Sharon Kwan (, born October 12, 1995) is a Chinese 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; later influences came from Japanese enka, Hong Kong's Cantopop, Taiwan's Hokkien pop ...

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

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

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

David Tao use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates ...

. 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 Chieh-lun ( zh, s=周杰伦, t=周杰倫, first=t, p=Zhōu Jiélún; born 18 January 1979) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, actor, director, and businessman. Regarded as one of the most influential artists in the Chinese-speaking worl ...

Biography

Early years

Sharon was born in Los Angeles, California to parents of

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

origin, and currently stays in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. 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 (SHCMusic) is a municipal public college in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the City of Shanghai and is part of the Double First-Class Construction. The college was founded on November 27, 1927. The Sh ...

. She specialized in

Erhu The (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, that is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two-stringed fiddle''. It is used as a solo instrument as ...

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 developed an interest in

and

Kpop K-pop (; an abbreviation of "Korean popular music") is a form of popular music originating in South Korea. It emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians taking influence from Western Electronic dance music, danc ...

and started recording covers of Mandarin and Korean songs. As her videos gained popularity and garnered numerous views, she decided to pursue vocal lessons with Singer-Songwriter/Producer C.J. Emmons in Los Angeles. Over the course of two years of training, she performed at various restaurants and took part in prominent reality-singing competitions. In April 2010, she participated in the fifth season of Super Idol 5 and advanced to the top 25. Later, in September 2010, she joined the eighth season of ETTV Top Idol and emerged as 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'' 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 (; 13 April 1940 or 13 April 1943 – 2 December 2024) was a Taiwanese songwriter, singer, screenwriter, director, and actor. Personal life Liu was born in Harbin, Manchukuo. He and his mother left China via Hong Kong to ...

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–present)

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 in ...

-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. Rising to fame in the late 1980s, Na signed with Linfair Records in 1993, becoming one of the first singers from mainland China to join a Taiwanese label and subsequently gaining popularity ac ...

'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 ( zh, t=鄧麗君, s=, p=Dèng Lìjūn; 29 January 1953 – 8 May 1995), commonly known as Teresa Teng, was a Taiwanese singer, television personality, musician, and philanthropist. Referred to by some as the "Honorific nicknames i ...

Faye Wong Faye Wong ( zh, 王菲; pinyin: ''Wáng Fēi''; born 8 August 1969) is a Chinese singer-songwriter and actress. Early in her career, she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong (). Born in Beijing, she moved to British Hong Kong at the age o ...

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 Kaohsiung, officially Kaohsiung City, is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsiung City has a population of approximately 2.73 million p ...

, together with other superstars from Taiwan, Japan and Korea. *November 11, 2012 xit Music FestivalHeld in Luzhou Station in

Luzhou Luzhou ( zh, s=泸州, p=Lúzhōu; Sichuanese Pinyin: Nu2zou1; Minjiang dialect, Luzhou dialect: ) is a prefecture-level city located in the southeast of Sichuan Province, China. It is also known as the "Liquor City" (). It was named Jiangyang () ...

New Taipei New Taipei City is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality located in regions of Taiwan, northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 4,004,367 as of January 2023, making it the most populous city in Taiwan, a ...

, Taiwan. *November 24, 2012, Christmas Event held in Gongguan, Taipei. *December 30, 2012, Year end concert held in

Keelung Keelung ( ; zh, p=Jīlóng, c=基隆, poj=Ke-lâng), Chilung or Jilong ( ; ), officially known as Keelung City, is a major port city in northeastern Taiwan. The city is part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area with neighboring New Ta ...

. *December 31, 2012

Hsinchu County Hsinchu is a County (Taiwan), county in Regions of Taiwan, north-western Taiwan. The population of the county is mainly Hakka people, Hakka; with a Taiwanese aboriginal minority in the southeastern part of the county. Zhubei is the county seat ...

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 AwardsNominated 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