Ella Chen

Ella Chen 陳嘉樺
Chinese name	陳嘉樺 (Traditional)
Chinese name	陈嘉桦 (Simplified)
Pinyin	Chén Jiāhuà (Mandarin)
Birth name	Chen Chia-Hwa
Origin	Republic of China (Taiwan)
Born	June 18, 1981 (1981-06-18) (age 30) Pingtung, Taiwan
Other name(s)	Chen Ai La (陳艾拉)
Occupation	Singer, actress, host
Genre(s)	Mandopop
Voice type(s)	Alto
Label(s)	HIM International Music
Years active	2001-present
Associated acts	S.H.E

Chen Chia-Hwa (陳嘉樺), more commonly credited as Ella, is the oldest member of the Taiwanese girl group S.H.E. Her name 'Ella', which means courage^{[citation needed]}, was given after the personality test given by HIM Management Co.

Career

See also: S.H.E's musical career, S.H.E's television and film career

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 discovered that her older sister had registered her for a singing competition. Intimidated by the long line of contestants and worried of facing ridicule for her tomboy personality, Ella almost gave up before the first round. Her older sister, however, convinced her to stay. Ella'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, Ella returned to her duties at a local hospital, but received a call from HIM International requesting an additional audition. After test recordings were done, Ella 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, (pinyin: huà). 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, 2003 she was sent to the hospital after jumping from the third story 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]

As a singer and an actress Ella has also appeared in various music videos such as 愛的重唱曲-覆水難收篇 (2004-04-05), 再一次拥有 by Kaira Gong and 愛到瘋癲 by Power Station.

In 2009, along with her band-mate Hebe Tian, Ella composed a song for her seniors Power Station, entitled "Love Crazy/愛到瘋癲". Ella was the composer while Hebe wrote the lyrics. The song was given to them as repayment for Power Station having given S.H.E the song "Freezer". Ella had also composed the station song for a Taiwan radio station, POP Radio 91.7. In 2010 she was also featured in the drama Down with Love.

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.

Ella left for New York to study English a few days after Selina, who was still in the hospital, celebrated her birthday on October 31, 2010.

Discography

See also: S.H.E discography

• Qiang Qiang (蔷蔷) - solo EP, released August 27, 2007.
• 单手超人(Dan Shou Chao Ren / Single-handed Superman) - solo The 3 Spas of Love
• 我就是我 (I Am Just Me) - a self-penned and self-composed song she made for her solo performance in the S.H.E Is The One Concert Tour.^[8]
• 跟月亮 Say Goodbye (Say Goodbye With The Moon) - solo - unreleased but leaked around April 2010.^[9]
• 你被写在我的歌里 (Ni Bei Xie Zai Wo De Ge Li) [You're To Write In My Songs] - duet single - was the featured artist in What Is Troubling You (你在煩惱什麼) Album by Sodagreen, released November 11, 2011.

Filmography

See also: S.H.E filmography

Year	Title	Role	Language
2001	Magical Love (愛情大魔咒)	Juliet (朱俐樺)	Mandarin
2003	The Rose (薔薇之戀)	Zheng Bai He (鄭百合)	Mandarin
2005	Reaching For The Stars (真命天女)	Ren Jie (任潔)	Mandarin
2006	Hanazakarino Kimitachihe (花樣少年少女)	Lu Rui Xi (盧瑞莃) / Ashiya Mizuki	Mandarin
2007	The Lollipop Idol Drama (棒棒糖偶像劇)	(herself)	Mandarin
2010	Down With Love (就想赖着你)	Yang Guo (楊果)	Mandarin

References

1. ^ (Chinese) S.H.E - Girls are the World. November 5, 2003. Retrieved April 4, 2007.
2. ^ (Chinese) Sina.com. S.H.E's Life Story, Part 4: S.H.E's Name. September 14, 2004. Retrieved February 13, 2007.
3. ^ ^{a b} Feng Yijian. Liberty Times. Ella catches fire; hair burnt, ears swollen. June 23, 2005. Retrieved February 15, 2007.
4. ^ (Chinese) Yahoo! China News. Fans vote; sweetheart Cindy Wang is too fake, Tony Chen's fakeness gets him first place. March 16, 2007. Retrieved March 16, 2007.
5. ^ (Chinese) S.H.E Girl Friends had three people sleeping on one bed. December 2, 2001. Retrieved February 27, 2007.
6. ^ Woodworth, Max. Pop Stop. August 13, 2004. Retrieved June 28, 2007.
7. ^ [1]
8. ^ Chansingh, Joyce. XINMSN Entertainment. S.H.E is the One!. April 18, 2010
9. ^ (Chinese) HIM Official Website. HIM Staff clarifies the issue about Ella's leaked song. April 14, 2010

External links

• (Chinese) Official Profile @ HIM International
• (Chinese) 嘉桦Ella的新浪微博

Persondata
Name	Chen, Ella
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	June 18, 1981
Place of birth	Pingtung, Taiwan
Date of death
Place of death