Ella Chen

[-S.H.E & Fahrenheit Adik-]

Chen Jia-Hua, more commonly credited as Ella, is the oldest member of the Taiwanese girl group S.H.E. Her name 'Ella', which means courage, was given after the personality test given by HIM Management Co.

Career

Ella Chen finished high school but did not attend university due to her love and passion for singing. On August 8, 2000, HIM International Music held a 'Universal 2000 Talent and Beauty Girl Contest' in search of new artists to sign under their label. When she travelled with her sister to Taipei for a holiday, Ella Chen discovered that her older sister registered her for a singing competition. Intimidated by the long line of contestants and worried of facing ridicule for her tomboy personality, Chen almost gave up before the first round. Her older sister, however, convinced her to stay. Chen's deep voice caught the label's attention, and helped propel her through to the final round. Her alto voice is noted for its strong and beautiful nature.[1]

Following the conclusion of the contest, Chen returned to her duties at the local hospital, but received a call from HIM International requesting an additional audition. After test recordings were done, Chen signed on as part of HIM's newest girl group, S.H.E. When Ella first tested out her signature, HIM employees were concerned that the signature would be easily forged due to its simplicity; thus, during S.H.E's early days, Ella signed autographs using the last character of her name. However, as S.H.E's autograph sessions drew larger audiences, Ella reverted to her simpler, English signature.[2]

During her career with S.H.E, Ella has been the most accident-prone member. On July 29, she was sent to the hospital after jumping from the third storey of a building and shattering her hip. She returned three weeks later to promote Super Star. In 2005, during the filming of Reaching for the Stars, Ella burned her ears and hair on a candle, prompting crew members to send her to the National Taiwan University Hospital.[3] In order to recover, Ella stayed away from filming for two days, during which she cut off approximately two centimetres of burnt hair on both sides of her head.[3]

Image

In 2007, Chen was voted by online fans as Taiwan's most down-to-earth (unpretentious) artist.[4] Out of the three members of S.H.E, Ella is the most outspoken. Since the release of S.H.E's first album in 2001, Ella has usually been the one to answer reporters' questions.[5] As the tomboy of S.H.E, Ella is frequently the subject of jokes targeting her gender and sexual orientation, but she usually takes the jabs in stride.[6] Netizens even labelled her one of China's Four Main Tomboys of the past century.[7] Her unusually deep voice earned her a starring role as the voice of Arthur in the Mandarin version of Arthur and the Minimoys.

Personal life

Chen is the third of four children, including two older sisters and a younger brother. She also had a small pug named Qiang Qiang. However, due to health problems, Qiang Qiang had to undergo surgery and died due to an anaesthetic allergic reaction. As a result of this, she composed and wrote the lyrics to a song dedicated to her deceased pet. She released the EP recently and to reduce costs, she performed many tasks herself, such as designing the cover for the EP, so that the profit, all of which went to animal shelter associations, would be higher. She also asked several of her friends and acquaintances, such as Joe Cheng and Jay Chou, to sign a few of the EP so that they could
be auctioned off.

Discography

Qiang Qiang - solo EP, released August 27, 2007.

Filmography

2001 - Magical Love - as Juliet
2003 - The Rose - as Zheng Bai He
2005 - Reaching For the Stars - as Ren Jie
2006 - Hanazakarino Kimitachihe - as Lu Rui Xi
2007 - The Lollipop Idol Drama (herself)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Chen