Sweetbox (Jade Villalon)

[froggyboy604]

Vocalist
Birth name Jade Valerie Villalon
Born August 12, 1980 (1980-08-12) (age 26)
Flag of United States San Diego, California, United States
Genre(s) Pop
Occupation(s) Singer, Songwriter, Pianist
Instrument(s) Vocals, Piano
Years active 2000 - present
Label(s) Avex Trax (2002-2007) Universal J (2007-)
Associated
acts Sweetbox (1999-2007)

producer is GEO

Jade Villalon

A year after Tina Harris' departure, Geo met with aspiring vocalist, Jade Villalon. Right away they knew they could work together with Geo's idea of classical music, and Jade's idea of a pop sound with meaningful lyircs. With this, the band's musical style changed from that of an R&B, hip-hop sound to dance and pop, with many songs created around classical music pieces. Since their meeting, Jade and Geo have worked together on every Sweetbox album thus far, making them the core team of Sweetbox.
The cover of Classified.
The cover of Classified.

Villalon and Geo released their first album, Classified in 2001. The general sounds of the album were dance, pop, and rock, with songs incorporating famous classical pieces, written by Beethoven, Ennio Morricone, and various other well known composers. Slower tempoed romantic songs were also present on the album, showing a very mature side of Jade Villalon. It received gold certification in Japan.

The second album with Villalon frontlining, Jade, was released in Asia in 2002. The song, "Lighter Shade of Blue", also known as "Here On My Own" because of it's similar music video version of the song, was released as a single in Europe and remained number one on some charts for four consecutive weeks. With this album, Jade and Geo experimented with many new acoustic sounds to tie in with Jade's now more matured lyrics, but some famous classical pieces were still used. The 2nd was "Read My Mind".

An acoustic version of the album Jade was released in 2003, under the name Jade - Silver Edition.

Discography

Albums

* Sweetbox (Only album with Tina Harris on vocals, also released as Everything's Gonna Be Alright) (1998)
* Classified (Starting Jade Villalon on vocals, adopted a new pop sound) (2001)
* Jade (2002)
* Jade (Silver edition) (2003)
* Adagio (2004)
* 13 Chapters (2004)
* After The Lights (2004)
* Best of Sweetbox (also released as Greatest Hits) (2005)
* Raw Treasures Volume 1 (2005)
* Addicted (2006)
* Live [CD+DVD] (2006)
* Best of 12" Collection (2006)
* Out Of The Box (released under "Jade" instead of "Sweetbox".)(2007)

Singles

* Boyfreind
* For The Lonely
* Cinderealla
* Tryin' To Be Me
* Here On My Own
* Read My Mind
* Life Is Cool
* Killing Me DJ
* More Than Love
* Addicted
* Crush (Collaboration between Baek Ji Young & Jade from Sweetbox.)

Trivia

* She has said, if she were to record a duet, she would like to do so with Steven Tyler, Robert Smith, Trevor Horn, Patrick Leonard, or Prince.
* Her favourite band is The Dixie Chicks.
* She would like for her music to be released in the United States.
* She owns a number of corsets and considers them to be part of her signature dress style at her performances.
* Her favourite Sweetbox song is "For The Lonely", which is the 2nd song written with Sweetbox.
* She has said that if the entertainment industry did not work out, she may have entered into fashion design, interior design, or event co-ordination.
* Country music is a favourite of hers, and some of the song-writers she looks up to write country music. She has said that she would like to one day sing and write for this genre.
* She is currently living in England.

Acting

Her first major audition was at the age of seven for the Broadway Musical, Gypsy. At the age of seventeen, she guest-starred as Melanie, a teenager in a camp for HIV-positive teenagers, in the television program, Touched by an Angel (Episode 70: "The Pact"). She has appeared in various music videos for popular artists, one being TLC's music video, “Unpretty”.

Personal life

Villalon was born in San Diego, California to a Filipino father and an American born mother of German and Irish descent. She was raised in Japan from the age of three. She moved to Los Angeles, California when she was eighteen, and presently lives in England.

Music

Villalon first entered the music world when she joined the band Gemstone along with Christina Vidal and Crystal Grant. After Gemstone broke up, at the age of eighteen, she entered the pop project/group Sweetbox, which has recently been re-named as "Jade", seeing as she, and her producer, Geo, are the only two solid members. (For main article on Jade's pop-group, see "Sweetbox".)

She is perhaps best known in the western world by video game players as the singer for the English release of Final Fantasy X-2. She was the vocalist for the songs "Real Emotion" and "1000 Words". (Kumi Koda was the singer for the Japanese version of the game).

Her music with Sweetbox is most famous in Asia, although her lyrics are entirely in English. She is also famous in the eastern world for contributing two songs, "World Without Frontiers" and "Addicted", to various Subaru Automobile commercials. Her music has also been featured in other popular commercials, including a commercial for Coca-Cola. In Korea, she is also well known for her Christmas Eve and New Years concerts. She also released a cover of "A Whole New World" on the asian release of a Disney soundtrack called "DisneyMainia!".

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetbox , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_Villalon

[Devochkip]

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