Hsu Ru-yun (born Hsu Hung-hsiu on September 20, 1974), better known as Valen Hsu, is a Taiwanese pop singer-songwriter, author and occasional actress. Since the mid-1990s Hsu has been one of the most popular female singers in the

Mandopop Mandopop or Mandapop refers to Standard Chinese, 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, Ta ...

scene, and is best known for her love ballads.

Biography

A classically trained pianist, she started playing the piano when she was 4. While she was attending high school in 1993, she was discovered while performing in a restaurant 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 ...

, where many known pop artists began their careers. She was offered a contract with Taiwan's What's Music Record label and began work on her first commercial album, all before the age of 19.

Career

Valen Hsu is known for her vocals, which are wispy yet strong and crystal-clear. Her singing voice and technique have been compared to Hong Kong's

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'' ( ...

. In 1998, the Japanese magazine publication ''Asia Pop'' voted her as the best female pop vocalist in Asia. She has been known to deliver CD-quality live performances. Occasionally, she will play the piano while singing live at her concerts.

Career peak (1995–2000)

Valen Hsu has recorded 14 studio albums over the span of eight years, as well as four "Best Of" compilations. Her first album, ''Tau Hao'', was completed in 1994 and received critical acclaim from the Asian music industry. However, record sales did not exceed expectations, only selling a little over 50,000 copies. Her next studio album was what significantly changed her career. ''Lei Hai'', or '' Tear Sea'' as translated, sold more than 300,000 copies in Taiwan. And her third album, ''If the Cloud Knows'', sold over 2.2 million copies alone in Taiwan. Her fourth album, ''Ri Guang Ji Chang'' (''Sunlight Airport'') was completed in 1998 and sold 800,000 copies in Taiwan, but over 3 million copies in Asia, permanently placing her in the company of Asian divas such as

and

Sandy Lam Sandy Lam (; born 26 April 1966), is a Hong Kong singer, actress and album producer. She rose to fame in the 1980s as a Cantopop diva, before expanding her fan base significantly in Asia, releasing more than 30 stylistically diverse albums in C ...

and becoming an integral part of a new Mando-Pop era including

Coco Lee Coco Lee (; born Ferren Lee, 17 January 1975) is a Hong Kong-American singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer, and actress. Lee's career began in Hong Kong and then expanded to Taiwan. Her single, "Do You Want My Love" also entered the US m ...

and

A-Mei 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), ...

. In 1999, after the sale of What's Music to Universal Records (Taiwan), she recorded a duet with

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; (born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican indie label Fonovisa and became the bestselling Spanish-language act of the decade. By the ...

entitled ''You’re My No. 1'', released on Enrique's Asian version of his ''

Enrique Enrique () is the Spanish language, Spanish variant of the given name Heinrich (given name), Heinrich of Germanic origin. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (given name), Henry (English), Enric (Catalan), Enrico (Italian), Henrik (Swedish, D ...

'' album.

Career stabilise (2001–2004)

She ended her contract with What's Music in 2001 and signed on with EMI Taiwan. The first album with her new record label was titled ''I Just Want to Tell You'', and it was produced by Yosinori Kameda, a famous Japanese music producer. In 2001, she decided to broaden her professional career by acting in her first TV drama with F4, Taiwan's boy-band equivalent to

'N Sync NSYNC (, ; also stylized as *NSYNC or 'N Sync) was an American boy band formed by Chris Kirkpatrick in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich. Their self-titled debut album was successfully released to European ...

. She further broadened her acting career in 2003 by performing on stage with Zuni Icosahedron, an independent cultural collective concentrating on alternative theater and multi-media performances. In 2004, she decided to take a hiatus from the music industry to pursue other interests, including learning English in New York City.

Back from hiatus (2007–2010)

Her 13th studio album entitled ''66° Pohjoista Leveyttä'' was released on December 21, 2007. She traveled to Finland's Arctic Circle to film her music videos for this new album. Filming took place mainly in two cities:

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

and

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; sme, Roavvenjárga ; smn, Ruávinjargâ; sms, Ruäʹvnjargg) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part Per� ...

. The first single is called "Fireworks". She recorded a duet with

Amguulan Amguulan ( 阿穆隆) (born August 30, 1984), commonly known as Amulong or Amu, is a Chinese singer and songwriter of Mongolian descent. He competed in the 2007 edition of the singing competition show '' Super Boy'' on Hunan Television. Filmo ...

, a very talented singer from

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

, "Man and Woman" became one of the most popular song throughout 2008. After a 19 months hiatus, Valen released her latest album ''My Love Journey 1 km''. She invited her friend Josh to co-produced this album with her. Her first single is called 'Let's go when love arrives', 2nd song is a soft rock 'With You'.

Valen voice production, world tour (2010–present)

In 2009, Valen ended her contract with Seed Music and decided to travel to Cuba. After returning from Cuba, she released a series of travelogues and photography books. In 2010, Valen decide to re-ignite her music career by setting up her own music studio, Valen Voice Production. Her new album ''When The Night Falls... Do You Hear (Me)?'' was released on November 10, 2011. In October 2011, Valen announced the start of her concert in Shanghai Grand Stage, which will span from Taiwan, other cities in mainland China and South-east Asia. In August 2015, Valen entered The Chinese version of

King of Mask Singer ''The King of Mask Singer'' () is a South Korean singing competition program presented by Kim Sung-joo, with introductions by voice actor . It airs on MBC on Sunday, starting from April 5, 2015 as a part of MBC's '' Sunday Night'' programming ...

( 蒙面歌王), using the mask of Iron Fan Ultraman to conceal her identity. She was crowned the Mask King of the fourth episode.

Other works

Acting

In 2006, she filmed a full-length movie with Hong Kong director Patrick Tam entitled ''Fu Zi'', or ''

After This Our Exile ''After This Our Exile'' (父子, literally ''Father-Son'') is a 2006 Hong Kong drama film directed by Patrick Tam. A critical hit, the film won both the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Film and the Golden Horse Award for Best Feature Film award ...

'' as translated. She stars alongside Hong Kong actors

Aaron Kwok Aaron Kwok Fu-shing (born 26 October 1965) is a Hong Kong singer, dancer and actor. Active since the 1980s, Kwok is known as one of the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Hong Kong pop music. Dubbed the "God of Dance", Kwok's onstage dancing is influenc ...

and

Charlie Yeung Charlie Yeung Choi-Nei (born 23 May 1974), is a Hong Kong actress. She was first noticed after appearing in a commercial with Aaron Kwok. Since then she has participated in the music videos of artists such as Hacken Lee, Jacky Cheung and made a nu ...

. The film was released in 2006 and subsequently won several Golden Horse Awards (Asia's equivalent to the Academy Awards) in the same year, including Best Picture and Best Actor.

Writing

In addition to composing and writing some of her songs, she has also published two books, one of them a compilation of short poems and the other a beauty book entitled ''Beauty Sense'', which were published in 2003 and 2006, respectively. In 2010, she published a travelogue, ''Vis-à-Vis'', which comprises short poems and photos shot in Cuba. A digital version on iPad was released in 2011.

Charity work

In 1999, she traveled to

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

, Africa with the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

and other Asian celebrities to perform charity work, filming a commercial and raising funds for donation through sales of an E.P. entitled ''Wo Niu'' (which means "''Snail''"), written by

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 ...

, one of Asia's male mega pop stars.

Hope Education Foundation

In 2006, Valen and her friends,

Gigi Leung Gigi Leung Wing-kei (Chinese: 梁詠琪, born 25 March 1976) is a Hong Kong singer and actress. Early life She was born at Tsan Yuk Hospital in Sai Ying Pun on 25 March 1976 and was given the name Leung Pik-chi () for superstitious reasons; as a ...

and

Angelica Lee Lee Sinje (; born 23 January 1976) is a Malaysian film actress and pop singer. She started her career in singing and later moved on to acting in Taiwan and Hong Kong and Malaysia. Lee starred in '' The Eye'', the hit Asian horror film by the ...

formed "Hope Education Foundation", which is a non-profit organization to help children in need.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

Instrumental

EP/Singles

Musical theatre performances

* 2003 – ''Good Wind Like Water'' (''好風如水'')(Zuni Icosahedron) * 2005 – ''Fragments d’un Discours Amoureux'' (''戀人絮語'') (Yi Hua Lin Productions) * 2010 – ''Turn Left, Turn Right'' (''幾米 / 向左走向右走'') (Based on the book ''A Chance of Sunshine'' by

Jimmy Liao Jimmy Liao (; pen name: , ; born 15 November 1958) is a Taiwanese illustrator as well as a picture book writer. His Chinese pen name, 幾米, is phonetically derived from his English given name Jimmy. Biography After graduating from Chinese Cultu ...

)

Film and television

* 2002 – ''Come to My Place'' (''來我家吧'') – Director : Cheng Ze Niou (Cast : Valen Hsu, F4) * 2005 –

(''父子'') – Director : Patrick Tam （Cast : Aaron Kwok, Charlie Yeung, Valen Hsu）

Books

* 2003 – ''The cost of happiness at this point in time'' (''此時快樂的代價''), A collection of short poems * 2006 – ''Beauty Sense'' (''五感美人''), A book on beauty and wellness tips * 2008 – ''Fragile'' (''小心輕放''), 2nd book of collection of short poems * 2009 – ''I Want to be Your Friend'' (''我想要和你做朋友''), A book for Hope Foundation * 2010 – ''Vis-à-Vis'' (''對照''),Collections of short poems and photos shot in Cuba * 2011 – ''Vis-à-Vis'' (''對照'') iPad version, Collections of short poems and photos shot in Cuba

Endorsements and charities

* 1996 – ''Esprit'' Clothing Spokesperson * 1998 – ''AB Call'' Pager Service * 1998 – ''ICRT'' Charity Concert * 1999 – ''Head & Shoulders'' Shampoo Commercial – Part 1 (Taiwan, Singapore & Hong Kong) (E.P.：All Your Heart） * 1999 – ''WHO'' Charity Run — Rwanda（E.P. : Gua Niou） * 1999 – ''Head & Shoulders'' Shampoo Commercial – Part 2 (Taiwan, Singapore & Hong Kong) (E.P. : I’m This Happy） * 1999 – ''Cable & Wireless'' (Hong Kong Telecom) * 2002 – ''Tai Ping'' Soda Crackers Commercial hina & Hong Kong* 2002 – ''O Smile'' Biscuits Commercial

aiwan Aiwan may refer to: * Eyvan, a city in Iran *Shalimar Gardens (Lahore) The Shalimar Gardens ( ur, , translit=Shālāmār Bāgh) are a Mughal garden complex located in Lahore, Pakistan. The gardens date from the period when the Mughal Empire was ...

* 2003 – ''Mei Bei Jia'' Shampoo Commercial

hina Hina may refer to: People and deities * Hina (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Hina (chiefess), a name given to several noble ladies who lived in ancient Hawaii * Hina (goddess), the name assigned to ...

* 2006 – ''Chantecaille'' Spokesperson * 2006 – ''Rice Beauty'' Products Commercial & Spokesperson

References

External links

* Valen's Official Website http://www.valenvoice.com/ * Valen's Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/xu-ru-yun-Valen-Hsu/239712411490 * Valen's Blog in Taiwan http://valenhsu.pixnet.net/blog * Valen's Blog in China http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/1244876825 * Valen's WeiBo in China http://t.sina.com.cn/xuruyun * Valen's Plurk http://www.plurk.com/ValenH * Taiwan Fans Club http://blog.pixnet.net/JustForValen * China Fans Club http://www.xuruyun.net/ * Korea Fans Club http://valenf.com.ne.kr/ * Hope Education Foundation https://web.archive.org/web/20090310044931/http://www.hope-ef.org/eng/support.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Hsu, Valen 1974 births Living people Musicians from Taipei Pop pianists Taiwanese stage actresses Taiwanese composers Taiwanese Mandopop singer-songwriters 21st-century Taiwanese actresses 20th-century Taiwanese women singers 21st-century Taiwanese women singers 21st-century pianists 20th-century women pianists 21st-century women pianists