Elva Hsiao

At 44 years old, Elva Hsiao has this physical status:

Elva Hsiao (; pinyin: Xiao Yaxuan, born 24 August 1979) is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, and businesswoman.

Since being signed to a record contract in 1998 after participating in a singing competition, Hsiao has gone on to produce fourteen studio albums and has had a huge market success in China's pop music market.

Elva Hsiao (1999), the artist's first album to sell R&B in China, was regarded as one of the first to incorporate R&B.

Shut Up and Kiss Me was her most recent album.

Hsiao was named one of China's top female singers among her contemporaries.

As a result, she has been ambassador for many brand names, including Motorola, Sprite, De Beers, Avon, Pantene, and Ford.

In 2014, Hsiao was named one of Taiwan's top earners, earning more than USD 18 million.

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Life and career

After being rejected from the New Talent Singing Awards affiliated with Hong Kong's television station TVB, Hsiao was signed to EMI Virgin Records in 1998 as their first artist. She was one of twelve finalists. Jacky Chu and Ruby Luzhich also competed that year. Hsiao was a member of Phenomenon but decided against pursuing a solo career after her bandmates fell out. At the time, she was studying architecture at the John Casablancas Institute in Vancouver, Canada. Hsiao was lead and groomed by singer Yao Chien, who was also the president of Virgin/EMI in Taiwan at the time. Yao may also have a hand in writing for several of Hsiao's albums, which were released under Virgin/EMI. Hsiao's debut album was self-titled and was focused on the pop and R&B genres. The album was released in 1999 and was considered a pioneer of the R&B style in Chinese speaking markets. The album was a commercial success, with 800,000 copies in Asia releasing a total 800,000 copies in the year. The album's success inspired her first solo appearance in Taipei later in 2000. In Chinese karaoke settings, the single "Cappuccino" became extremely popular. In Taiwan, Hsiao was also chosen to film the jingle for the Broadcasting Corporation of China's re-branding campaign.

Virgin/EMI made a push for the mainland Chinese market on Tomorrow, capitalizing on the singer's name recognition in Taiwane and Hong Kong's music markets. The album featured hip hop influences and faster tempos than Hsiao's previous releases, as well as a song performed in Cantonese. With a limited number of four concerts and press conferences in China and Hong Kong, the album will continue to sell 400,000 copies in the mainland, in comparison to 290,0000 copies sold in Taiwan in 2001. Hsiao's new album 4U, which was released in 2002, featured a song for which Hsiao wrote the lyrics. That year, she collaborated with English boy band Blue on a reimagining of their song "U Make Me Wanna" for her album Theme Song of Love, Kissing. Two songs on which Hsiao was involved in production were included on the album. In the same year, Hsiao made her film debut in Infernal Affairs, playing the ex-girlfriend of Tony Leung's character. The film was remade in the United States as The Departed, which went on to win an Academy Award. In 2004, Hsiao would appear in the animated film The Butterfly Lovers, which is based on the ancient Chinese fairytale of the same name. In addition to soundtracks for a film and a television performance, two songs from Hsiao's forthcoming album, 5th Avenue, were also included in soundtracks for a film and a television performance. With the debut of her greatest hits album Beautiful Episode, the singer's contract with Virgin/EMI came to an end in 2004. Despite a light marketing budget on Hsiao's public image, the album did well, with 400,000 copies of the album in mainland China, the highest sales record for the brand this year.

In December 2006, Hsiao signed with Warner Music Taiwan but was only able to debut her next album, 1087. The album was partially postponed due to an internal upheaval at Warner's workers, and it was chosen for the number of days between its appearance and Hsiao's previous studio album. The album's promotion suffered as a result of her leg injury while shooting a music video. Hsiao returned to EMI Music Taiwan in 2008 after releasing just one album with Warner and then reuniting her with former manager Yao Chien. In June, she introduced 3 Faced Elva in the same year. Diamond Candy, the artist's follow-up to the Gold Typhoon brand, was released under the Gold Typhoon brand after it was revealed in August that the company had acquired EMI Music Taiwan. Since the latter acquired Gold Typhoon's music interests in 2014, her entire catalog will appear under Warner Music. This album featured songs written by British singer Wayne Hector, as well as one song called "Beautiful Encounter" from that album, which was later covered by Brazilian pop singer Wanessa. On December 31, 2009, she began a world tour. With the debut of Miss Elva in 2010, Hsiao ventured into more dance-oriented music. In 2013, she released another compilation album Super Girl, which included a new duet with Chinese K-pop singer Han Geng. Carry Me, a fashion brand launched at the time.

Hsiao and fellow Taiwanese pop star Show Luo joined Sony Music in the greater China region in 2013. Shut Up and Kiss Me, which was preceded by a single of the same name, was released by Hsiao. After a day of being announced on the back of a NTD 4 million marketing blitz by Sony, the music video for the single attracted 1 million views on YouTube. In Taiwan, The Amazing Spider-Man 2's main promotional song was used on a song from the same album. In August 2017, Hsiao went on hiatus, hiding from the public eye for 18 months due to unknown reasons, putting a new album on hold that she had reportedly been planning for three years. She was forced to cancel 13 tour dates in China for April 2018. In August, the singer began to restrain herself by announcing that she suffered chest pains in a fall, resulting in her being unable to perform due to a lack of oxygen. In November, Hsiao revealed that she'd be releasing Naked Truth, a 10-song collection of songs, in 2020, to coincide with her 20th year as a recording artist. "In a Heartbeat," the lead single, was released in 2019 and peaked at No. 1st. 2 on the Taiwanese KKBox chart. Hsiao appeared on the Chinese couple reality-show Meeting Mr. She and her boyfriend were dating in late 2020 right around late 2020.

Hsiao revealed that she was working on a new album after making a surprise appearance at the 33rd Golden Melody Awards.

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