Tanggal 2 agustus lalu Avenged Sevenfold mengadakan konser kedua di ranah Inggris Raya dalam rangka tur mereka ke UK. Konser kali ini diadakan di Sonisphere Festival, Hertfordshire, UK dan dihadiri puluhan ribu penggemar. Sangat luar biasa dan sangat gokil!!!
Gila - gilaan!!!!!
Avenged Sevenfold terbentuk pada tahun 1999 di Orange County, California. Album pertama mereka, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet direkam ketika mereka masih berumur 18 tahun. Album ini dirilis dengan label Good Life Recordings, tetapi setelah gitaris Synyster Gates masuk Avenged Sevenfold, album ini dirilis ulang dengan label Hopeless Records. Lagu "To End The Rapture" juga direkam ulang, kali ini ditambahkan dengan permainan gitar Synyster Gates.
Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (2001-2003)
Sounding the Seventh Trumpet merupakan album penuh pertama band metalcore Amerika, Avenged Sevenfold. Rilisan awal album ini adalah di tahun 2001 oleh Good Life Recordings, namun pada 19 Maret 2002 Hopeless Records merilisnya kembali dengan sedikit perbedaan pada kover album plus satu lagu bonus track yakni, "To End the Rapture (Heavy Metal Version)" yang juga diisi oleh pertama kalinya oleh gitaris baru mereka, Synyster Gates.
Daftar Lagu :
1. "To End the Rapture" – 1:24
2. "Turn the Other Way" – 5:37
3. "Darkness Surrounding" – 4:49
4. "The Art of Subconscious Illusion" – 3:46
5. "We Come Out at Night" – 4:45
6. "Lips of Deceit" – 4:09
7. "Warmness on the Soul" – 4:20
8. "An Epic of Time Wasted" – 4:19
9. "Breaking their Hold" – 1:12
10. "Forgotten Faces" – 3:27
11. "Thick and Thin" – 4:15
12. "Streets" – 3:06
13. "Shattered by Broken Dreams" – 7:04
City of Evil (2005-2007)
Tahun 2005, Amerika Serikat tengah jenuh dengan musik hip-hop dan pop yang merajalela, lalu Avenged Sevenfold merilis album mereka City of Evil tepatnya pada tanggal 8 Juni, 2005. Hits single Bat Country merupakan lagu metal/rock pertama yang merajai MTV TRL. Mereka mempopulerkan kembali solo gitar dengan duet gitaris Synyster Gates dan Zacky Vengeance yang benar-benar memanaskan area moshpit. Album tersebut mendapat sertifikat gold dan memenangkan predikat Best New Artist in a Video di MTV VMA 2006 untuk lagu Bat Country.
Daftar Lagu :
1. "Beast and the Harlot" – 5:41
2. "Burn It Down" – 4:59
3. "Blinded in Chains" – 6:35
4. "Bat Country" – 5:13
5. "Trashed and Scattered" – 5:53
6. "Seize the Day" – 5:33
7. "Sidewinder" – 7:02
8. "The Wicked End" – 7:11
9. "Strength of the World" – 9:15
10. "Betrayed" – 6:48
11. "M.I.A." – 8:46
Avenged Sevenfold (2007-2008)
Tahun 2007, mereka kembali masuk studio untuk merekam lagu terbaru mereka untuk studio album ke-5 mereka. Awal Agustus 2007, mereka menjalani tur Asia Pasifik mereka, dan sempat mampir di Indonesia dan memainkan lagu mereka pertama kali di depan publik. Lagu yang berjudul Almost Easy tersebut mendapat sambutan hangat dari penggemar di seluruh dunia. Ketika itu band punk Jogjakarta Endang Soekamti didaulat menjadi band pembuka.
Tahun 2008 ini, mereka berpartisipasi sebagai headliners di tour Taste of Chaos bersama dengan Bullet for My Valentine, Atreyu, Blessthefall dan Idiot Pilot. Ketika tour, mereka merekam sebuah DVD yang mengandung 6 lagu baru mereka.
Tanggal 22 Oktober 2008, Avenged Sevenfold akan kembali manggung di Indonesia masih dengan event organizer yang sama yakni Java Musikindo dan kali ini band heavy metal Jibril didaulat menjadi band pembuka.
1. "Unbound The Wild ride"
2. "Dear God"
3. "Afterlife"
4. "Scream"
5. "Lost"
6. "A Little Piece of Heaven"
7. "Gunslinger"
8. "Critical Acclaim"
9. "Almost Easy"
10. "Bromton Cocktail"
Live In The LBC & Diamonds in the Rough (2008-Saat Ini)
Album yang dirilis pada 16 September 2008 ini Berisi 102 Menit (DVD) Dan 52 Menit (CD)
Di album ini terdapat dua lgu lama yaitu afterlife dan almost easy. Namun kedua lagu tersebut tidak sama persis dengan lagu aslinya. Pada afterlife ditambahi permainan string yang lebih banyak sedangkan pada almost easy yang berbeda adalh mixing lagunya. Sehingga suara yang terdengar berbeda meskipun lagunya sama. Selain itu juga ada 3 lagu yaitu walk, flash of the blade dan 1 yg merupakan bonus song untuk DVD yang merupakan cover dari Pantera, Iron Maiden dan Black Sabbath
Pada July 16 (Issue 1219), Kerrang! (salah 1 majalah music dunia) mengeluarkan sebuah CD gratis berjudul Maiden Heaven: A Tribute to Iron Maiden untuk menghormati album dari salah 1 band Heavy Metal terbesar di dunia yaitu Iron Maiden. Komentar dari M. Shadow "Maiden are by far the best live band in the world and their music is timeless," dan "This also gives us a chance to expose this great song to some of our younger fans who maybe aren't as familiar with Iron Maiden."
1. "Tension"
2. "The Fight"
3. "Girl I Know"
4. "Dancing Dead"
5. "Almost Easy (Live)"
6. "Afterlife (Remix)"
7. "Flash of The Blade"
8. "Bat Country (Live)"
9. "Walk"
10. "Crossroad"
11. "Demons"
12. "Until The End"
13. "Almost Easy"
Diamond In the rough; http://www.4shared.com/file/62754372/f984fbf6/Avenged_Sevenfold_Diamonds_in_The_Rough.html
city of evil; Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil Pt.1 [2005].rar
Avenged Sevenfold atau seringkali disingkat sebagai A7X adalah band beraliran rock yang berasal dari Huntington Beach, California.
Daftar isi[sembunyikan] |
Tahun 2005, Amerika Serikat tengah jenuh dengan musik hip-hop dan pop yang merajalela, lalu Avenged Sevenfold merilis album mereka City of Evil tepatnya pada tanggal 8 Juni, 2005. Hits single Bat Country merupakan lagu metal/rock pertama yang merajai MTV TRL. Mereka mempopulerkan kembali solo gitar dengan duet gitaris Synyster Gates dan Zacky Vengeance yang benar-benar memanaskan area moshpit. Album tersebut mendapat sertifikat gold dan memenangkan predikat Best New Artist in a Video di MTV VMA 2006 untuk lagu Bat Country.
Tahun 2007, mereka kembali masuk studio untuk merekam lagu terbaru mereka untuk studio album ke-5 mereka. Awal Agustus 2007, mereka menjalani tur Asia Pasifik mereka, dan sempat mampir di Indonesia dan memainkan lagu mereka pertama kali di depan publik. Lagu yang berjudul Almost Easy tersebut mendapat sambutan hangat dari penggemar di seluruh dunia. Ketika itu band punk Jogjakarta Endang Soekamti didaulat menjadi band pembuka. Tahun 2008 ini, mereka berpartisipasi sebagai headliners di tour Taste of Chaos bersama dengan Bullet for My Valentine, Atreyu, Blessthefall dan Idiot Pilot. Ketika tour, mereka merekam sebuah DVD yang mengandung 6 lagu baru mereka. Tanggal 22 Oktober 2008, Avenged Sevenfold akan kembali manggung di Indonesia masih dengan event organizer yang sama yakni Java Musikindo dan kali ini band heavy metal Jibril didaulat menjadi band pembuka.
ur Asia Pasifik mereka, dan sempat mampir di Indonesia dan memainkan lagu mereka pertama kali di depan publik. Lagu yang berjudul Almost Easy tersebut mendapat sambutan hangat d[ari penggemar di seluruh dunia. Ketika itu band punk Jogjakarta Endang Soekamti didaulat menjadi band pembuka.
Tahun 2008 ini, mereka berpartisipasi sebagai headliners di tour Taste of Chaos bersama dengan Bullet for My Valentine, Atreyu, Blessthefall dan Idiot Pilot. Ketika tour, mereka merekam sebuah DVD yang mengandung 6 lagu baru mereka.
Tanggal 22 Oktober 2008, Avenged Sevenfold akan kembali manggung di Indonesia masih dengan event organizer yang sama yakni Java Musikindo dan kali ini band heavy metal Jibril didaulat menjadi band pembuka.
Album yang dirilis pada 16 September, 2008 ini berisi 102 menit DVD dan 52 menit CD.
Di album ini terdapat dua lagu lama yaitu "Afterlife" dan "Almost Easy". Namun kedua lagu tersebut tidak sama persis dengan lagu aslinya. Pada lagu "Afterlife" ditambahi permainan biola yang lebih banyak, sedangkan lagu "Almost Easy" yang berbeda adalah mixing lagunya. Selain itu terdapat juga lagu "Walk" yang merupakan cover dari Pantera dan "Flash of the Blade" yang merupakan cover dari Iron Maiden.
Pada tanggal 16 Juli, majalah Kerrang! (edisi 1219) mengeluarkan sebuah CD gratis berjudul "Maiden Heaven: A Tribute to Iron Maiden" untuk menghormati album dari salah satu band heavy metal terbesar di dunia yaitu Iron Maiden. Matt Shadows berkomentar, "Maiden are by far the best live band in the world and their music is timeless," dan "This also gives us a chance to expose this great song to some of our younger fans who maybe aren't as familiar with Iron Maiden."
Mereka cenderung memainkan nuansa keroncong dan dangdut pada vokal, gitar, dan drum (bass tetap statis). Dengan sentuhan yang dinamis, mau keras atau lambat, mereka tetap menggunakan harmonisasi yang luar biasa dan komposisi yang teratur. Sebut saja lagu-lagu yang sedikit melow, seperti begadang dan bengawan solo, gitarnya tetap di drop Dm seperti halnya metal-metal kebanyakan. Kemudian, ciri khasnya selain komposisi dan drop, rhoma memasukkan nuansa sweep picking (arpeggio) di hampir semua lagunya. Keindahan sweep picking yang dipadukan dengan kromatik, slide, dan teknik-teknik lainnya bisa kita dengar di lagu kucing garong. Kemudian selain itu, tidak lupa juga sentuhan akustik yang membawa suasana seperti di Hawaii, bisa kita dengar di lagu Sidewinder. Tapi, satu lagi ciri khas yang tidak pernah lepas dari mereka, menduetkan gitar Nano dan Ndandoel, memakai double bass dengan tempo yang beberapa kali lipat beat-nya dari biasanya.
Avenged Sevenfold is an American rock band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band has achieved mainstream success with their 2005 album City of Evil, which included singles such as "Burn It Down", "Bat Country," "Beast and the Harlot" and "Seize the Day." The band's success followed with their self-titled album, with singles such as "Critical Acclaim", "Almost Easy", "Afterlife", "Scream", and "Dear God".
Contents[hide] |
The band was formed in 1999 in Huntington Beach, California with original members M Shadows, Zacky Vengeance, The Rev, and Matt Wendt. M Shadows came up with the name as a reference to the story of Cain and Abel from The Bible, although it is not a religious band.[1] Upon its formation, each member of the band also took on a pseudonym which were already nicknames of theirs from high school.[2] The band released two demos in the years 1999 and 2000. Avenged Sevenfold's debut album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, was recorded when the band members were just eighteen years old and in high school. It was originally released on their first label, Good Life Recordings in 2001. After lead guitarist Synyster Gates joined the band, the introductory track "To End The Rapture" was re-recorded featuring a full band element. The album was subsequently re-released on Hopeless Records in 2002.
The band started to receive recognition, sharing the stage with metal acts like Mushroomhead and Shadows Fall and playing on the Take Action Tour.[3][4] Having settled on their fourth bassist, Johnny Christ, they released Waking the Fallen on Hopeless Record in August 2003. The band received profiles in Billboard and The Boston Globe, and played in the Vans Warped Tour.[5][6][7] In 2004, Avenged Sevenfold toured again on the Vans Warped Tour and recorded a video for their song "Unholy Confessions" which went into rotation on MTV2's Headbanger's Ball.[8] Shortly after the release of Waking the Fallen, Avenged Sevenfold was signed to Warner Bros. Records.
City of Evil, the band's third album, was released on June 7, 2005 and debuted at #30 on the Billboard Top 200 selling over 30,000 copies.[9][10] It utilized a more epic, classic metal sound than Avenged Sevenfold's previous albums, which had been grouped into the metalcore genre.[11][12] The album is also notable for the absence of screaming vocals; M. Shadows worked with vocal coach Ron Anderson -- whose clients have included Axl Rose and Chris Cornell -- for months before the album's release to achieve a sound that had "grit while still having the tone.[13][11]
They returned to the Vans Warped Tour, this time headlining, and then continued on their own "Cities of Evil Tour."[14] In addition, their lead single "Bat Country" reached #2 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Charts, #6 on Billboard's Modern Rock Charts, and the accompanying video made it to #1 on MTV's Total Request Live.[15] Propelled by this success, the album sold well and became Avenged Sevenfold's first gold record. They would go onto win "Best New Artist" at MTV's Video Music Awards, beating out artists like Rihanna, Panic at the Disco, and Chris Brown.[16]
Avenged Sevenfold's mainstream success got them an invitation to 2006's Ozzfest tour on the main stage, alongside other well known hard rock and heavy metal acts DragonForce, Lacuna Coil, Hatebreed, Disturbed, and System of a Down.[17] That same year they also completed a worldwide tour, including the US, The United Kingdom (as well as mainland Europe), Japan, Australia and New Zealand. After being on tour for sixteen months in promotion of City of Evil, the band announced that they were cancelling their Fall 2006 tour in favor of recording new music.[18] M. Shadows stated that their fourth studio album -- which the band self-titled and self-produced -- would not be a "City of Evil Part 2" or "Waking the Fallen Part 2," but would incorporate a new, grittier sound.[18][19] To tide the fans over in between albums, the band released their first DVD titled All Excess on July 17, 2007.[20] All Excess, which debuted as the #1 DVD in the USA, included live performances and backstage footage that spanned the band's eight year career. Two tribute albums, Strung Out on Avenged Sevenfold: Bat Wings and Broken Strings, and Strung Out on Avenged Sevenfold: The String Tribute were also released in October 2007.
Avenged Sevenfold, the band's fourth album, was released on October 30, 2007, debuting at #4 on the Billboard 200 with over 90,000 copies sold.[21] Two singles, "Critical Acclaim" and "Almost Easy" were released prior to the album's debut. In December 2007, an animated video was made for "A Little Piece of Heaven." Due to the song's controversial subject matter, however, Warner Brothers only released it to registered MVI users over the internet. The third single, "Afterlife" and its video was released in January 2008. Their fourth single, "Dear God", was released on September 30, 2008. The self-titled album went onto sell over 500,000 copies and was awarded "Album of the Year" at the Kerrang! Awards.[22]
Avenged Sevenfold headlined the 2008 Taste of Chaos tour with Atreyu, Bullet for My Valentine, Blessthefall and Idiot Pilot.[23] They used the footage from their last show in Long Beach for Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough, a two-disc B-sides CD and live DVD which was released on September 16, 2008. They also recorded numerous covers, including Pantera's "Walk," Iron Maiden's "Flash of the Blade" and Black Sabbath's "Paranoid."[23][24][25] They will also be releasing a Guitar Tutorial DVD, which include the five tracks, Afterlife, Almost Easy, Bat Country, Beast and the Harlot, and Trashed And Scattered, breaking down the guitar solos and riffs in each song.[26]
During a sold-out festival performance in Leeds and Reading, the band were forced to shorten their Leeds performance and cancel their Reading performance due to a vocal strain sustained by M. Shadows.[27] A few days later, the band was forced to announce the cancellation of the remaining September shows, with the tour set to resume again on October 15.[28]
In January 2009, M. Shadows confirmed that the band is writing a follow up album to Avenged Sevenfold within the upcoming months.[29] They also announced that they will be playing at Rock on the Range, from May 16-17, 2009.[30] In April, they performed a version of Guns N' Roses' "It's So Easy" onstage with Slash.[31] M. Shadows has also been confirmed to be a featured vocalist on Slash's forthcoming solo album Slash & Friends.
In general, Avenged Sevenfold is classified as an important and influential band in the New Wave of American Heavy Metal (NWOAHM)[32]. Their material spans multiple genres, and has evolved in the band's ten year career. Initially, Avenged Sevenfold's debut Sounding the Seventh Trumpet consisted almost entirely of metalcore sound; however, there were several deviations to this genre, most notably in "Streets" which adopts a punk style, and "Warmness on the Soul," which is a piano-oriented ballad.[33] On Waking The Fallen, the band displayed a more refined and fluent metalcore album that was able to harness the rawness of the first album, and add more mature and intricate musical elements. In the band's DVD All Excess, producer Andrew Mudrock explained this transition: "When I met the band after Sounding the Seventh Trumpet had come out before they had recorded Waking the Fallen, M. Shadows said to me 'This record is screaming. The record we want to make is going to be half-screaming half-singing. I don't want to scream anymore. And the record after that is going to be all singing.'" On City of Evil, Avenged Sevenfold's third album, the band has chosen to abandon the metalcore genre, developing a more punk metal/thrash style, very much like bands such as Bullet for My Valentine and Trivium. Also, the drumming on both these albums is played in a more thrash-influenced alternative metal style, similar to that of Slipknot. Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled album, again, consists of several deviations to less consistent genres and styles from the album's main hard rock and heavy metal songs, most notably in "Dear God", which adopts a country style, and "A Little Piece of Heaven", which includes elements of Broadway show tunes, using primarily brass instruments and stringed orchestra to take over most of the role of the lead and rhythm guitar. The band has changed considerably since its first album, which since then they have been characterized as a heavy band with screams and growls combined with clean vocals that one can expect from the metalcore genre.
The band sports a logo known as the "Deathbat". It was originally designed by an artistic high school friend of Avenged Sevenfold, Micah Montague, as seen on the band's first DVD, All Excess. The Deathbat has appeared on all of the band's album covers, many of which were done by Cameron Rackam, a close friend of the band. The Deathbat has developed from just being a skull with bat wings, to sometimes appear as a full "man size" skeleton with bat wings, as it can be seen at the cover of City of Evil. On Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, there are pictures of two people (Presumably Cain and Abel), another angel-like human, and a semi-opaque Deathbat below it. It also appears on covers of a number of singles such as "Bat Country", "Warmness on the Soul" and "Critical Acclaim."
David James Archuleta (born December 28, 1990) is an American singer-song writer. At ten years old he competed and won the children's division of the Utah Talent Competition leading to other television singing appearances. At twelve, he became the Junior Vocal Champion on Star Search 2. In 2007, at sixteen years old, he became one of the youngest finalists on the seventh season of American Idol. He rose up through the competition, and in May 2008, became the runner-up on the show receiving 44 percent of over 97 million votes.
In August 2008 Archuleta released "Crush", the first single from his self-titled debut album and the highest-ranking debut single release of any American Idol contestant. The album, released in November 2008, debuted at the number-two spot on the Billboard 200 chart; as of January 2009 it has sold over 610,000 copies in the
Early life
David Archuleta was born in
Archuleta started singing at age six, inspired by a Les Misérables video. "That musical is what started all of this", he said. He started performing publicly at age ten when he participated in the Utah Talent Competition singing "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton; he received a standing ovation and won the Child Division.
Archuleta was inspired by watching both Tamyra Gray and Kelly Clarkson to "see what performing and really getting into a song was like" during the beginning weeks of the premiere season of American Idol. He later made his television debut, at eleven years old, singing "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" on The Jenny Jones Show show for future Latino stars alongside season one finalist A.J. Gil. Through A.J. Gil he was able to meet and sing for Gray who had sung the song on American Idol as well as Clarkson (that year's winner) and Justin Guarini (the runner up).
Musical influences
Archuleta's mother is from
On his American Idol "Fast Facts" page, Archuleta cited his musical influences as Natalie Cole, Stevie Wonder, Kirk Franklin and Bryan Adams. When he listed his top pop music artists, he cited Natasha Bedingfield, Natalie Cole, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Bryan Adams, Kirk Franklin, and Robbie Williams. Like Elliott Yamin and another singer he admires, John Mayer, Archuleta tries to infuse his pop selections with a soulful vibe.In a Seventeen interview he cites Sara Bareilles as a clever singer-songwriter he looks up to.
Star Search
In 2003, at age twelve, Archuleta sang on several episodes of the television show Star Search. He ended up as the Junior Vocal Champion on Star Search 2. On one episode, he sang against then-11-year-old Alexandréa Lushington, who became a "top 20" semi-finalist on American Idol alongside Archuleta.
Around the second year of being on Star Search he started focusing on the lyrics, "I didn't even pay attention to the lyrics when I was 12, 13".
Archuleta's competing on Star Search led to appearances on The Jenny Jones Show and CBS' The Early Show, and meeting the finalists from American Idol's first season, for whom he performed a spontaneous a cappella rendition of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls, and received enthusiastic praise from Season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson. The year after Star Search he found out he had partial vocal paralysis but declined risky surgery and has said he feels he is almost fully recovered. He limited his singing for specific occasions like Stadium of Fire, the Independence Day celebration at Brigham Young University Stadium.
Archuleta made initial attempts at songwriting and arranging music after his Star Search experience and has written at least three songs. His first singles in 2002 included "Dream Sky High" and "Don't Tell Me".
American Idol
Overview
Archuleta won his ticket to the Hollywood final auditions at the
A Los Angeles Times article speculated that Archuleta avoided singing the first verse of "Imagine": because "of his religion (Mormonism), he's unlikely to espouse the song's agnostic ideal . . . with the line about 'no religion too.'"[28 Archuleta did, however, sing the entire song on Good Things Utah when he was 13. During his first performance of "Imagine" on American Idol, when asked by judge Randy Jackson why he didn't sing the first verse, Archuleta said the third verse was his favorite because it has "a great message."
After his performance of "We Can Work It Out", which judge Simon Cowell called "a mess", Entertainment Tonight reported that Archuleta was feeling pressure from his father, Jeff Archuleta, who "reportedly yelled at" his son after a recording session the previous night. Jeff Archuleta, in an interview with Us Magazine, denied the claim. A May 2008 Associated Press article reported that Jeff Archuleta had his son add a lyric from the Sean Kingston song "Beautiful Girls" into a rendition of "Stand by Me" (from which "Beautiful Girls" samples its bass line), increasing the costs for licensing, and that this had resulted in Jeff Archuleta being banned from American Idol backstage rehearsals. David defended his father calling him "a great guy" who keeps him grounded.
During the Top 7 results show, the contestants were split into two groups. In one group was Syesha Mercado, Brooke White, and Kristy Lee Cook. In the other group was David Cook, Carly Smithson, and Jason Castro. Archuleta was the only one not sorted into a group. He was declared safe after the groups were formed, then was asked to choose the group he thought was safe. He refused, and sat down on the floor of the stage, much like Melinda Doolittle had done the previous season.
In the finale he sang "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", "In This Moment" and "Imagine". Judge Simon Cowell declared that Archuleta won the evening and even David Cook, who ultimately won, thought Archuleta would win: "I have to concede it, the kid came out all three songs and nailed it", said Cook. In the final tally, Archuleta received 44 percent of the votes. During the finale show, identical commercials featuring Archuleta and fellow finalist Cook mimicked the Tom Cruise scene from Risky Business where he dances in his underwear playing an air guitar; they were promoting the game franchise Guitar Hero.
DOB: January 18, 1979
Birthplace:
Hometown: Linkou
Family: Mom & Dad (divorced)
Pets: dog (lives with his grandma)
Musical Instruments: Piano, Cello, Guitar, Drums
Height: 173cm (about 5'7")
Weight: 60kg (132lbs)
Bloodtype: O
Education:
Clothing Style: Hooded sweatshirts, ball caps, cool jeans, sleeveless tees,
Musical Style: R&B, Rap, Ballad, Rock, Pop
Recording Company: Alfa Music
Person Jay owes most for his career: Former manager: Jacky Wu
Favorite Sport: Basketball
Favorite Food: Mom's cooking, and Kentucky Fried Chicken
First Released Single: He Sei You Mo (Black Humor)
Relationship status: Rumored to have dated Jolin Tsai for a while (never confirmed)
Jay is currently dating news anchor Patty Hou. He confirmed the relationship Feb. 18, 2005. Rumors surfaced in mid 2006 of Chou-Hou relationship on the rocks, and Jay dating various other celebs including Hebe Tian of S.H.E.
Jay Chou Biography [Last Updated: August 26, 2006]
by: stitchphil
Early Years
Jay Chou (Zhou Jie Lun) was born in
Jay's parents divorced when he was 13. Already a quiet boy to begin with, Jay grew even more secluded. He became independent rather quickly and was absorbed in his own music world. Whenever any musical ideas came to mind, he would jot them down. It wasn't before long he started writing his own songs.
Basketball was his other love and he often played with friends. In terms of school, Jay was not very strong academically, but he did manage to complete high school.
Road to Fame
By an interesting twist of fate, a schoolmate of Jay's signed up for a singing contest and wanted him to accompany her on the piano. The performance at the contest was by no means stunning, but somehow the host of the show, Jacky Wu, took notice of the musical score that Jay was playing from. And from then on, in the momentous year of 1998, the little boy who grew up in Linkou entered the entertainment industry primarily as a songwriter. Jay spent hours and hours on end in the studio, dreaming up melodies, and it soon became his second home. That was how he spent his first years in the industry. The songs he wrote for other artists were rejected fairly often at that time. After all, who was Jay Chou? No one really knew much about him. But over time, his songs were accepted and they paved the way for Jay's eventual successful musical career.
After working behind-the-scenes for some time, Jacky Wu was impressed with what Jay has to offer not only as a songwriter, but as a singer as well. And so, on November 1, 2000, he made his debut with the self-titled album Jay . His soulful voice and infectious tunes were well-received by listeners and “Jay Chou” soon became a household name. His unique musical style garnered him attention from fans and critics alike.
Music Career - The First Three Albums
Released on September 20, 2001, Jay's second musical effort Fantasy propelled him to stardom with numerous hits such as “Kai Bu Liao Kou”, “An Jing”, and “Shuang Jie Gun”, just to name a few. He earned many awards with this album, including five Golden Melody Awards . This was an astonishing feat by an artist who has just arrived on the scene for a short period of time. After the successes of his first two albums, Jay launched his first music concert series, known as the Fantasy Tour, showcasing his piano and cello skills in this concert, which was kept mainly within
After his first concert series, Jay released Eight Dimensions again wowing everyone with his sheer musical talent. After this album Jay went into his second tour again, this time known as The One concert tour, and this time, at a much larger scale as compared to the Fantasy tour. In The One concert, we have seen Jay grown as a live performer with his live singing skills, and even a few dance steps to make the entire concert successful.
In summer of 2003, Jay released his fourth studio album Ye Hui Mei , named after his mother, which show how much Jay treasures his mother. From that point onwards, it was clear that Jay had the plan of releasing one album annually. Jay fine-tunes each song to perfection and never fails to surprise and capture his audience with his innovative musical ideas. The growth from one album to the next has been evident to those who have traversed this journey of music with Jay.
His own unique Chinese R&B style is unparalleled by another and he continues to make breakthroughs as he takes risks in attempting new things. The way he intertwines Chinese and Western music makes his songs endearing to people both young and old. The fusion of the two cultures is not only fresh-sounding, but has also rarely been done by other musicians before. Together with his long time friend and lyricist Vincent Fang, Jay's compositions and Vincent's lyrics managed to reflect Jay's sensitivity to human emotions and the details of life. He manages to touch people's hearts with striking words as well as educate people's minds with important lessons.
Branching Off onto the Big Screen
After being in the entertainment industry for several years, Jay has started to branch off from music a bit and ventured into the realm of acting. An interesting thing to note is that a lot of his musical inspiration simply emerges from watching movies. You may have often found that his music gives very vibrant visual imagery and his music videos bring those images to life. It should come as no surprise that besides being a singer-songwriter, he has also dreamt of being a film director one day. In the movie “Hidden Track” (2003), Jay guest-starred as himself briefly and got a taste of what it is like to be part of a film. He also specially penned 2 songs for the movie released in the Hidden Track EP.
Back to His Roots
In summer 2004, Jay's much anticipated album Qi Li Xiang was released . Once again, he managed to turned heads of both the critics and fans. The production quality has been taken up a notch and his musical style has also matured significantly. Hence, it is not surprising that Jay has garnered more awards under his belt with this album. Jay also made it clear that he will continue to have at least one song on all his album with the Oriental style. With that album, Jay launched his next concert series known as the Incomparable to Jay concert series in that same year, which took Asia by storm, and even went as far as the
The Big Breakthrough Role
Jay's first major movie role came in "Initial D" (2005) when he starred in the film directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, the same duo that directed the Infernal Affairs trilogy. In the movie, Jay acts as the child prodigy, Takumi Fujiwara, a high school student in
The movie has kept Jay very busy in most of the year, due to all the filming and promotional works for the movie. The movie also allowed Jay to break into the Japanese market, when he subsequently released his first compilation album called Initial J in Japan only, with the theme songs of the Initial D movie included in that album.
The Beat Goes On
With Jay so busy with the movie, it is understandable that his album for 2005 was delayed by a few months, and was only released in November of 2005. The album was titled November's Chopin . The album was named it as such because of all the songs Jay used to practice on the piano when he was a child, it was Chopin's compositions left a deep-lasting impression on him. Also in this album, Jay openly made his disgust of the paparazzi known by personally writing and composing a song to ‘attack' the paparazzi by calling them dogs, the song is titled Si Mian Chu Ge, or “Besieged from All Sides”.
Jay also made another landmark in his 6 th album by directing his own music videos for some of the MVs of this album. At the same time, Jay began directing Music Videos for other artistes as well, most notably, Taiwanese group S.H.E.
Working with His Idol & Yet Another Screen Debut
In early 2006, Jay managed to work with his long time idol, Jet Li by composing the theme song and directing the MV for the movie, titled Fearless , the same title of the movie. This song was released in the Fearless EP , together with the music videos of all the songs off the November's Chopin album. Jay managed to get his next major movie role as the year went on. This time in a movie directed by the internationally acclaimed director Zhang Yimou, in the film “The City of Golden Armour ” (the official English title of the movie has not been announced). Jay received lots of praises from his co-stars Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li, as well as praises from Zhang Yimou himself. All of them were amazed with Jay's acting skills and his determination and drive when he works on the set. The movie is set to be released Christmas 2006, or early next year. Again, Jay composed the movie's ending theme song for the film.
Still Jay, Still Fantasy
With Jay being so busy pursuing acting, directing, and various endorsements, many fans worry that Jay may have given up on music. But Jay assured his fans that music will always be his first love and he had no intentions of letting it go. With that said, it has been confirmed that Jay will be the leading actor in the film "Slam Dunk" where Jay plays the role of a leading basketball star. The film is set to be released in March 2007. Fans hope he won't over exert himself in his many endeavors.
His 7th album will be released on 8th September 2006, titled Still Fantasy , a throwback to his second album. As to what to expect from this album, fans can only wait eagerly in anticipation as all information relating to the album are kept tightly under wraps, but Jay will definitely not disappoint!
