including Best Picture and Best Actor.
In 2010, she published a travelogue Antithesis, which compromises of short poems and photos shot in Cuba.
, Africa
with the World Health Organization
and other Asian celebrities to perform charity work, filming a commercial and raising funds for donation through sales of an E.P. entitled Wo Niu (which means "Snail"), written by Jay Chou
, one of Asia’s male mega pop stars.
, Gigi Leung
and Angelica Lee
formed "Hope Education Foundation". A non-profit organization to help children in need.
Taipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
, Taiwan
Taiwan Province
Taiwan Province is one of the two administrative divisions referred to as provinces and is controlled by the Republic of China . The province covers approximately 73% of the territory controlled by the Republic of China...
, Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
. She is a Taiwanese
Taiwanese people
Taiwanese people may refer to individuals who either claim or are imputed cultural identity focused on the island of Taiwan and/or Taiwan Area which have been governed by the Republic of China since 1945...
Mandopop
Mandopop
Mandopop is a colloquial abbreviation for "Mandarin popular music." It is categorized as a subgenre of commercial Chinese-language music within C-pop. Mandopop was the first variety of popular music in Chinese to establish itself as a viable industry. As the name implies, Mandopop features songs...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
. Hsu is widely known for her sad love ballads which have earned her the nickname "The Queen of Love Songs". Her songs are mostly sung in Mandarin Chinese and some in Cantonese.
Biography
A classically-trained pianist, she started playing the piano when she was 4. While she was attending high school in 1993, she was discovered while performing in a restaurant in TaipeiTaipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
, where many known pop artists began their careers. She was offered a contract with Taiwan’s What’s Music Record label and began work on her first commercial album, all before the age of 19.
Career
Valen Hsu has recorded 14 studio albums over the span of eight years, as well as four "Best Of" compilations. Her first album, Tau Hao, was completed in 1994 and received critical acclaim from the Asian music industry. However, record sales did not exceed expectations, only selling a little over 50,000 copies. Her next studio album was what significantly changed her career. Lei Hai, or Tear’s Sea as translated, sold more than 300,000 copies in Taiwan. And her third album, If the Cloud Knows, sold over 2.2 million copies alone in Taiwan. Her fourth album, Ri Guang Ji Zhang (Sunlight Airport) was completed in 1998 and sold 800,000 copies in Taiwan, but over 3 million copies in Asia, permanently placing her in the company of Asian divas such as Faye WongFaye Wong
Faye Wong is a highly successful and influential Chinese singer-songwriter and actress who is usually referred to as a diva . Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong . Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong in 1987 and rose to stardom in the early 1990s by singing...
and Sandy Lam
Sandy Lam
Sandy Lam, also known as Lam Yik Lin, is a Cantopop singer who sings in Cantonese, Mandarin, English, and Japanese.-Career:...
and becoming an integral part of a new Mando-Pop
Mandopop
Mandopop is a colloquial abbreviation for "Mandarin popular music." It is categorized as a subgenre of commercial Chinese-language music within C-pop. Mandopop was the first variety of popular music in Chinese to establish itself as a viable industry. As the name implies, Mandopop features songs...
era including Coco Lee
CoCo Lee
Coco Lee , born on 17 January 1975, also known by her official English name as Ferren Lee, is a pop singer, songwriter, record producer and actress. Coco started her career in Hong Kong but, after becoming popular in Taiwan, she was widely considered to be a Taiwan artist. She was born to a Chinese...
and A-Mei
A-Mei
A-Mei , also known by her birth name Chang Hui-mei , is an aboriginal Taiwanese pop singer and occasional songwriter. She is also known by her aboriginal name Gulilai Amit . She was born in the rugged mountains of eastern Taiwan and is the third youngest of nine siblings. A-mei made her debut in...
.
In 1999, after the sale of What’s Music to Universal Records (Taiwan), she recorded a duet with Enrique Iglesias
Enrique Iglesias
Enrique Iglesias is a Spanish pop music singer, a son of singer Julio Iglesias.Enrique started his musical career on Mexican label Fonovisa...
entitled You’re My No. 1, released on Enrique’s Asian version of his Enrique album. She ended her contract with What’s Music in 2001 and signed on with EMI Taiwan. The first album with her new record label was titled I Just Want to Tell You, and it was produced by Yosinori Kameda, a famous Japanese music producer. In 2001, she decided to broaden her professional career by acting in her first TV drama with F4
F4 (band)
F4 is a Taiwanese boy band. The group began in the Taiwanese drama Meteor Garden as F4 with members Jerry Yan, Vanness Wu, Ken Chu, and Vic Chou...
, Taiwan’s boy-band equivalent to 'N Sync
'N Sync
N Sync was an American boy band formed in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich, *NSYNC consisted of JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick...
. She further broadened her acting career in 2003 by performing on stage with Zuni Icosahedron, an independent cultural collective concentrating on alternative theater and multi-media performances. In 2004, she decided to take a hiatus from the music industry to pursue other interests, including learning English in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Valen Hsu is known for her vocals, which are wispy yet strong and crystal-clear. Her singing voice and technique have been compared to Hong Kong's Faye Wong. In 1998, the Japanese magazine publication Asia Pop voted her as the best female pop vocalist in Asia. She has been known to deliver CD-quality live performances. Occasionally, she will play the piano while singing live at her concerts.
Her 13th studio album entitled 66° Pohjoista Leveyttä was released on December 21, 2007. She traveled to Finland's Arctic Circle to film her music videos for this new album. Filming took place mainly in two cities: Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
and Rovaniemi
Rovaniemi
Rovaniemi is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland. It is situated close to the Arctic Circle and is between the hills of Ounasvaara and Korkalovaara, at the confluence of the Kemijoki River and its...
. The first single is called "Fireworks". She recorded a duet with Amguulan
Amguulan
Amguulan , commonly known as Amulong or Amu, is a Chinese singer and songwriter of Mongolian descent.-Filmography:-References:*****-External links:*****...
, a very talented singer from Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, "Man and Woman" became one of the most popular song throughout 2008.
After a 19 months hiatus, Valen released her latest album My Love Journey 1km. She invited her friend Josh to co-produced this album with her. Her first single is called 'Let's go when love arrives', 2nd song is a soft rock 'With You'
Acting
In 2006, she filmed a full-length movie with famed Hong Kong Director Patrick Lam entitled Fu Zhi, or "After This Our ExileAfter This Our Exile
After This Our Exile is a 2006 Hong Kong film directed by Patrick Tam.-Plot:In hopeless pursuit of happiness, Shing is a man who desperately attempts to hold on to the dwindling threads of his family. Once a man who had a dream, Shing has become a deadbeat gambler whose marriage is failing with...
" as translated. She stars alongside Hong Kong actors Aaron Kwok
Aaron Kwok
Aaron Kwok Fu-shing is a Hong Kong singer, dancer and actor. He has been active since the 1980s to the present. The media refer to him, Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and Leon Lai as the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings . Kwok's onstage dancing and displays is influenced by Michael Jackson...
and Charlie Yeung
Charlie Yeung
Charlie Yeung Choi-Nei, sometimes spelled Charlie Young, is a Chinese film actress and singer. She was first noticed after appearing in a jewellery commercial with Aaron Kwok...
. The film was released in 2006 and subsequently won several Golden Horse Awards (Asia's equivalent to the Academy Awards) on the same year, including Best Picture and Best Actor.
Writing
In addition to composing and writing some of her songs, she has also published two books: one of them a compilation of short poems and the other a beauty book entitled Beauty Sense, which were published in 2003 and 2006, respectively.In 2010, she published a travelogue Antithesis, which compromises of short poems and photos shot in Cuba.
Charity works
In 1999, she traveled to RwandaRwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
with the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
and other Asian celebrities to perform charity work, filming a commercial and raising funds for donation through sales of an E.P. entitled Wo Niu (which means "Snail"), written by Jay Chou
Jay Chou
Jay Chou is a Taiwanese musician, singer-songwriter, music and film producer, actor and director who has won the World Music Award four times. In 1998 he was discovered in a talent contest where he displayed his piano and song-writing skills. Over the next two years, he was hired to compose for...
, one of Asia’s male mega pop stars.
Hope Education Foundation
In 2006, Valen and her friends, Charlie YeungCharlie Yeung
Charlie Yeung Choi-Nei, sometimes spelled Charlie Young, is a Chinese film actress and singer. She was first noticed after appearing in a jewellery commercial with Aaron Kwok...
, Gigi Leung
Gigi Leung
Gigi Leung Wing-kei is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer and actress.-Biography:Given the name Leung Bik-Zi at birth, at the age of 7 her mother changed her name changed to 'Wing-Kei' for superstitious reasons; as a child, Leung suffered from frequent asthma attacks and it was believed a change of name...
and Angelica Lee
Angelica Lee
Angelica Lee Sin-Jie is a Malaysian Chinese film actress and pop singer. She started her career in singing and later moved on to acting in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Lee starred in The Eye, the hit Asian horror film by the Pang Brothers, winning her the Golden Horse Award for Best Actress, Best Actress...
formed "Hope Education Foundation". A non-profit organization to help children in need.
Studio albums
| English | Chinese | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Ingratiate | 討好 | June 1995 |
| Tear’s Sea | 淚海 | March 1996 |
| If the Cloud Knows | 如果雲知道 | September 1996 |
| Sunshin airport | 日光機場 | June 1997 |
| Still loving you | 我依然愛你 | June 1998 |
| Best love | 你是最ㄞˋ(愛) | December 1998 |
| Victory | 真愛無敵 | August 1999 |
| I’m This Happy (Cantonese) | 我就是這麼快樂 | November 1999 |
| Good Day | 難得好天氣 | May 2000 |
| Flower Blossom | 花開 | December 2000 |
| Just Want to Tell You | 只說給你聽 | September 2001 |
| Rue Blossom | 芸開了 | November 2002 |
| 66° Pohjoista Leveyttä | 北緯六十六度 | December 2007 |
| My Love Journey 1km | 愛·旅行·一公里 | July 2009 |
Compilations
| English/Pinyin title | Chinese (Traditional) | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Ru Ci Jing Cai "Best Of…" (Hong Kong Version) | 茹此精彩十三首新歌加精選 香港版 | September 1997 |
| Ru Ci Jing Cai "Best Of…" (Taiwan Version) | 茹此精彩十三首新歌加精選 台灣版 | November 1997 |
| Liu Jin Shi Zai "Best Of…" | 流金十載 － 許茹芸全記錄 | June 2001 |
| Single Diary "Best Of…" | 單身日記 － 1995 - 2001 | June 2001 |
| Valen Hsu’s Movie Ballads – Cloud Stay | 許茹芸的愛情電影主題曲 － 雲且留住 | June 2003 |
| I love the nights of autumn "Best Of…" | 我愛夜 | December 2003 |
| Valen Hsu "Best Of Classic…" | 許茹芸 － 國語真經典 | February 2005 |
Instrumental
| English/Pinyin title | Chinese (Traditional) | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Piano Diary | 鋼琴記事簿 | September 1999 |
EP/Singles
| English/Pinyin title | Chinese (Traditional) | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Neighbor (Fan Club single - not for sale) | 鄰居 | November 1996 |
| Snail | 蝸牛 | July 1999 |
| Pleasant to Hear | 好聽 | April 2007 |
Musical theatre performances
- 2003 - Good Wind Like Water (好風如水)(Zuni Icosahedron)
- 2005 - Fragments d’un Discours Amoureux (戀人絮語) (Yi Hua Lin Productions)
- 2010 - Turn Left, Turn Right (幾米 / 向左走向右走) (Based on the book A Chance of Sunshine by Jimmy LiaoJimmy LiaoJimmy Liao is a well-known Taiwanese illustrator as well as a picture book writer. The name Jimmy is his English first name which brought about his Chinese pen name, 幾米....
)
Film and television
- 2002 - Come to My Place (來我家吧) - Director : Cheng Ze Niou (Cast : Valen Hsu, F4)
- 2005 - After This Our ExileAfter This Our ExileAfter This Our Exile is a 2006 Hong Kong film directed by Patrick Tam.-Plot:In hopeless pursuit of happiness, Shing is a man who desperately attempts to hold on to the dwindling threads of his family. Once a man who had a dream, Shing has become a deadbeat gambler whose marriage is failing with...
(父子) - Director : Patrick Tam （Cast : Aaron Kwok, Charlie Yeung, Valen Hsu）
Books
- 2003 - The cost of happiness at this point in time (此時快樂的代價), A collection of short poems
- 2006 - Beauty Sense (五感美人), A book on beauty and wellness tips
- 2008 - Fragile (小心輕放), 2nd book of collection of short poems
- 2009 - I Want to be Your Friend (我想要和你做朋友), A book for Hope Foundation
- 2010 - Antithesis (對照),Collections of short poems and photos shot in Cuba
Endorsements and charities
- 1996 - Esprit Clothing Spokesperson
- 1998 - AB Call Pager Service
- 1998 - ICRT Charity Concert
- 1999 - Head & Shoulders Shampoo Commercial – Part 1 (Taiwan, Singapore & Hong Kong) (E.P.：All Your Heart）
- 1999 - WHO Charity Run - Rwanda（E.P. : Gua Niou）
- 1999 - Head & Shoulders Shampoo Commercial – Part 2 (Taiwan, Singapore & Hong Kong) (E.P. : I’m This Happy）
- 1999 - Cable & Wireless (Hong Kong Telecom)
- 2002 - Tai Ping Soda Crackers Commercial [China & Hong Kong]
- 2002 - O Smile Biscuits Commercial [Taiwan]
- 2003 - Mei Bei Jia Shampoo Commercial [China]
- 2006 - Chantecaille Spokesperson
- 2006 - Rice Beauty Products Commercial & Spokesperson
External links
- Valen's Official Website http://www.valenvoice.com/
- Valen's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/xu-ru-yun-Valen-Hsu/239712411490
- Valen's Blog in Taiwan http://valenhsu.pixnet.net/blog
- Valen's Blog in China http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/1244876825
- Valen's WeiBo in China http://t.sina.com.cn/xuruyun
- Valen's Plurk http://www.plurk.com/ValenH
- Taiwan Fans Club http://blog.pixnet.net/JustForValen
- China Fans Club http://www.xuruyun.net/
- Korea Fans Club http://valenf.com.ne.kr/
- Hope Education Foundation http://www.hope-ef.org/eng/support.html