A-mei Chang

Taiwanese Songstress.

If you're into Cpop, I'm sure you have heard of A-Mei Chang. She has one of the best voices in Asia and is still going strong (has been in the music industry for over 10 years).

Some background info:
A-mei
Born August 9, 1972
Origin: Taitung, Republic of China
Genre(s): Pop
Years active: 1996 - present

A-mei is an ethnic Puyuma. Like most Taiwanese aborigines she was exposed to tribal music during her childhood. A-mei's mother used to record herself singing and then play back the tape for her daughters to hear. A-mei had always been fascinated by music; she once said she stuck to the radio and would rush to watch the late night music program introducing English songs when she was a little girl. She also showed great eagerness to perform in public, forcing her friends to listen to her sing.

A-mei first connected to the entertainment business by joining the televised "Five Lights Singing Contest" by TTV in 1994, after encouragement by her father, who was ill at that time. A-mei made all her way through to the finals but eventually lost in the final round. She felt very disappointed and most likely to quit her interest in music competition. A-mei's father then told her "you definitely can sing and perform songs beautifully, why don't you join the competition again to show that you got a talent in music?" So A-mei was encouraged and then decided to make a second attempt in the following year. This time her stable and superb performances were much appreciated by the judges, and A-mei was awarded the champion. Unfortunately, Amei's father passed away before her victory, making A-mei sad and aimless until she began to sing in pubs with a rock band formed by her musician cousin. She was later discovered by the popular singer/producer Chang Yu-Sheng (張雨生) and started her career.

Credits: Wikipedia

For more on her biography, try here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-Mei

If you want to see how good she is, here is a link to her live performance of "Truth" from one of her tours:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ugOlHOj0LI

I got these pictures from various sites (some pictures are from 2004, so I forgot the site name).