- Vanessa Fernandez
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Vanessa Fernandez Birth name Vanessa Mary Fernandez Also known as Miss Vandetta Born October 17, 1982
SingaporeGenres R&B, Soul, Jazz, Pop, Hip Hop Occupations Singer, Songwriter, Radio DJ, Actress Years active 1998 – present Website www.myspace.com/vanessafernandezofficial Vanessa Mary Fernandez (born 17 October 1982) is a singer and radio presenter from Singapore. She released several albums with the now defunct hip-hop groups, Urban Xchange and Parking Lot Pimp and is now more popularly known by her moniker, Vandetta, (sometimes Miss Vandetta) on Mediacorp Radio’s 987fm.
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Childhood and early career
Vanessa Fernandez was born in Singapore on 17 October 1982 to an Indian father, Victor Fernandez, and a Chinese mother, Jennifer Tan. She has a younger brother, Joseph. Fernandez was exposed to music and singing at an early age. Her father’s family is very musical although none of them ever took to music professionally (with the exception of her cousin, Alemay Fernandez). Fernandez started singing in the church choir at the age of 12 and at 16, while studying at CHIJ St. Joseph’s Convent, scored a leading role in her secondary school musical directed by Wendy Ng, then the Artistic Director of the Singapore Repertory Theatre Young Company. Ng asked her to join the established theatre group and she went on to perform in several musicals including Re:Mix, penned by Singapore Idol judge and music veteran, Dick Lee, as well as 24 Hours, penned by Haresh Sharma for The Necessary Stage in 1998. Fernandez continued in The Singapore Repertory Theatre for several years but eventually left as she put more time into school and pursuing music. In 2000, Fernandez was asked by rapper and producer, Terry Lee, to join a group that later became known as Urban Xchange. Lee had initiated the group in order to audition for a Coca-Cola commercial. Having recently met Lee through, Kevin Verghese (Kenny Pereira in Singapore film cult-classic, Army Daze), and working together on several performances at Zouk, Fernandez agreed to join Lee. The group also comprised Munir Alsagoff, Trisno Ishak, Firdaus Bahri, Michaela Therese, Humaa and Kimberly Olsen. Fernandez and Therese have a long-standing history having been part of the same church choir. The two, together with a friend and Fernandez’s cousin, joined local television talent search series, Rollin’ Good Times and won the “girl group” competition. Urban Xchange fronted Coca-Cola’s “Life Tastes Good” campaign and released two albums after being signed to Universal Music Singapore/Malaysia. Following the high profile campaign the group received limited success in the region, contributing “When I Grow Up I Wanna Be Like Jackie Chan” to the Asian edition of the Rush Hour 2 soundtrack, featured on a remix of Brian McKnight’s “When You Wanna Come” on the Asian repack of Superhero, and performing alongside American pop singer, Stacie Orrico as well as Malaysian rap group, Too Phat, at the 2003 MTV Asia Music Awards. The group stayed together, shuttling back and forth between Singapore and Malaysia, frequenting the latter for various publicity performances. However, in 2004, at age 21, Fernandez decided to return to school. She enrolled in Mass Communication at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. In her second year, Fernandez took a semester off to resume music with some of the members of Urban Xchange and the addition of Jeremy Green a.k.a J.G., a rapper and college friend of Terry Lee from San Francisco. Lee suggested the group rebrand as Parking Lot Pimp, in order to explore a new sound and style. Parking Lot Pimp was signed to EMI Music Southeast Asia who released their album, Welcome To Our Frequency. After a year in the studio, the group embarked on a series of promotions, one involving a showcase of EMI talent in Thailand, where Australia’s Missy Higgins and UK’s Jay Sean also performed. The group was also the first Asian artists featured on MTV Asia’s now-defunct Advance Warning, a programme that showcased up-and-coming artists. Unfortunately, barely a year in, Fernandez, along with Munir Alsagoff and Trisno Ishak, left Parking Lot Pimp due to personal and professional differences.
Radio career
Fernandez completed her diploma in Mass Communication, graduating with merit, and was scouted by Mediacorp Radio’s 987fm to become a producer/presenter. Initially she part-timed for the company and eventually was offered a regular weekday slot between 1-4pm in 2008. The show was titled, Vandetta in the P.M. The following year, Fernandez was asked to join Daniel Ong and Mister Young (Young Teng Leong) on morning drive time. A show helmed by three DJs was then unprecedented on 987fm. Their show AM Mayhem ran for a year. Subsequently, Fernandez returned to a solo show again this time between 10am-1pm. The show was titled, The V Spot. Fernandez used to host the programme AM Jam! from 6-10am with Divian Nair on 987fm. She left Mediacorp Radio’s 987fm in December 2010 and is pursuing her music career. Although she still has a nightly radio show on Singapore based sonar.sg .
Music career
In early 2008, Fernandez teamed up with Singaporean produced duo, Steam, comprising Don Richmond and Jason Tan, on a song titled You Don’t Need To Speed, which was featured on a compilation album, Sounds of The Underground. In 2009, she did an acoustic cover of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Both songs were played on 987fm as well as other Mediacorp English radio stations, Class 95fm and Gold 90fm. She is now in the band Parking Lot Pimp.
Other projects
While in her first year at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Fernandez was asked to appropriate music for the book, For The Love of God, a book of poetry and prose compiled by final year Book Publishing students headed by lecturer and former 8 Days writer, Desmond Kon. Fernandez later travelled with some of the students and lecturers to perform the songs at the launch of the book at the Prague Poetry Festival.
External links
- Vanessa's Profile on 987FM
Categories:- 1982 births
- Living people
- Singaporean singer-songwriters
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