Nick Chou (; born August 2, 1988) is a Taiwanese singer, rapper and actor."Nick Chou Official Facebook Account" ''Facebook''.Retrieved July 30, 2013.
In 2010, Chou released his self-titled debut album. He then released his second album, ''
S.N.G
''S.N.G'' is Taiwanese singer Nick Chou's second album released on May 30, 2012 by Gold Typhoon.Nick Chou. S.N.G. 2012. CD. as well as appeared in his first drama series, '' I Love You So Much'', as one of the male leads.''I Love You So Much''. CTS. Taiwan, 2012. Television.
Life and career
Early life
Chou's family consists of his parents and himself. His mother, whose name is Billie (比莉), starred in several dramas including
They Kiss Again
''They Kiss Again'' () is a 2007 Taiwanese television series starring Joe Cheng, Ariel Lin, Jiro Wang and Danson Tang. It is the sequel to '' It Started with a Kiss'' which is based on the Japanese manga series ''Itazura na Kiss'' (イタズラ ...
,
Love Buffet
''Love Buffet'' () is a 2010 Taiwanese television series based on the shōjo manga , written by Nagamu Nanaji. It stars Reen Yu, Aaron Yan and Calvin Chen. The two male leads were members of boy band Fahrenheit, which performed the opening and ...
, and The Rose, while his father, Chou Yuhou, worked with
Vivian Hsu
Vivian Hsu ( Atayal: ; ; born March 19, 1975) is a Taiwanese singer and actress.
Hsu rose to prominence in Japan, where she made her first appearance in 1995 and has become a highly recognized celebrity with her countless appearances in media dur ...
in ''Angel Heart''.
Chou was born in
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 ...
,
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 ...
on August 2, 1988. At the age of fifteen, he went to the United States to pursue his studies."Nick Chou Biography" ''JPopAsia''.Retrieved July 30, 2013. He speaks English,
Taiwanese Hokkien
Taiwanese Hokkien () (; Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-uân-uē''), also known as Taigi/Taigu (; Pe̍h-ōe-jī/Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-gí / Tâi-gú''), Taiwanese, Taiwanese Minnan, Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively by about 70% ...
, and
Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...
fluently.
Pre-debut
When he was eight years old, Chou stood on the same stage with
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
on one of his concert tours held in 1996. At the age of fourteen, he sang the rap part and was featured on his mother's song, 「誰是白癡」 (Who is an idiot)."周湯豪與比莉姐合唱-誰是白癡" ''YouTube''.Retrieved July 30, 2013. At fifteen, he went to study in America and was spotted by an
SM Entertainment
SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies where it was established in 1995 by record executive and record producer Lee Soo-man. The company ha ...
representative. After hearing the news, his mother flew to America to accompany him in meeting with the company. At that time, he was almost recruited as one of the members to form
Super Junior
Super Junior (; stylized in all caps), also known as SJ or SuJu, is a South Korean boy band formed by Lee Soo-man, the founder of SM Entertainment in 2005. They are also dubbed by the media as the "King of Hallyu Wave" due to their prominent ...
. However, since the contract terms included a 10-year-long deal, both he and his mother decided to decline the proposal."[News] Nick Chou: A Supposed To Be Super Junior Member?" ''Dkpopnews''.Retrieved July 30, 2013. Later on, when asked if he had regretted passing up the opportunity, he said:
2008–2010: Debut
In 2009, Chou was featured in
Jolin Tsai
Jolin Tsai (; ; born September 15, 1980) is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, and actress. Referred to as the " Queen of C-Pop", she is considered one of the most influential figures in Chinese popular culture. She is known for her continual rein ...
's music video, "Real Man", which gained him attention from the media."蔡依林 大丈夫 華納official HQ官方版MV" ''YouTube''.Retrieved July 30, 2013. To prove his popularity,
Warner Music
Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...
set a condition that for him to release an album, he should attract at least 3000 fans to attend his debut concert. He won the chance to release an album after attracting 3085 fans to his concert held on July 10, 2010.
He finally released his debut album, ''Nick Chou'' (周湯豪), on July 16, 2010, under
Warner Music Taiwan
Warner Music Group's labels include the following.
Flagship labels
*Atlantic Records
*Elektra Records
*Parlophone Records
*Warner Records
Atlantic Records Group
* 1st & 15th Entertainment
* All Money In
* Artist Partners Group
* Asylum Reco ...
. The songs include "Chinese Heart (附心漢)", "Mad Love (愛瘋)", "Wake Up", and "Scolded Me Awake (罵醒我)". Chou also participated in the making of the album. In particular, he penned "Chinese Heart (附心漢)", and composed and arranged the songs "Wake Up", "Love Left (情剩)", and "翻頁作廢".Nick Chou. 周湯豪. 2010. CD.
2011–present: ''S.N.G'' and ''I Love You So Much'' series
In 2012, Chou starred in CTS' drama series '' I Love You So Much'' as one of the main leads, Chang Shao Feng. The drama, which premiered on January 29, included
Lan Cheng Long
Lan Cheng-lung (, born March 1, 1979) is a Taiwanese actor and film director. He was born in Yilan, Taiwan.
Career
Lan made his acting debut in 2001 and gained attention for one of his first roles, a small cameo as Ya-men, Dao Ming Si's olde ...
, Lee Chia-Ying, and Qiu Mao Di. Aside from acting in the drama, he also sang the ending song of the series entitled "Yi Wan Fen Zhi Yi De Ji Lu (億萬分之一的機率)".
Almost two years after the release of his debut album, Chou released his second album, ''
S.N.G
''S.N.G'' is Taiwanese singer Nick Chou's second album released on May 30, 2012 by Gold Typhoon.Gold Typhoon
Gold Typhoon Group is a Chinese entertainment company. Gold Label was founded in 2004 in Hong Kong, launched with the support of EMI, and acquired EMI Music Taiwan / EMI Music China (Typhoon Records) in 2008, reforming to Gold Typhoon. On 1 Jan ...
. Once again, Chou who planned to be a singer-songwriter, participated in the making of the album."Nick Chou prepares to release new album and avoids talking about Elva Hsiao" ''Cpopaccess''.Retrieved July 30, 2013. He personally took on the composing, arranging and producing works of the entire album, which he spent a year writing. ''YesAsia''.Retrieved July 30, 2013. His record company organized a concert for him at Legacy venue on June 16 since the album had already sold 15000 copies in pre-order sales even before its release. ''CPopaccess''.Retrieved July 30, 2013. In addition, Chou held a mini-concert the night before the album release to showcase some of his new songs. His title song, "S.N.G", which stands for "Super Nice Girl", was an R&B song about the search for a girlfriend. Other songs included "This is Your Song", a soothing song demonstrating Chou's vocal style, the David Ke-penned "Internal Injury" and Maji Maji which is dedicated to Chou's mother.