Cheer Chen or Chen Chi-chen 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 and National Chengchi University. Her song "Little School Song" 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 in the 1990s. She produced her first solo demo recordings in 1997. At an early a pub show, Chen was noticed and praised by notable Taiwanese rock musicianWu 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 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. She has incorporated some songs from this project into her solo concerts. Chen released the albumSongs 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 for more than a decade until 2019.
Discography
Studio albums
Verse discography
52 Hertz 52赫茲
Demo CDs
Demo1
Demo2 - Cheer's Walkman
Demo3
Demo4
Singles
Track 1 - "Sentimental Kills"
Track 2 - "Travel with Sound"
Track 3 - "After 17", also included a track composed for Jing-mei Girls' Senior High School - 小小校歌
