Jade Villalon

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Jade Villalon


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Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Jade Valerie Villalon
Born = birth date and age|1980|8|12 San Diego, California, United States
Origin = Europe, United States, Philippines
Instrument = Vocals, Piano
Years_active = 2000 - present
Genre = Pop, post-classical, dance, rock
Occupation = singer, songwriter, pianist
Associated_acts = Sweetbox (1999-2007)
Label = Avex Trax (2002-2007)
Universal J (2007-)
URL = [http://www.jadevalerie.com/ www.jadevalerie.com]

Jade Valerie Villalon, also known by her stage name, Jade Valerie (born August 12 1980) is an American pop singer, songwriter and actress. [imdb name|id=1142999|name=Jade Villalon] She is sometimes known as Jade from Sweetbox. She was the former lead singer of the famous band Sweetbox until she quit in September 2007, to pursue her music career under her new stage name, "Jade Valerie". She had been with the project for 7 years between 2000 and 2007, solidifying the success of her own and project parter, Geo's, musical career.

For main information on her former pop project, see Sweetbox.

Personal life

Villalon was born in San Diego, California to a Filipino father and an American born mother of German and Irish descentFact|date=April 2008. She was raised partially in Japan from the age of three, but spent the majority of her childhood and teens in San Diego where she was a cheerleader in High School. She moved to Los Angeles, California when she was eighteen to pursue her acting and musical career.

Career

From a very early age, Jade Villalon started a path to fame by acting in commercials and small production roles, until she became a international star as the singer and songwriter of the pop group Sweetbox, and later, her own music project under her name, Jade Valerie.

Acting

Jade Villalon first made a television appearance in a Ramen Noodles commercial at a very young age. Her first major acting audition was at the age of seven for the Broadway Musical, . She then was featured acting in a commercial for toy dolls a few years later. 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”. Jade also had a small appearance as an extra, in the movie Sorority Boys

Music

Jade Valerie Villalon decided she wanted to sing at a very early age. According to interviews, after someone important in her life told her she could not sing well when she was young, she focused much of her time on becoming a songwriter, and this helped her write her own songs in her very successful future years as a singer. In her large and still expanding music career, she has released seven original albums, has won many awards, her music has been featured in many commercials and television spots, and she also lent her voice to sing the vocal songs on the English version of the popular video game "Final Fantasy X-2". Her albums all have reached gold and platinum statuses, and many of her singles have been #1 on charts in Europe and Asia.

Gemstone

In her teen years, she joined the pop–rock band Gemstone, along with well-known actress Christina Vidal and Crystal Grant. Although no album was released for commercial sale, some of the tracks made during this period surfaced on later albums by Jade in her later music project, Sweetbox.

weetbox

After Gemstone parted ways, Jade, 18 at the time, partnered as a singer and songwriter, with producer, songwriter, and arranger Geo, for the pop project Sweetbox, and became an international star. With Sweetbox, some of her songs became well known for being based on famous classical pieces. She released five original albums under the project, "Classified", "Jade", "Adagio", "After The Lights", and "Addicted", as well as compilations, greatest hits, a live DVD, and albums featuring demos. After 7 years, issues started with the original owners of the Sweetbox franchise, and Jade Villalon left the project behind to start her new musical solo career, under the name "Jade Valerie". In a short time, her long-time partner in music, Geo, decided to also leave the group and produce Jade's further solo albums, instead of working with Sweetbox's new vocalist, Jamie Pineda.

(For detailed information on Jade Villalon's time with her former pop project, see Sweetbox.)

Jade Valerie

In 2007, Jade Villalon, along with her music partner, Geo, left the famous stage name Sweetbox behind to start work on Jade's new music project, titled under her own name "Jade Valerie".

She released the mini album, Out Of The Box, the title being a play on words of the departure from Sweetbox, to critical acclaim in 2007. Her latest album, Bittersweet Symphony, being the 7th original album she's released in her entire career as a singer, proved she continued to make the right career choices, as the album reached high positions such as #15 on the Oricon charts. She re-released Out Of The Box in Korea, containing some of the tracks from her original album of the same name, as well as many tracks of Bittersweet Symphony. She also re-recorded the song "You Don't Know Me" with guest vocalist Kim Dong Wan for this release.

After her continuing success, Jade is currently in Prague recording a new album, which will be released late 2008 or early 2009. Jade and Geo are currently experimenting with new sounds and styles to create a sound for the album.

Discography

Albums

-Sweetbox-
* Classified (2001)
* Jade (2002)
* 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 (Sweetbox album)|Live [CD+DVD] (2006)
* Best of 12" Collection (2006)
* Complete Best (2007)
* Rare Tracks (2008)
* Sweet Wedding Best (2008)

-Jade Valerie-
* Out of the Box (2007)
* Bittersweet Symphony (2008)
* Out of the Box (Korean) (2008)

Singles

-Sweetbox-
* Trying to Be Me (2001)
* For the Lonely (2001)
* Cinderella (2001)
* Boyfriend (2002)
* Read My Mind (2002)
* Here on My Own (Lighter Shade of Blue) (2003)
* Life Is Cool
* Killing Me DJ
* More Than Love/This Christmas
* Everything's Gonna Be Alright -Reborn- (promo; 2005)
* Addicted (2006)
* Here Comes the Sun (promo; 2006)

-Jade Valerie-
*Just Another Day (2007)
*Crush featuring Baek Ji Young (2007)
*You Don't Know Me featuring Kim Dang Wan (2008)
*Unbreakable (2008)
*Razorman (2008)

Notes

External links

* [http://www.jadevalerie.com Official Jade Valerie Villalon Website]
*MySpace-music|jadevalerie|Jade Valerie Villalon
* [http://www.universal-music.co.jp/jade/index2.html Official Jade Valerie Villalon Universal J Website]
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