Tata Young (born Amita Marie Young December 14, 1980 in Thailand) is a Thai-American pop and dance music singer, model and actress. A Thai superstar at age 15, she has gone on to international success with the release of her first English-language album I Believe in 2004. She remains an extremely popular performer in Thailand, receiving numerous honors and is a perennial "favorite" pick by magazines and music-video channels.
Thai teen superstar: 1994-1995
Tata Young is the only recognized daughter of American father Tim Young and a Thai mother. She started singing and dancing at an early age. At age 11, Tata beat 5,300 other children to be crowned winner of the international division of the nationwide Thailand Junior Singing Contest with her performance of One Night Only. Among the prizes she won was a keyboard, which was presented to her school, the Bangkok Patana School.
The victory earned her a contract with Yamaha Music, which groomed her for entry into the entertainment business. In 1994, the 14-year-old caught the eye of A&R executives from GMM Grammy, Thailand 's biggest entertainment conglomerate, who offered her a recording contract.
She soon released her debut Thai-language album Amita Tata Young which shot to the top of the charts and sold more than 1 million copies in less than five months. At the age of 15, Tata became the biggest pop sensation in Thailand.
Her reputation was solidified when sales of her follow-up album Tata 1,000,000 Copies Celebration, which included the hit single Chan Rak Thur (I Love You), hit the 1 million sales mark as well.
For her first year in the business, she collected a string of awards and accolades, included "Entertainer of the Year" by the Bangkok Press, as well as "Best Recording Artist for 1995", an award for "Music Video of the Year", awards for #1 and #2 "Single of the Year", and "Album of the Year" for Amita Tata Young at the Radio Vote Awards in Thailand.
International stardom: 1996-1997
Tata's Eurasian background helped her cross over from the Thai music charts to perform abroad.
She was chosen to represent Thailand for the Australian television program World Telly Broadcast, which was broadcast in February 1996. The program was seen by audiences in Australia and throughout Southeast Asia .
In April 1996, Tata held her "Tata Live in Hollywood Concert" at the Hollywood Palladium. It was a rare event for an Asian singer to be performing in front of an American audience. Nevertheless, the concert received outstanding reviews.
She was selected by the Chinese government to represent Thailand at a concert held on July 5, 1997 to mark the Hong Kong handover. She performed alongside such international acts such as Wet Wet Wet, Michael Learns to Rock, Lisa Stansfield, All 4 One and Brand New Heavies.
Also in 1997, Tata became the first entertainer in 14 years to receive the coveted "Golden Pikkanes God Award" presented by the Musical Artist Association of Thailand under the patronage of His Majesty the King.
Film, television and beyond: 1997-2003
Tata has also developed a modeling and acting career.
She made her film debut in 1997 in the youth drama 'The Red Bike Story, which broke records for audience-attendance for the Thai film industry. Her debut earned her the "Best Actress Award (Thailand)" presented at the Fourth Annual Blockbuster Entertainment Awards 1997. She followed that up with two other hit films, O-Negative and Plai Tien.
In 1997, ELLE magazine named her one of Thailand's "10 Most Influential People".
Tata was also chosen to sing "Reach for the Stars" in the opening ceremony for 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok.
In 1998, Asiaweek selected Tata as "One of 25 Most Influential Trend-setters in Asia".
In 2001, she launched a self-titled album under her new record company TERO Records. The album was an instant hit. Almost all of the album's songs, including "Shot:, "A-bo-da-be", "Tua Saeb", "Wan Jai" and "Keb Chan Wai Yuen Khang Thoe Tham Mai" climbed to the top of the music charts.
In the same year, Tata featured on the cover of Time and in an article about successful Eurasians in Asia. [1]
2003 saw Tata release her second album with Tero Records called Real TT. She co-produced the album, co-wrote the songs and laid out the concepts. Hits included "Super Fan" and "Yak Keb Thoe Wai Thang Song Khon".
Asian Star: 2004-present
2004 is considered one of the most important years for Tata Young as she released her English-language debut album, I Believe with Columbia Records. The album was launched on February 14 in Singapore. More than 100 members of the international press attended her press conference.
In Singapore, she performed and was chosen to join the judging panel at the Miss Singapore Universe 2004 pageant.
She encountered controversy at home in Thailand as well as elsewhere in Southeast Asia for the name of her single, "Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy", which she had to change to "Sexy, Naughty, Cheeky" in Malaysia. Nonetheless, Tata was voted as one of the "50 sexiest women in the world" by Malaysian publications.
In India, Tata Young was invited to sing the soundtrack for the Bollywood movie, Dhoom. She became the first female artist to appear on the front page of two Indian newspapers simultaneously.
In the Philippines and Indonesia, more than 20,000 fans queued to see her performance.
In South Korea, Tata invited a popular male Korean artist named "H" to sing a duet with her in the hit single "I Think of You". The song was Tata's fourth single from I Believe.
In Taiwan, Tata became the first Thai artist to be invited to perform at the Golden Melody Awards – Taiwan's equivalent of the Grammy Awards. Tata has also worked with Vanness Wu-F4, Jay Chou, Lee-Hom Wang, Jolin Tsai and many other artists.
In Hong Kong and China, "Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy" and "I Believe" climbed to the top of the charts.
Following her success in Southeast Asia, China and India, Tata turned her attention to Japan. "Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy" caught on and climbed to the top of the Zip FM charts as well as into the top 10 of the Oricon Charts, one of the most highly-regarded music charts in Japan. Her music video was played every 10 minutes on the big screens in Tokyo's Shibuya district. Her album sold 300,000 copies, an astonishing figure for an international album in Japan. She held six sold-out concerts in Fukuoka, Osaka, Yokohama, Nagoya, Sendai and Tokyo. The Japanese media proclaimed her performance the hottest concert ever.
The Thai superstar formed the Tata Young Fan Club in 1997 under the auspices of her company, Tata Entertainment, to gather support from her fans to provide assistance to the Thai children's charity, the Human Development Foundation.
Her second English-language album, Temperature Rising will be released on in the US and elsewhere around the world on August 24, 2006. The first single from the album is El Nin-Yo!. The album will be released in Japan on August 23, 2006.
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