Sharon Kwan (, born October 12, 1995 in New York City, New York) is a Taiwanese American

Mandopop Mandopop or Mandapop refers to Mandarin popular music. The genre has its origin in the jazz-influenced popular music of 1930s Shanghai known as Shidaiqu; with later influences coming from Japanese enka, Hong Kong's Cantopop, Taiwan's Hokkie ...

singer. In June 2011, Sharon participated in the first season of Taiwan's China Television (CTV)'s (中視) star search show, ''

Chinese Million Star 1 The first season of ''Chinese Million Star'', began on July 3, 2011, is a Taiwanese televised singing competition, the last episode aired on January 8, 2012, with a special episode airing on January 15, 2012. The first season consist of 28 episod ...

'' (華人星光大道), which was the Taiwanese equivalence of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' and won the overall champion on January 8, 2012. She released her first album on August 24, 2012, titled '' Home Girl'', and became the first female student of Taiwanese Golden Melody Award-winning singer-songwriter

David Tao David Tao (), born Tao Xuzhong () (born 11 July 1969), is a Taiwanese Golden Melody Award-winning singer-songwriter. He is well known for creating a crossover genre of R&B and hard rock tunes which has now become his signature style and for hav ...

. In 2015 Sharon took part in the fourth season of the Chinese talent show ''

The Voice of China ''The Voice of China'' () is a Chinese reality television singing competition broadcast on Zhejiang Television. Based on the original ''The Voice of Holland'', the concept of the series is to find new singing talent (solo or duets) contested by as ...

''. She ended up being placed in the top four in team

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 ...

Music Journey

Early Development

Sharon was born in Los Angeles, California to parents of

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...

origin, and currently stays 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 ...

. Her interest in pursuing Chinese culture and music led her to move to China in 2002 to study, and attended elementary school in the

Shanghai Conservatory of Music The Shanghai Conservatory of Music () was founded on November 27, 1927, as the first music institution of higher education in China. Its teachers and students have won awards at home and abroad, thus earning the conservatory the name "the crad ...

. She specialized in

Erhu The ''erhu'' (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a ''Southern Fiddle'', and is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two- ...

because of her love for the

Twelve Girls Band 12 Girls Band (, sometimes abbreviated to 女樂 or 女乐) are an all female Chinese musical group that initially consisted of twelve members before the addition of a thirteenth. Twelve Girls Band use traditional Chinese instruments to play both ...

who played traditional Chinese instruments. She moved back to America in 2008. At the age of 14, she became interested in

and

Kpop K-pop (), short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, experimental, rock, jazz, gos ...

, and began to record covers of Mandarin and Korean songs. As her videos began to attract many views, she began to take vocal lessons with Singer-Songwriter/Producer C.J. Emmons in Los Angeles, and in her two years of training she performed in restaurants and began to participate in major reality-singing competitions. In April 2010 she took part in the fifth season of Super Idol 5 and moved on to the top 25; In September 2010 she took part in the eighth season of ETTV Top Idol and was one of the final 10 contestants.

Rise to fame

On May 14, 2011, Sharon took part in the audition for Taiwanese reality-singing show ''

Chinese Million Star ''Chinese Million Star'' is a Taiwanese singing reality-competition based on the previous program, ''One Million Star''. The series was a Remake of ''One Million Star'' and adapting competition format based on the seven seasons. After seven sea ...

'' that was held in Los Angeles, and was invited to Taiwan to take part in the competition. She then moved to Taiwan in June 2011 with her mother and sister, and successfully passed many rounds of the competition. She was the youngest contestant of the top 6, but was able to continually make personal breakthroughs in her performances, and obtained high affirmations from influential singers and songwriters like

Liu Chia-chang Steven Liu Chia-chang (; born 13 April 1940 or 13 April 1943) is a former songwriter, singer, screenwriter, director and actor from the Republic of China (Taiwan). Background Discography Liu wrote songs such as " Ode to the Republic of China" ...

and

Lo Ta-yu Lo Ta-yu (; born 20 July 1954), also known as Luo Dayou and Law Tai-yau, is a Taiwanese singer and songwriter. During the 1980s, Lo became one of the most influential Mandopop singer-songwriters with his melodic lyrics and love songs, and his ...

. Her popularity rose quickly, and in a short time her competition videos attracted more than 10 million views on the web. Finally, her talents and charisma on stage made her the cream of the crop, and on January 8, 2012 won the overall champion of the first season of the competition. At the age of 16, she was the youngest champion of the Million Star competitions. One of the judges of the contest,

, a well-known figure in the Mandopop industry, saw her potential as a superstar, and immediately signed her under his company Great Entertainment. She officially became his first female student. In March and April 2012, Sharon returned to Los Angeles to take her exams, and received invitations from Jason Chen and Gerald Ko, who were famous singers on the internet. They performed covers of various famous hits, and the songs attracted more than 2 million views in half a year. Her vocal skills received widespread acclaim.

Debut and Career(2012– )

Sharon was signed to Gin Star Entertainment in 2012, and became an artiste under Gin Star Entertainment, Great Entertainment and Seed Music. Preparations for her debut album immediately began, and on August 24, 2012, just 7 months after her competition, she released her first album titled "Home Girl". "Home Girl" was produced personally by David Tao. He believed that electronic K-pop music or lyrical mandarin songs were not the most suitable for Sharon's age and style. Hence he searched for a special team of

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 ...

-winning producers and songwriters, and produced an album that created her own music style. In 2015, she auditioned in the 4th season of "

" with the Song 晴天, originally sung by Jay Chou. She passed the blind audition with a two chair turn and was on Team Jay. Sharon was selected in Team Jay's final four but was later eliminated by Team

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 th ...

's Gary Sun.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Concerts

Her first concert, 'Home Party" was held on November 2, 2012 at Riverside Live House in Taipei. Besides performing songs from her album, she also did covers of classic songs by

Teresa Teng Teng Li-Chun (; 29 January 1953 – 8 May 1995), commonly known as Teresa Teng, was a Taiwanese singer, actress, musician and philanthropist. Referred to by some as " Asia's eternal queen of pop," Teng became a cultural icon for her contributio ...

Faye Wong Faye Wong ( zh, 王菲; born Xia Lin on 8 August 1969) is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter. Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong. Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong in 1987 and her debut album '' Shirley Wong'' ( ...

and many more.

Live Performances

;2011 *December 31, 2011 Countdown concert held in Yes Plaza in Rowland Heights, CA. ;2012 *April 28, 2012 -DA Super Asia Music FestivalSharon participated in this festival held in E-DA World in Kaohsiung, together with other superstars from Taiwan, Japan and Korea. *November 11, 2012 xit Music FestivalHeld in

Luzhou Station The Taipei Metro Luzhou station is the terminal station on the Luzhou Line, located in Luzhou, New Taipei, Taiwan. Station overview This two-level, underground station is located at the intersection of Sanmin Road and Zhongzheng Road and opene ...

in Luzhou,

New Taipei New Taipei City is a special municipality located in northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 3,974,683 as of 2022, making it the most populous city of Taiwan, and also the second largest special municipality by area, b ...

Filmography

Short films

;2012 *June 2012 Samsung Galaxy SIII (preview) *July 2013 Samsung Galaxy SIII (series of 6 clips)

TV Drama

Awards

;2012 *December 2012 0th Chinese Music ChartNominated for Most Popular New Artiste, Best New Artiste awards. ;2013 *January 2013 op Star AwardsNominated for Taiwan and Hong Kong Most Popular New Artiste. *March 2013

013 HITO Music Awards Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number), the natural number following 12 and preceding 14 * One of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, 2013 Music * 13AD (band), an Indian classic and hard rock band Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ...

Nominated for Most Popular New Artiste.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwan, Sharon 1995 births Living people American women pop singers The Voice of China contestants 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers