Tata Young Biography

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Tata Young
In Pattaya Music Festival 2007,Thailand
Background information
Birth name	Amita Marie Young
Born	December 14, 1980 (1980-12-14) (age 27) Bangkok, Thailand
Genre(s)	Dance-Pop, Pop Rock, Pop Rap, R&B
Occupation(s)	Singer, Actress, Model, Entrepreneur
Instrument(s)	Voice
Years active	1991—present
Label(s)	1995 GMM Grammy 2001 TERO Records 2004 Columbia - SONYBMG
Website	http://www.tatayoung.com/

Tata Young (born Amita Marie Young, Thai: อมิตา มารี ยัง, December 14, 1980 in Thailand) is a Thai American singer, model and actress. A Thai superstar by the time she was in her teens, she became an international success with the release of her first English-language album I Believe in 2004. She remains one of the most popular performers in Thailand, and is a perennial "favorite" pick by magazines and music-video channels.

Biography

Thai teen superstar: 1994-1995

Tata Young is the only daughter of her American father Tim Young and her Thai mother^[1]. She started singing and dancing at an early age. At age 11, Tata beat 5,300 other children to be crowned winner of the international division of the nationwide Thailand Junior Singing Contest with her performance of One Night Only. Among the prizes she won was a keyboard, which was presented to her school, the Bangkok Patana School. The victory earned her a contract with Yamaha Music, which groomed her for entry into the entertainment business. In 1994, the 14-year-old caught the eye of A&R executives from GMM Grammy, Thailand 's biggest entertainment conglomerate, who offered her a recording contract.

She soon released her debut Thai-language album Amita Tata Young which shot to the top of the charts and sold more than 1 million copies in less than five months. At the age of 15, Tata became the biggest pop sensation in Thailand.

Her reputation was solidified when sales of her follow-up album Tata 1,000,000 Copies Celebration, which included the hit single Chan Rak Thur (I Love You), hit the 1 million sales mark as well.

For her first year in the business, she collected a string of awards and accolades, included "Entertainer of the Year" by the Bangkok Press, as well as "Best Recording Artist for 1995", an award for "Music Video of the Year", awards for #1 and #2 "Single of the Year", and "Album of the Year" for Amita Tata Young at the Radio Vote Awards in Thailand.

International stardom: 1996-1997

Tata's Eurasian background helped her cross over from the Thai music charts to perform abroad.

She was chosen to represent Thailand for the Australian television program World Telly Broadcast, which was broadcast in February 1996. The program was seen by audiences in Australia and throughout Southeast Asia .

In April 1996, Tata held her "Tata Live in Hollywood Concert" at the Hollywood Palladium. It was a rare event for an Asian singer to be performing in front of an American audience. Nevertheless, the concert received outstanding reviews.

She was selected by the Chinese government to represent Thailand at a concert held on July 5, 1997 to mark the Hong Kong handover. She performed alongside such international acts such as Wet Wet Wet, Michael Learns to Rock, Lisa Stansfield, All 4 One and Brand New Heavies.

Also in 1997, Tata became the youngest entertainer ever to receive the coveted "Golden Pikkanes God Award" presented by the Musical Artist Association of Thailand under the patronage of the King of Thailand.

She formed the Tata Young Fan Club in 1997 under the auspices of her company, Tata Entertainment, to gather support from her fans to provide assistance to the Thai children's charity, the Human Development Foundation.

Recently, she was also signed by the Los Angeles-based agency, McGhee Entertainment, which has managed such artists as Bon Jovi, Tee Jaconson, Liz Phair and Diana Ross.

Film, television and beyond: 1997-2003

Tata has also developed a modeling and acting career.

She made her film debut in 1997 in the youth drama 'The Red Bike Story, which broke records for audience-attendance for the Thai film industry. Her debut earned her the "Best Actress Award (Thailand)" presented at the Fourth Annual Blockbuster Entertainment Awards 1997. She followed that up with two other hit films, O-Negative and Plai Tien.

In 1997, ELLE magazine named her one of Thailand's "10 Most Influential People".

Tata was also chosen to sing "Reach for the Stars" in the opening ceremony for 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok.

In 1998, Asiaweek selected Tata as "One of 25 Most Influential Trend-setters in Asia".

In 2000, Tata Young returned to singing as the presenter of Smooth E facial foam, with a 90 second advertisement costarring Eurasian model/actor Kipsan Beck.

In 2001, she launched a self-titled album under her new record company TERO Records. The album was an instant hit. Almost all of the album's songs, including "Shot:, "A-bo-da-be", "Tua Saeb", "Wan Jai" and "Keb Chan Wai Yuen Khang Thoe Tham Mai" climbed to the top of the music charts.

In the same year, Tata featured on the cover of Time and in an article about successful Eurasians in Asia. ^[2]

In 2003 Tata released her second album with Tero Records called Real TT. She co-produced the album, co-wrote the songs and laid out the concepts. Hits included "Super Fan" and "Yak Keb Thoe Wai Thang Song Khon".

Young starred in a promotional OST for the Bollywood megahit "DHOOM" with other top stars, such as John Abraham, Abhishek bachhan & Chopra. The snips from her song were used in the background score too.

Asian Star: 2004-present

In 2004, Tata continued to cultivate the mature image she had embarked upon since leaving GMM Grammy and her teen years behind her. She released her English-language debut album, I Believe on Columbia Records. The album was launched on February 14 in Singapore. More than 100 members of the international press attended her press conference.

The first single taken from the album was "Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy", which stirred more controversy at home in Thailand. In Malaysia, she had to change the name of the tune to "Sexy, Naughty, Cheeky". Further single releases from the album included 'I Believe' and 'Cinderella'

Nonetheless, Tata was voted as one of the "50 sexiest women in the world" by Malaysian publications. In Singapore, she performed and was chosen to join the judging panel at the Miss Singapore Universe 2004 pageant.

She expanded her reach to India, recording the song, Dhoom Dhoom, for soundtrack to a Bollywood movie, Dhoom. Later, she embarked on her Dhoom Dhoom tour.

In the Philippines and Indonesia, more than 20,000 fans queued to see her performance. In South Korea, Tata invited a popular male Korean artist named "H" to sing a duet with her in the hit single "I Think of You". The song was Tata's fourth single from I Believe (album).

In Taiwan, Tata became the first Thai artist to be invited to perform at the Golden Melody Awards – Taiwan's equivalent of the Grammy Awards. Tata has also worked with Vanness Wu-F4, Jay Chou, Lee-Hom Wang, Jolin Tsai and many other artists. In Hong Kong and China, "Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy" and "I Believe" climbed to the top of the charts.

Following her success in Southeast Asia, China and India, Tata turned her attention to Japan. "Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy" caught on and climbed to the top of the Zip FM charts as well as into the top 10 of the Oricon Charts, one of the most highly regarded music charts in Japan. Her music video was played every 10 minutes on the big screens in Tokyo's Shibuya district. Her album sold over 300,000 copies, an astonishing figure for an international album in Japan. She held six sold-out concerts in Fukuoka, Osaka, Yokohama, Nagoya, Sendai and Tokyo. The Japanese media proclaimed her performance the hottest concert ever.

Her second English-language album, Temperature Rising was released in August 2006, with first single, "El Nin-YO!". The album includes songs composed by Diane Warren, Paul McCartney and Natasha Bedingfield.

Amidst the album's release, Tata has shocked some older Thais with her image. A vocal critic has been Rabiabrat Pongpanich, a former senator and self-appointed culture watchdog well known for criticizing young female entertainers. "She's just showing off her breasts," Rabiabrat was quoted as saying by the Thai business daily, Krungthep Turakij. "People who go to her concerts don't go to listen to her music but are wasting a lot of money to see breasts, hips, a belly and a butt that can dance," Rabiabrat was quoted as saying by another Thai daily, the Daily News. The story drew nearly 300 responses on the newspaper's website, from both pro- and anti-Tata camps, according to an Associated Press article.^[3]. It is widely believed that Tata Young had plastic surgery around this period.

Starting December 2006, Tata Young was featured singing her third single from 'Temperature Rising' "Come Rain, Come Shine" as the station identification track for Asian English-language television channel STAR World's station identification. It was replaced by a song by Mika.

In 2007, she recorded her single "Zoom" in Simlish for the top-selling PC game The Sims 2: Seasons.

Tata has said she will be promoting her album throughout Europe during May 2008.

Tata has also lent her voice to humantarian causes, including the AIDS program of Father Joe Maier's Human Development Foundation and MTV's Exit campaign to end human trafficking.^[4][5]

Personal life

Tata recently became engaged in November 2007 to long-time boyfriend, Prem Busarakamwong, the son of one of Thailand's biggest Muay Thai promoters. In March 2008 it was announced that August 15 was the planned wedding date. In April 2008 she flew to England to work on her next English album, and the wedding was postponed after Young said it couldn't be this year.

Discography

Tours

• 2005 : Tata Young I Believe Japan Tour 2005
• 2005 : Tata Young Dhoom Dhoom Tour Live In Bangkok
• 2006 : Tata Young Temperature Rising Live In Bangkok
• 2008 : Tata Young One Love Thailand Tour

Filmography

• 1997 - The Red Bike Story (จัà¸�รยานสีà¹�ดง)
• 1998 - O-Negative

TV Drama

• 2002 - The wick of candle (ปลายเทียน)

Awards

References

1. ^ Biography on tatayoung.com
2. ^ Beech, Hannah (April 23, 2001) "Eurasian invasion", Time Asia.
3. ^ Tang, Alisa. November 10, 2006. "Tsk-tsk Tata", Associated Press, The Nation, Weekend, Page 20 (print edition).
4. ^ Tata Young talks about MTVs EXIT campaign, The Nation, August 27, 2007, retrieved 2007-09-18.
5. ^ MTV Turns Spotlight on Human Trafficking, Inter Press Service, September 5, 2007, retrieved 2007-09-18.

External links

• Tata Young Official Web Site
• TATA2YOU.net
• TataYoungFanClub.com
• TATAYOUNGWORLD.com