Kulilay Amit (, born 9 August 1972), better known by her stage name A-Mei, is a Taiwanese Puyuma singer and record producer. In 1996, she made her singing debut and released her album, ''Sisters''. Her albums ''Truth'' (2001), ''Amit'' (2009), and ''Faces of Paranoia'' (2014) each won her a Golden Melody Award for Best Mandarin Female Singer and made the Taiwanese

diva Diva (; ) is the Latin word for a goddess. It has often been used to refer to a celebrated woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, theatre, cinema, fashion and popular music. If referring to an actress, the meaning of ''diva'' is cl ...

one of the singers who won the category the most times. Having sold over 50 million records, she has achieved success in the Mandarin-speaking world and is often referred to as the " Queen of Mandopop".

Life and career

1972–1996: Early years and career beginnings

A-Mei was born on 9 August 1972 in a Puyuma family in Beinan, Taitung, Taiwan. Her Puyuma-language name is Kulilay Amit, alternatively transliterated Gulilai Amit. In 1992, A-Mei moved to

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

and took part in the Five Lights Star Singing Contest presented by the Taiwanese TV program Five Lights Awards; she made it all the way through to the finals but lost in the final round.Xinhua News (originally from Askmen.com)
Always A-Mei
xinhuanet.com, 11 December 2003; retrieved 23 July 2007. In 1993, she attended the singing contest again and won. After that, she joined her cousin's band in 1995 and started to perform in pubs in Taipei. Her pub performance impressed Taiwanese music producer Chang Yu-sheng and

Chang Hsiao-yen Chang Hsiao-yen (; born 11 August 1948) is a Taiwanese television host and actress. Born in Shanghai, China, Chang relocated to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War where she started her acting career at the age of five as a child actress in cin ...

, the head of Taiwanese record label Forward Music at the time. In March 1996, she signed a recording deal with Forward Music.

1996–2000: Forward Music

After she signed a recording deal with Forward Music, she made a appearance on Chang Yu-sheng's album, ''Red Passion'', which was released in July 1996, and she sang a duet titled ''Love Most Hurt Most''. In December 1996, she released her debut studio album, ''Sisters''. The title song featured her mother and sisters on background vocals. In June 1997, she released her second studio album, ''Bad Boy''. The album earned her two

Golden Melody Award The Golden Melody Awards (), commonly abbreviated as GMA, is an honor awarded by Taiwan's Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka, and Formosan-languages popular and traditional music i ...

nominations for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Mandarin Female Singer. A-Mei embarked on her first solo concert tour which was in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore in January 1998 and released a cover album in April 1998 that included many classic songs she planned to perform during the tour. In October 1998, she released her third studio album, ''Holding Hands'', in which she collaborated with Taiwanese singer-songwriter David Tao. The album earned her a Golden Melody Award nomination for Best Mandarin Female Singer. Also in 1998, she won the Best Theme Song award at the Star Awards 1998 ceremony for her performance of the song "I don't mind", the opening theme song to the TV series ''Rising Expectations''. In June 1999, she released her fourth studio album, ''Can I Hug You, Lover?''. The album earned her a Golden Melody Award nomination for Best Mandarin Female Singer. In July 1999, A-Mei embarked on her second concert tour, which visited Taiwan, mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. In April 2000, she released a live album titled ''Time to Say Goodbye, A-Mei Hong Kong Live''. In May 2000, she sang the

National Anthem of the Republic of China The " Three Principles of the People" is the national anthem of the Republic of China as well as the party anthem of the Kuomintang. It was adopted in 1930 as China's national anthem and was used as such in mainland China until 1949, when the ...

at the presidential inauguration ceremony of

Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian (; born 12 October 1950) is a retired Taiwanese politician and lawyer who served as the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) whi ...

, angering the government of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, sli ...

which subsequently banned her from visiting

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater Chin ...

for a few years. In December 2000, she released her fifth studio album, ''Regardless'', the last studio album released by Forward Music. The album earned her a Golden Melody Award nomination for Best Mandarin Female Singer.

2001–2006: Warner Music

After she signed a recording deal with Warner Music Taiwan in June 2001, A-Mei released her sixth studio album, ''Truth'', in October. The album earned her two

nominations for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Mandarin Female Singer and won Best Mandarin Female Singer. In September 2001, Forward Music released a compilation album, ''Journey'', which includes all unreleased songs A-Mei recorded when she was signed under Forward Music. In August 2002, she released her seventh studio album, ''Fever''. The album earned her two Golden Melody Award nominations for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Mandarin Female Singer. In the same month, she embarked on her third concert tour, A-Class Entertainment World Tour, which visited Taiwan, mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and United States. In the same year, she won a

MTV Asia Award for Favorite Artist Taiwan The following is a list of MTV Asia Awards The MTV Asia Awards was the Asian equivalent of the European MTV EMA. Held from 2002 to 2008, the show gave recognition and awards to Asian and international artists in achievement, cinema, fashion, human ...

. In June 2003, she released her eighth studio album, ''Brave''. In September 2004, A-Mei released her ninth studio album, ''Maybe Tomorrow''. The album earned her a Golden Melody Award nomination for Best Mandarin Female Singer. The music video of the song, ''Love Is the Only Way'' was nominated Best Music Video of the Year. In 2005, she decided to take a short break and headed to Boston for a three-month language study through

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original c ...

's Center for English Language & Orientation Programs. In late 2005, she returned to the stage and performed a medley at the Golden Horse Awards Ceremony. In February 2006, she released her tenth studio album, ''I Want Happiness?''. The album earned her a Golden Melody Award nomination for Best Mandarin Female Singer. In December 2006, she produced a musical, ''In Love with Carmen'', which was performed twice at

Taipei Arena The Taipei Arena () is a multi-purpose stadium located in Songshan, Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is a ...

2007–2014: EMI / Gold Typhoon

In April 2007, A-Mei signed a three-year recording deal with

EMI Taiwan EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 2012, ...

. In August 2007, she released her eleventh studio album, ''Star''. The album earned her three

nominations for Best Mandarin Album, Best Mandarin Female Singer, and

Song of the Year Song of the Year may refer to: * Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year * Dove Award for Song of the Year * Golden Melody Award for Song of the Year * Grammis Song of the Year * Grammy Award for Song of the Year * Latin Grammy Awa ...

for ''A Moment'', which is a duet song with Taiwanese singer Jam Hsiao. In November 2007, she embarked on her fourth solo concert tour, Star Tour, which visited Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Canada and United States. In March 2008, she embarked on an opera tour, ''Turandot'', in Japan. In June 2009, A-Mei released her twelfth studio album, ''Amit''. The album won four Golden Melody Awards for Best Mandarin Album, Best Mandarin Female Singer, Best Album Producer, and Song of the Year for ''Bold for My Love''. The music video of ''Bold for My Love'' was nominated for Best Music Video of the Year. In November 2009, she embarked on her fifth concert tour, Amit First Tour, which visited Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia. In April 2011, she released her thirteenth studio album, ''R U Watching?''. The album earned her a Golden Melody Award nomination for Best Mandarin Female Singer. In September 2011, she embarked on her sixth concert tour, which visited Taiwan, mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, United Kingdom and United States. In July 2013, A-Mei became one of the judges of Chinese talent show, '' The Voice of China (season 2)'', along with Wang Feng,

Na Ying Na Ying (born 27 November 1967) is a Chinese singer and musical judge. She is known for her prominent roles as a judge on Chinese TV singing shows such as ''The Voice of China''. She later transferred to the show ''Sing! China'' and remained the ...

, and

Harlem Yu Harlem Yu (; born 28 July 1961) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, television host and businessman. He is particularly well-known for singing the theme song, ''Qing Fei De Yi'', for the 2001 television drama, ''Meteor Garden''. He made a cameo in ...

2014–present: EMI / Universal Music

After

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

acquired EMI, it became one of Universal's record labels. In June 2014, A-Mei signed a recording deal with EMI Taiwan and was selected as the chief brand officer for the record label. In July 2014, she released her fourteenth studio album, ''Faces of Paranoia''. The album won

nominations for Best Mandarin Female Singer and

with the song ''Faces of Paranoia'' and won Best Mandarin Female Singer. In April 2015, she embarked on her seventh concert tour, Utopia World Tour, which visited Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States. In April 2015, she released her fifteenth studio album, ''Amit 2''. The album earned her five Golden Melody Award nominations for Best Mandarin Album, Best Vocal recording Album, Best Mandarin Female Singer, Best Album Producer and

with the song ''Matriarchy''. In August 2015, she became one of the guest judges of the Chinese talent show ''

The Voice of China (season 4) The fourth and final season of the Chinese reality talent show '' The Voice of China'' premiered on 17 July 2015 on Zhejiang Television. Hu Qiaohua continued his role as host, while Na Ying and Wang Feng returned for their fourth and third conse ...

''. In October 2016, she appeared on the Chinese variety show ''Sound of My Dream''. In December 2016, she embarked on the upgraded version of her seventh concert tour, Utopia 2.0 Carnival World Tour, as the celebration of the 20th anniversary of her singing career, which visited Taiwan, mainland China, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. On January 15, 2017, 66,000 tickets for 6 concerts of Utopia 2.0 Carnival World Tour held in Kaohsiung Dome sold out in 8 minutes. The organizer announced the addition of 2 shows and 22,000 tickets, which sold out in 45 seconds, creating a new box office record and boosted the development of Kaohsiung's tourism industry. On the last day of her 20th anniversary of debut (December 12), she released her nineteenth studio album, ''Story Thief''. On December 30, the final show of the Utopia World Tour was completed in Shanghai, setting a record among Chinese female singers and Taiwanese singers of 104 concerts during one tour. On May 16, 2018, her album ''Story Thief'' earned six nominations and won Best Music Video for ''Left Behind'', which was directed by Lo Ging-zim.

Discography

* ''Sisters'' (1996) * ''Bad Boy'' (1997) * ''Holding Hands'' (1998) * ''Feeling (EP)'' (1999) * ''Can I Hug You, Lover?'' (1999) * ''Regardless'' (2000) * ''Journey'' (2001) * ''Truth'' (2001) * ''Fever'' (2002) * ''Brave'' (2003) * ''Maybe Tomorrow'' (2004) * ''I Want Happiness?'' (2006) * ''Star'' (2007) * ''Amit'' (2009) * ''R U Watching?'' (2011) * ''Faces of Paranoia'' (2014) * ''Amit 2'' (2015) * ''Story Thief'' (2017)

Collaborations

* Shouldn't Be (with

Jay Chou Jay Chou ( zh, t=周杰倫, s=周杰伦, poj=Chiu Kia̍t-lûn, p=Zhōu Jiélún, first=t, w=Chou Chieh-lun; born January 18, 1979) is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, record producer, rapper, actor, and television personality. Dubbed the " King ...

) from '' Jay Chou's Bedtime Stories'' (2016)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:A-Mei 1972 births Living people LGBT rights activists from Taiwan Mezzo-sopranos People from Taitung County Puyuma people Taiwanese Mandopop singers 20th-century Taiwanese women singers 21st-century Taiwanese women singers