Tata Young
| Tata Young | |
|---|---|
 Tata Young in 2009 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Amita Marie Young |
| Born |
December 14, 1980 Bangkok, Thailand |
| Genres | Pop, dance-pop, electropop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, dancer, actress, entrepreneur |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Labels |
GMM Grammy (1995-2000) TERO Records (2001-2003) Sony Music (2004-present) |
| Website | http://www.tatayoung.com/ |
Amita Marie Young (Thai: อมิตา มารี ยัง, December 14, 1980), better known under her stage name Tata Young, is a Thai-American singer, model, actress and dancer.
She gained prominence when she placed first in a national singing contest at age 11, subsequently signing a record deal and releasing her first album Amita Tata Young in 1996. Within five months, the album had sold over one million copies. Since then, Young has released eight studio albums, three in English and five in Thai. Her most recent album is Ready for Love, released on August 25, 2009.
Young has acted in three films, The Red Bike Story (Jakkayan See Daeng), O-Negative and Plai Tien a TV drama Wick of the Candle. She sang "Reach For The Stars" at the Bangkok opening ceremony for the 13th Asian Games in 1998 and also sang Dhoom Dhoom, the English version of the title song for the 2004 Bollywood movie Dhoom.
Biography
1980-2003: Early life and career beginnings
Young was born Amita Marie Young in Bangkok in 1980 to a Thai mother and an American father, Tim Young from Zanesville, Ohio. She went to school at Bangkok Patana School in Bangkok. At age 11, she won at her first national talent contest, the Nissan Awards Thailand Junior Singing Contest. By the time she was 14, she had signed her first professional contract and released her debut million selling album in 1995. This led to her winning multiple awards at the Thai Radio Vote Awards in 1996.
In 1997, the Chinese government chose her to represent Thailand at the transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong, and that same year she had hits including Wet Wet Wet, Michael Learns to Rock, Lisa Stansfield, All 4 One and Brand New Heavies. She received the prestigious "Golden Pikkanes God Award" from the Musical Artist Association of Thailand, becoming the youngest performer to receive this reward. The Tata Young Fan Club was also formed in 1997, to gather support from her fans to provide assistance to the Thai children's charity, the Human Development Foundation.
Tata continued her success by singing a duet with Patiparn Pataweekarn in the album MOS & TATA, that was launched on January 23. This album made Tata to be the newest Teen Idol, the songs like ‘Malang’ (Bugs) was one of the songs in Thai music memories, even until now everyone can sing it!
On February 15, Tata featured in ‘Mos, Tata & Friends’. She sang along with many guest artists such as Beau Sunita, Fluke Clerkpon, Jason Young and Nana Cha.
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.
Throughout this period, Tata Young also appeared in numerous commercials and advertising, frequently leveraging her image as both a singer and star, including products such as Smooth E facial foam.
Her next album, the self-titled Tata Young, was released in 2001 with many of its songs reaching high chart positions and in 2003 she released her fourth album, Real TT.
2004-2007: Asian star
In 2004, Tata released her English-language debut album, I Believe on Columbia Records.
The first single taken from the album was "Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy", which was controversial 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'
She expanded her reach to India, recording the song, "Dhoom Dhoom", for the soundtrack to the Bollywood movie, Dhoom. Dhoom sold over 800,000 units in India, and was a phenomenal success for a soundtrack. The song peaked at number one in India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and many other Asian countries. Later, she embarked on her Dhoom Dhoom tour. An EP entitled, "Dhoom Dhoom" was released in 2005 following the success of the song.
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. In Hong Kong, China and Japan, "Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy" and "I Believe" climbed to the top of the charts.
Her second English-language album, Temperature Rising was released in August 2006; its first single was "El Nin-YO!". The album includes songs composed by Diane Warren, Paul McCartney and Natasha Bedingfield.
In 2007, she recorded her single "Zoom" in Simlish for the top-selling PC game The Sims 2: Seasons.
Tata has also lent her voice to humanitarian causes, including the AIDS program of Father Joe Maier's Human Development Foundation and MTV's Exit campaign to end human trafficking.[1][2]
In early 2008, Tata Young released her sixth Thai album. The headline single "One Love" was released on Valentine's Day.
2008-present: Health and professional struggles
In 2007, Young developed hypothyroidism, treatment for which caused her to gain weight and went through a notable image change, also dying her trademark red hair black.
Young had been working on her third English studio album since 2008 in Berlin, Germany, working with Sony BMG Europe. Demo tracks of four new songs from the album surfaced on the internet in early 2009 'Ready for Love' and 'Suffocate'. She hired Korean stylists to direct her image for the new album. The first single, Ready For Love, was released in July 2009 with a Korean directed video. Although "Ready for Love" reached number one in some local radio markets in Indonesia, the single and the album underperformed in other markets. My Bloody Valentine reached the Indonesian Charts and Tata Young has been credited as the singer with the label Sony BMG. The single was finally released as the album's second single. Tata announced a promotional tour in Australia and Europe, which did not take place. Her third single, "Mission is You", was later released with video footage from the opening of the album but no additional film, raising questions about the situation between her and her label. In 2010, Tata changed her image again and participated in a concert contributing to Michael Jackson.
In September 2011, Young premiered "Let's Play", believed to be her upcoming single, which was written and produced by Jeliah, and co-written by singer-songwriter VASSY and Young herself, it was performed live at the True Academy Fantasia Season 8's Grand Finale Concert as her comeback.[3]
Discography
Over the course of her career, Young has released nine studio albums, five compilation albums, two EPs and one remix album. Two of her studio albums are in English rather than Thai.
She has embarked on eleven tours, the first starting in 1995, the last ending in 2009. Also, she has released sixteen VCDs and DVDs: ten of them featuring karaoke to her songs, six documenting her concerts. Additional to her song discography, she has been featured on over twenty songs with other artists and other organisations, such as an official FIFA song.
- 1995 - Amita Tata Young
- 1997 - Amazing TATA
- 2001 - Tata Young
- 2003 - Real TT
- 2004 - I Believe (English)
- 2005 - Dangerous TATA
- 2006 - Temperature Rising (English)
- 2008 - One Love
- 2009 - Ready for Love (English)
Singles
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Dhoom Dhoom | Saregama |
| 2005 | Life is Action | Suzuki Thailand |
| 2008 | Here Today | Ford Thailand |
| 2010 | My Bloody Valentine (Thai Version) | Sony Music Entertainment |
| 2010 | Ready for Love (Thai Version) | Sony Music Entertainment |
| 2011 | Shot (Montonn Jira's Smirnoff BKK REMIX) | Smirnoff Thailand/Sony Music Bec Tero Records |
| 2011 | Let's Play | |
| 2012 | Where Do We Go (duet with Thanh Bui) | |
Filmography
Television
- 2002 - Wick of the Candle (ปลายเทียน)
- 2011 - Academy Fantasia (True), Judge (Season 8)
- 2012 - Academy Fantasia (True), Judge (Season 9)
Awards
| Years | Awards |
|---|---|
| 1992 |
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| 1995 |
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| 1997 |
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| 1999 |
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| 2000 |
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| 2004 |
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| 2005 |
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| 2006 |
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| 2007 |
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| 2009 |
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| 2010 |
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| 2010 |
United Nations Environment Programme[5] |
References
- ↑ Tata Young talks about MTVs EXIT campaign, The Nation, August 27, 2007, retrieved 2007-09-18.
- ↑ MTV Turns Spotlight on Human Trafficking, Inter Press Service, September 5, 2007, retrieved 2007-09-18.
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_zzOJmW5qM
- ↑ Mademan.com 10 Best Thai Female Singers
- ↑ [OzonAction Programme for the United Nations Environment Programme, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific]
External links
- Tata Young at the Internet Movie Database
- Tata Young Official Web Site
- Tata Young Fan Club
- Tata Young Fan Club Spanish
- Tata Young songs lyrics
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