Groove Heroine Recommendation: Tiana Xiao (or ティアナ・シャオ)
Tiana Xiao was born in Sichuan, China and moved to the United States when she was two years old. Her mother and brother currently reside in Los Angeles, California, and her father lives in China.
With an asserted IQ of 170[1], Tiana graduated from high school at the age of fourteen[2]. After her graduation, although she had already been accepted to Cornell University, Tiana had decided to pursue her childhood dream of becoming an artist, and deferred her admission so that she could focus on singing and performing.
In order to improve her vocals and other performance skills, including stage presence and dance, Tiana studied singing with several private vocal coaches and attended classes at the Millennium Dance Complex in North Hollywood.
In January 2006, Tiana began attending HIPAC, a vocal school located in Los Angeles. Her voice teacher saw tremendous potential in the then 15 year old Tiana, and trained her for about three months before sending a demo CD to a management/production company in Japan.
A few months later, (Summer 2006) Tiana was brought by her vocal coach to Tokyo for an audition. Her unique voice earned her a recording contract with her current label, Imperial Records, a division of Teichiku Entertainment, Inc.[3]
Tiana's debut single CD, Sweet Obsession, was released on January 23, 2008. The music was written and produced by Jeeve. The original lyrics of Sweet Obsession, written in English, were penned by Tiana herself. Tiana also wrote the English portion of the lyrics in the B-side, Temptation.[5] Days after Tiana's debut, a controversial news article surfaced in several popular Japanese websites, including a widely used SNS (social networking service) website known as mixi, raising the question of whether or not Tiana Xiao has a shot at becoming the next Utada Hikaru. This quickly raised awareness of "Tiana Xiao" among the Japanese audience.[6] However, to date, Sweet Obsession has not generated a significant number of sales.
A second single, titled KIZUNA, was released on April 23, 2008. The two songs on the CD are written and produced by Tom Keane, who wrote and produced music for many well-known artists such as Celine Dion and Chaka Khan, and his associate Roycel Cooks.[7] And again, the lyrics of both KIZUNA and the coupling number (B-side) were co-written by Tiana.[5]
Tiana's first studio album is scheduled to release in May[2]. The songs featured in the album will include all tracks from her two previous maxi singles, as well as the highly anticipated songs written and produced by other notable producers from both the United States of America and the United Kingdom, including Alexis Smith (U.K.) and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis (U.S.).[3]
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