- Corrinne May
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Corrinne May
符美云／符美雲Birth name Corrinne Foo May Ying Born 19 January 1973 Origin Singapore Occupations Singer, musician, songwriter, record producer Instruments Vocals, piano, acoustic guitar Years active 2001–present Labels Pink Armchair Records (US)
Warner Music (Singapore/Philippines)
S2S Pte. Ltd. (Japan)Website www.corrinnemay.com Corrinne May (born Corrinne Foo May Ying; Chinese: 符美云; Chinese: 符美雲; pinyin: Fú Měiyún on January 19, 1973) is a Singaporean singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles.
Corrinne composed and performed the theme song for Singapore's National Day 2010, titled "Song for Singapore". She performed the song live at the National Day Parade on August 9, 2010.[1]
Contents
Early life and education
Born on January 19, 1973, she was named after her mother's favorite song, "Corinna, Corinna". May studied in Raffles Girls' Primary School, Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) and Raffles Junior College. She later majored in mass communications and English literature at the National University of Singapore. Corrinne left Singapore to further her music education at the Berklee College of Music, where she majored in songwriting and film scoring. In order to pursue her dreams in music, she moved to Los Angeles in 1999.
May has been playing the piano since the age of 5, and is also proficient with the guitar. On 11 February 2005, The Straits Times interviewed May, who related that being a devout Catholic, "much of her music has been inspired by her relationship with God".
Career
Corrinne co-wrote the song "If You Didn't Love Me" with the legendary songwriters Carole King and Carole Bayer Sager as part of her winning entry in a songwriting competition on the music industry website Tonos.com. Carole King and Carole Bayer Sager wrote the lyric for the song and entertained submissions for the best musical accompaniment and melody. Corrinne's version was the winner. The song is featured on Corrinne's debut album.
In September 2004, Corrinne May became the first (and only) artist singing exclusively in English, to be signed by the record label Forward Music in Taiwan, which distributes her music to Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, and China.
Two songs from Corrinne's second album, "Save Me" and "Everything in its Time", were featured in Channel 5's hit television series Chase, which ran from March to May 2005. Chase arguably propelled Corrinne May from relative obscurity to an unprecedented level of recognition in Singapore.
On August 10, 2005, Corrinne held her first sold-out concert at the Esplanade Concert Hall, playing to a 1600 strong crowd.[2]
On February 12, 2006, Corrinne held a concert "Strings & Serenades: Corrinne May in Concert" in Singapore at UCC Hall. Singapore's answer to Sarah McLachlan returned to kick off the Arts Festival with this one-night-only acoustic concert, backed by an eight-piece string ensemble. Due to popular demand, an extra show was added on Monday 13 February 2006. This second show was more intimate and featured Corrinne on her piano accompanied by just a string quartet.
On December 16, 2006, Corrinne held a Christmas Concert in Esplanade following the release of her Christmas album, The Gift. Eager fans snapped up all the tickets for the concert one month prior to the concert date, making the concert a sold-out success.[3]
On August 3, 2007, Corrinne held her "Beautiful Seed: Corrinne May in Concert" at the UCC Hall. She performed tracks from her latest CD "Beautiful Seed", which was released the following Monday. A pre-release sale of the CD was held after the concert, followed by an autograph session, which lasted almost four hours.
In 2010, Corrinne was invited to write the annual theme song for Singapore's National Day. On 9 August 2010, she performed 'Song for Singapore' on the floating platform, in front of more than 9, 000 people, wearing a shimmering white dress. A music video was also filmed, which featured her as a young schoolgirl with a passion for music, aspiring to be a music teacher. She also begins to learn how to play the piano. She eventually realises her dream. There has been more than 400, 000 views on YouTube and more than 900, 000 downloads on the song. The song has received generally very good reviews and is featured on her website.
On July 21, 2010, she was the lead guest on prime time Channel 5 show "Entertainment on 5", Mediacorp.
On December 5, 2010, she performed at Marina Barrage in Singapore for the "I Love V" concert to celebrate International Volunteer Day. The event is a celebration held to recognise 8,000 volunteers for their service to the community.
Personal life
May is married to musician and producer Kavin Hoo.[4] They have a daughter, Claire.[5][6]
Discography
Albums
- 2001 - Fly Away (originally titled Corrinne May)
- 2005 - Safe in a Crazy World
- 2006 - The Gift
- 2007 - Beautiful Seed
Awards
- 2001
- Kerrville Folk Festival, New Folk Award
- 2003
- Just Plain Folks Music Awards, Best Contemporary Album
- 2007
- COMPASS Young Composer of the Year (Singapore)
- COMPASS Wings of Excellence (Singapore)
- NUS Young Alumni Award (Singapore)
In popular culture
Her song "Journey" was featured on the Taiwanese drama Love at the Dolphin Bay and was covered by Asian singers Angela Chang and Gigi Leung.
Corrinne's cover version of the Burt Bacharach classic "Close to You" was featured prominently in the movie So Close released by Columbia-Tristar films (2002).
External links
- Official website
- Her blog
- Corrinne May on Myspace
- Corrinne May's facebook page
- MTVAsia.com interview 02/2006
References
- ^ The Straits Times, July 8th 2010
- ^ Channel News Asia, article by Yvonne Cheong, August 2005
- ^ The Esplanade Co. Ltd. Annual Report 06/07
- ^ http://livingroomscribbles.blogspot.com/2009/01/corrinne-may-on-living-room_19.html
- ^ http://corrinnemay.blogspot.com/2011/01/let-little-ones-come-to-medo-not-take.html
- ^ http://claireyushuen.blogspot.com/2009/09/kavin-baby-whisperer.html
Categories:- 1973 births
- Living people
- Singaporean female singers
- Performers of Christian music
- Christian religion-related songwriters
- Singaporean Roman Catholics
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