I usually write about him after something of mine hits the main Xanga page- mostly because it's an opportunity to introduce one of my favorite (mostly unknown in America) super stars.
Born and raised in LA, a dancer from childhood, Taiwanese- American, the uber talented...
Van Ness Wu...
Singer, Dancer, Actor, Model...
Wu Jian Ho
His new single hit Japan last month and made it to the top 10 Oricon chart nearly instantly. (It was on the top 10 before my copy arrived in the mail.)
He has a new drama starting Sunday night. (It'll be weeks or months before I see it because the fansubbers have to love it enough to sub it for me). But his entire summer has been spent filming it- 16 hour days- counting weekends so those of you who can get TTV/SETT, turn in Sunday 22:00 - 23:30 and see how good it is. There's one scene he does in heels and it looks like lots of ice hockey time too.
He's funny, serious, workaholic, loyal to his friends and family, and dedicated to making every day count for God... and we barely know him here in his home country... which raises the big question for me consistently...
Why do we have such a talent drain in the States and no one mourns their loss? Why?
I probably know way too much about him since I spent four years writing the perfect crossover script for him that I haven't been able to convince him to read yet... (but that's a whole 'nother story!)
But... today I want to talk about someone I learned about because of Van Ness... one of his favorite song writers/ producers, one of my favorite composers to write to...
the irrasible, talented, rhyming genius Terry Tye Lee...
even fewer people know Tye Lee than know Van Ness and yet his riffs and beats linger in the brain for months after your encounter with them.
I hang out on another blog site when I'm writing and crank TTL's embedded radio and play him until my brain hurts and his words bounce around inside looking for a way out. I've listened to so much Tye Lee lately that I can hear four bars and recognize his fingerprints all over the masterpiece!
When I told him that I needed a CD- which he doesn't have- he sent me three unpublished tracks and I've listened to them nonstop. He's a humble, honest person who gives freely and doesn't think he's all that.
Tye Lee's been writing music since he was 13 and no one was making the music he wanted to hear- and besides, if he wrote his own music then he saved money. So for a kid growing up, it was a win-win. For the singers of Asia, it was a big win... and for us in the States? It was a pure wash since if it's not on our top 40 radio, we tend to ignore it.
In the dog-eat-dog, tear down anyone in your way entertainment world, I find it frustrating that Terry Tye Lee isn't better known. His sound is fresh, his beat fresher, and his heart is beautiful... like his songs.
So here's a bit of Van Ness performing one of my fav TTL's songs... (not my fav fav- that's a little thing called Green Kicks that you'll never hear unless he loans it to me with permission to upload it since he took it off his playlist). Enjoy- the best of both... Van Ness Wu performing at church a song TTL wrote ... Hello Superstar!
[I'm Chinese, btw. Hehe.] And how cool to know about Vanness having made such a turnaround! Praise God for that!
