Cheer Chen

Biography

Cheer Chen Chi-chen (Chinese: 陳綺貞; born 6 June 1975) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter. Her most recent album, Sofa Sea, was released in 2018.

Early life

Chen was born on 6 June 1975 in Taipei. Her mother supported her interest in music from an early age. Chen is an alumna of Taipei Municipal Jingmei Girls' Senior High School (臺北市立景美女子高級中學) and National Chengchi University (國立政治大學). Her song "Little School Song" (Chinese: 小小校歌) is generally regarded as the unofficial theme song of Jingmei Girls' Senior High School.

Career

Chen was the singer and guitarist in an underground band called Sunscreen (防曬油) in the 1990s. She produced her first solo demo recordings in 1997. At an early pub show, Chen was noticed and praised by notable Taiwanese rock musician Wu Bai. In 1997 she signed with Rock Records and her debut album Think Twice was released in July 1998, while she was still an undergraduate student at National Chengchi University. She graduated from that university with a Bachelor of Philosophy degree.
Chen is frequently involved in community volunteer activities. She was the first female singer-composer to perform on the stage of Taipei Arena. Chen has also appeared on stage several times with the Taiwanese band Mayday. Singer Ashin (陳信宏) of Mayday said of Chen, "I think that Cheer is a fantastic lyricist, her lyrics appear to be a soft knife that looks harmless but is actually sharp." Most of Chen's songs are in Mandarin Chinese, and occasionally in English. She writes most of her own music and lyrics. She plays acoustic guitar on most of her songs, and occasionally electric guitar and piano.
Chen's 2002 album Groupies was named one of the 200 best albums of all time by the Taiwanese Musician Institute. Chen left Rock Records in 2003 and has since released her records independently. In 2004-2005 she appeared in advertisements for Lee Jeans with Stanley Huang. A song she wrote for the commercials appeared on her fourth album Peripeteia in 2006. That album won the Best Music Album Producer Award and Best Music Video Award at the 17th Golden Melody Awards. Chen was also nominated for Best Female Singer and Best Album of the Year. In 2010 she was nominated for another Golden Melody Award for Best Songwriter.
In 2009, Chen became a spokesperson for Nikon cameras. In 2010 she was featured in an Adidas commercial alongside worldwide celebrities like Hyori Lee, David Beckham, and Oasis. In 2011 she became the spokesperson for Sokenbicha herbal drink for the Taiwanese market.
In 2009, Chen released her fifth album Immortal, which was recorded in her bedroom. The album was mastered by Grammy Award winner Bernie Grundman and was named one of the Top 10 Selling Mandarin Albums of the Year at the 2009 IFPI Hong Kong Album Sales Awards. The album was supported by an Asian and Australian tour that lasted until 2011.
In 2012, Chen formed an electronic/experimental music project with producer Tiger Chung called The Verse (originally The Voice). She has incorporated some songs from this project into her solo concerts. Chen released the album Songs of Transience in 2013. After taking a hiatus from music for several years, she released her seventh album Sofa Sea in December 2018.

Personal life

Chen had been in a relationship with music producer Tiger Chung (鐘成虎) for more than a decade until 2019.

Demo CDs

Demo1 (September 1997)
Demo2 - Cheer×Cheer29 March 2005 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1九份的咖啡店4:522雨天的尾巴 (滬尾小情歌)3:353讓我想一想3:474還是會寂寞4:315躺在你的衣櫃 (Guitar)5:066吉他手3:027告訴我5:098會不會4:209太聰明4:2210小步舞曲4:2011孩子3:3412慢歌34:1713嫉妒4:2714溫室花朵4:4915就算全世界與我為敵4:47's Walkman (March 2000)
Demo3 (9 November 2001)
Demo4 (12 December 2011)

Singles

Track 1 - "Sentimental Kills×Sentimental Kills19 December 2003 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Sentimental Kills4:09" (15 November 2003)
Track 2 - "Travel with Sound" ("旅行的意義×旅行的意義29 March 2004 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1旅行的意義4:042旅行的意義 (純音樂)4:04") (24 March 2004)
Track 3 - "After 17×After 1731 December 2004 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1After 172:452小小校歌1:23" (31 December 2004), also included a track composed for Jing-mei Girls' Senior High School - 小小校歌
Track 4 - "Pussy×Pussy8 February 2007 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Pussy3:02" (8 February 2007)
Track 5 - "Fly for You" ("失敗者的飛翔×失敗者的飛翔13 July 2008 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1失敗者的飛翔3:27") (13 July 2008)
Track 6 - "Ephemera" ("蜉蝣") (5 October 2011)
Track 7 - "The Long Goodbye" ("偶然與巧合×偶然與巧合1 December 2014 · EPSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1偶然與巧合 The Long Goodbye3:522海浪 The wave decides to talk to the shell2:01") (1 December 2014)

Compilation albums

Cheer Chen - Princess From East '01 (21 June 2001)
Rock Records HK Golden Decade Classics - The Best of Cheer Chen (October 2002)
Cheer 1998-2005 (March 2005)

DVDs

Sixteen Days Cheer×Cheer29 March 2005 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1九份的咖啡店4:522雨天的尾巴 (滬尾小情歌)3:353讓我想一想3:474還是會寂寞4:315躺在你的衣櫃 (Guitar)5:066吉他手3:027告訴我5:098會不會4:209太聰明4:2210小步舞曲4:2011孩子3:3412慢歌34:1713嫉妒4:2714溫室花朵4:4915就算全世界與我為敵4:47's Frame-001 (October 2005)
Cheer's Flowers Concert Classic Memoirs + 2 CDs (May 2007)
Cheer Looks: Cheer's Adventurous Image Diary - Cheer's Frame-002 (September 2007)
Immortal Tour (May 2010)
A Piece Of Summer II World Tour (September 2012)

Unreleased songs

"Solitude" (孤獨) Partially included as a hidden track after the last song(#10) in the first official album Think Twice Taiwan version
"A Practice" (每天都是一種練習) Partially included as a short track(#7) in the third official album Groupies
"Monsoon" (季風) Lyrics by Tiger Chung

Published works

《不厭其煩》(Bú Yàn Qí Fán) - collection of lomography with short notes (5 November 2001)
LIVE.LIFE 《現場·生活》 2006 Calendar (December 2005)
Placeless Place 《不在他方》(Bú Zài Tā Fāng) - a collection of essays written by Cheer published together with a newly released single "Chance or Coincidence / 偶然與巧合" (1 December 2014)