Vanessa Mary Fernandez (born 17 October 1982) is a singer and radio presenter from Singapore. She released several albums with the now defunct hip hop groups, Urban Xchange and Parking Lot Pimp and is now more popularly known by her moniker, Vandetta, (sometimes Miss Vandetta) on Mediacorp Radio’s 987fm.

Music career

Fernandez started singing in the church choir at the age of 12 and at 16, while studying at CHIJ St. Joseph’s Convent, scored a leading role in her secondary school musical directed by Wendy Ng, then the Artistic Director of the

Singapore Repertory Theatre Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) is a non-profit professional theatre company founded in 1993. It is located at the KC Arts Centre – Home of SRT at 20 Merbau Road, Singapore. The current artistic director is Gaurav Kripalani while its manag ...

Young Company. Ng asked her to join the established theatre group and she went on to perform in several musicals including Re:Mix, penned by

Singapore Idol ''Singapore Idol'' is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by MediaCorp Studios and FremantleMedia Operations BV. It began airing on MediaCorp Channel 5 on 9 August 2004, as an addition to the Idol franc ...

judge and music veteran,

Dick Lee Richard Lee Peng Boon (born 24 August 1956) is a Singaporean singer-songwriter, playwright and film director. Early life Lee was born to a Peranakan father, Lee Kip Lee, (who wrote for ''The Straits Times'') and his wife , Elizabeth Tan. He was th ...

, as well as 24 Hours, penned by Haresh Sharma for

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in 1998. In 2000, Fernandez was asked by rapper and producer, Terry Lee, to join a group that later became known as Urban Xchange. Lee had initiated the group in order to audition for a

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

commercial. The group also comprised Munir Alsagoff, Trisno Ishak, Firdaus Bahri, Michaela Therese, Humaa and Kimberly Olsen. Urban Xchange fronted Coca-Cola’s “Life Tastes Good” campaign and released two albums after being signed to Universal Music Singapore/Malaysia. Following the high profile campaign the group received limited success in the region, contributing “When I Grow Up I Wanna Be Like Jackie Chan” to the Asian edition of the

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soundtrack, featured on a remix of Brian McKnight’s “When You Wanna Come” on the Asian repack of Superhero, and performing alongside American pop singer,

Stacie Orrico Stacie Joy Orrico (born March 3, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter and occasional actress. After signing to ForeFront Records, Orrico recorded her first album, '' Genuine'' (2000), which sold 13,000 units in its first week of release. Af ...

as well as Malaysian rap group,

Too Phat Too Phat was a Malaysian hip-hop duo, composed of rappers Joe Flizzow (born Johan Ishak in Kuala Lumpur; 16 October 1979) and Malique (born Malique Ibrahim in Johor Bahru; 21 August 1977). Career In the late 1990s Joe Flizzow, Malique and K ...

, at the 2003 MTV Asia Music Awards. In 2004, Urban Xchange regrouped as Parking Lot Pimp and signed with EMI Music Southeast Asia who released their album, Welcome To Our Frequency. After a year, Fernandez, along with Munir Alsagoff and Trisno Ishak, left Parking Lot Pimp. At the end of 2010, Fernandez became part of audio-visual collective, Syndicate, performing with veteran hip-hop producer/DJ, Kiat, at the opening day of the infamous

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Worldwide Festival 2011 in Sete, France. In September that same year, she performed with veteran producer Jason Tan at the Singapore leg of the Worldwide Festival. The duo, known as Octover, released their album on the Syndicate imprint in January 2013. In 2014, Fernandez released the album ''Use Me'' on the Groove Note record label that has also released albums of another Singapore singer,

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. Recorded in Los Angeles at the famous Ocean Way recording studio, ''Use Me'' consists of covers of songs by

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and

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, among others. Fernandez also performed at the Singapore leg of the

St Jerome's Laneway Festival The St. Jerome's Laneway Festival, commonly referred to as Laneway, began in Caledonian Lane, Melbourne, Australia, in 2005. Beginning as predominantly an indie music event, the festival grew in popularity and expanded to five Australian citie ...

, alongside James Blake, Syndicate's Gema and The Observatory. In 2015, Fernandez plans to release a new EP under her Vandetta moniker.

Radio career

In 2005, Fernandez completed her diploma in Mass Communication and was scouted b
Mediacorp Radio’s 987fm
to become a producer/presenter. Over 4 years, Fernandez hosted several shows including 987Stripped, and co-hosted the morning drive time show with former 987fm deejays, Daniel Ong, Mister Young and later, Divian Nair. In 2010, she lef
Mediacorp Radio’s 987fm
to return to pursuing music full-time. In 2010, Fernandez joined online radio statio
sonar.sg
In August 2013, Fernandez returned to radio as Assistant Programme Director of Lush 99.5FM till it ceased operations on 1 September 2017. According to an official statement from

Mediacorp Mediacorp Pte. Ltd., doing business as Mediacorp and stylised as mediacorp, is a media conglomerate in Singapore. Owned by Temasek Holdings—the holding company of the Government of Singapore—it owns television, radio, and digital media prope ...

she later joined another English radio station named 938Now but left again.

Discography

Albums

Solo

* ''Use Me'' (Groove Note, 2014) * ''When The Levee Breaks'' (Groove Note, 2016) * ''I Want You'' (Groove Note, 2019)

with Parking Lot Pimp

* ''Welcome To Our Frequency'' (EMI Music, 2005)

with Urban Xchange

* ''Urban Xchange'' (Universal Music, 2002) * ''How Did We Get Here?'' (Universal Music, 2001)

EPs

Solo

* ''Vandetta'' (Syndicate, 2013)

with Octover

* ''Octover'' (Syndicate, 2013)

with CCCrush

* ''Feel the Groove'' (ChynaHouse Recordings, 2003)

Notes

External links

Vanessa Fernandez Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez, Vanessa 1982 births Living people Singaporean singer-songwriters Singaporean women singer-songwriters Singaporean people of Chinese descent Singaporean people of Indian descent