Kimberley Chen Fang-yu (born 23 May 1994) is an Australian singer, actress and model based in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. In 2009, she landed her first hit with the love ballad "愛你" (Aini, "Love You"). In 2012, she became a professional singer in Taiwan, singing in both English and

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

. Chen briefly worked with the B.ANGEL production house in 2014 before signing with Hong Kong-based company Sharp Music, eventually appearing in the Chinese version of

Produce 101 ''Produce 101'' is a reality television talent competition franchise created by South Korean entertainment conglomerate CJ E&M, based around the formation of a K-pop girl group or boy group. The format is noted for having no panel of judges, emp ...

in 2018. She was appointed A+, the highest ranking in the show, and received over 4.3 billion views for each of her performances. In 2019, Chen left Sharp Music due to Sharp Music's breach of contract. She dropped all charges in hope for peace but they continued to defame her using the media. She then filed for defamation and they were forced to stop harassing her. According to sources they unrightfully took a lot of her money. In 2020, she signed to Chynahouse, belonging to Kkbox, the first streaming platform and largest digital conglomerate in

. Chen has been banned in Mainland China as a result of the song and music video "

Fragile Fragile or The Fragile may refer to: Film and television * ''Fragile'' (film), a 2005 film by Jaume Balagueró * "Fragile" (''Smallville''), a television episode Literature * ''Fragile'' (manga), a 2016 Japanese series by Bin Kusamizu and Sab ...

" a collaboration with Malaysian-Chinese hip hop artist

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which went viral in October 2021.

Early and personal life

Chen grew up in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

as the daughter of

Malaysian Malaysian may refer to: * Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia * Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia * Malaysian people, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regard ...

migrants. She attended

Tintern Grammar , motto_translation = By deeds not words , established = 1877 , type = Independent, co-educational , denomination = Anglican , slogan = , principal = Brad ...

and the

Victorian College of the Arts The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the ...

. Chen began her singing career at the age of four, first coached by her father. She performed regularly at charity concerts and clubs. Later, she was trained by Vladimir Vasilev, the conductor and

musical director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the ...

of the Russian

Bolshoi Ballet The Bolshoi Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company based at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi is among the world's oldest ballet companies. In the early 20th century, it came to internatio ...

for over 5 years. She learnt Ballet, Pointe, Tap, Jazz, Contemporary, HipHop, Locking, Popping, acrobatics and acting. She was offered 3 scholarships by the age of 10 but had to turn them down due to her other work. She was the only child model on

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

's ''

The Price Is Right ''The Price Is Right'' is a television game show franchise created by Bob Stewart, originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman; currently it is produced and owned by Fremantle. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also inc ...

''. In 2005 and 2006, she appeared as Young Nala in the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

production of Disney's ''The Lion King'' in

and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. From a young age, Chen was active on media and appeared in a

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

commercial that aired throughout Asia. During the

East Timor Crisis The 2006 East Timorese crisis began as a conflict between elements of the military of East Timor over discrimination within the military and expanded to a coup attempt and general violence throughout the country, centred in the capital Dili. Th ...

, she donated to Caritas Australia to directly aid East Timor. At the age of 8, she sang and danced a rendition of

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...

's song,

Let's Get Loud "Let's Get Loud" is a song recorded by American singer Jennifer Lopez for her debut studio album '' On the 6'' (1999). Originally written by the song's co-writer Gloria Estefan for herself, she felt as if the song was too similar to her previ ...

, with back-up dancers on the Royal Children's Hospital's ''2003 Good Friday Appeal'' fundraiser on the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

. Discovered by

Grundy Television Reg Grundy Organisation (founded as Reg Grundy Enterprises, later known as both Reg Grundy Productions and Grundy Television and known informally as Grundy's) was an Australian-based multinational mass media company, primarily involved in tele ...

executive director Michael Whyte, Chen was offered an ongoing role as the featured child model on ''

'' for its 2003 revival. She performed in over 400 episodes on the

over 2 years. Later in 2005, Chen was selected by

JYP Entertainment JYP Entertainment Corporation () is a South Korean multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate founded in 1997 by J. Y. Park. It is one of the largest entertainment companies in South Korea, and operates as a record label, tale ...

in New York City as a trainee to debut in America. Yolanda Wyns trained her in singing, dancing, and acting. She left

in 2009 when the company decided to close down their U.S operations. She was offered to become a trainee in South Korea instead but since her parents didn't have any plans to relocate to South Korea she turned down the offer. Chen recorded with

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

-award winners

Gordon Chambers Gordon Anthony Chambers (c. 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and record producer who has written songs for more than 75 recording artists including Angie Stone, Yolanda Adams, The Isley Brothers, Brandy, Trey Songz, Chaka Khan, Patti LaBel ...

and Barry Eastmond. She was also trained by

Jermaine Browne Jermaine ( ) is a masculine given name of Latin origin, derived from the French given name , which is in turn derived from the Latin given name , meaning " brother". The masculine given name Jermaine was popularized in the 1970s by Jermaine Jac ...

and

Jazzy J Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

In March 2007, Chen was selected to sing the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...

at the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

NAB Cup In the Australian Football League (AFL), previously the Victorian Football League (VFL), the pre-season competition, known during its history by a variety of sponsored names and most recently as the NAB Cup, was an annual Australian rules foot ...

Grand Final. Chen's whole family relocated to Taiwan in 2009 to pursue her professional singing career. When arriving, she had little command of

. She studied the language intensively, which was key to her ability to succeed in the Asian music market. In March 2010, she was invited to compete in the Taiwanese televised singing competition ''

One Million Star ''One Million Star'' () is a television singing competition in Taiwan broadcast on China Television (CTV). It debuted on 5 January 2007, filling the 10pm to midnight time slot on Friday evenings. The show is hosted by Tao Ching-Ying (陶晶瑩) a ...

''. She was then asked to be the guest singer for

Kelly Clarkson Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the first season of ''American Idol'' in 2002, which earned her a record deal with RCA. Her debu ...

All I Ever Wanted World Tour The All I Ever Wanted Tour was the fifth headlining concert tour by American pop rock recoding artist Kelly Clarkson in support of her fourth studio album, '' All I Ever Wanted'' (2009). It began on October 2, 2009, in Uncasville, Connecticut and ...

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 n ...

. Chen has released five studio albums and is currently signed to Chynahouse. In 2022, she

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

that she is

pansexual , meaning "all" , definition = Sexual or romantic attraction to people regardless of gender , classification = Sexual identity , parent = Bisexuality , synonyms = , associated_terms = Polysexual, queer, heterofl ...

Music career

2012: Debut with ''Kimberley''

After nearly 3 years of preparation, Chen's debut album was released on 27 April 2012, featuring 6 Mandarin songs and 5 English songs. Two of her songs were featured on the Taiwanese series '' Fondant Garden'' starring Park Jung-min. Her debut single "愛你 (Love You)" has been a success on YouTube, with over 106 million views and generally positive comments. Chen's second single, "Never Change," co-written with Australian artist Don Bianco, was the first for which she contributed music and lyrics. Chen has released music videos of her two singles: ''愛你'' (Love You), also starring JPM, and "廖允傑" (LilJay). They have been a success on YouTube, gaining over 15 million views. In Taiwan, she has come first in KKBOX charts with her debut album ezPeer, 台灣大哥大, 中華電信 and 遠傳電信, topping

ringtone A ringtone, ring tone or ring is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming call. Originally referring to and made by the electromechanical striking of bells, the term now refers to any sound on any device alerting of a new incoming ...

download charts.

2013: ''Kimbonomics''

Sony Music announced on 16 December 2013, that Chen would be releasing her second studio album, ''Kimbonomics''. The album was released on 25 December 2013 and contained 10 tracks. It placed 4th on the weekly music charts of KKBOX in Taiwan on 25 January 2014.

2017–2018: ''#Tag Me'' and Produce 101 China

In late 2017, Chen released her third studio album, #Tag Me. In 2018 she was one of the participants in

and finished No. 26.

Discography

* Kimberley (2012) * Kimbonomics (2013) * #Tag Me (2017) * Princess Tendencies (2020) * Up on the Roof (2022)

Filmography

Television

Music video appearances

* 2012 – "Internet", from ''Kimberley'' with JPM * 2021 – "玻璃心 Fragile", from ''鬼才做音樂 Ghosician'' with

黃明志

Awards and nominations

2012 Metro Radio Mandarin Hits Music Awards Presentation

Global Chinese Pop chart

2012 Metro Hit Awards

2012 Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation

2012 Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award Concert

Canadian Chinese Music Pop chart

KKBOX Music Awards

Global Chinese Golden Chart Awards

2013 HITO Music Awards

Neway Karaoke Songs chart

2015 Music King Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Kimberley 1994 births Living people Australian child actresses Australian women singers Australian people of Malaysian descent Victorian College of the Arts alumni Australian people of Chinese descent Australian musical theatre actresses Australian expatriates in Taiwan Actresses from Melbourne Singers from Melbourne One Million Star contestants Produce 101 (Chinese TV series) contestants Australian actresses of Asian descent