ARTICLE
Let's Walk Down Memory Lane as Stefanie Sun Celebrates Her 20th Anniversary!
By Chen Shun / 18 Jun 2020 (Thursday)
On June 9, Stefanie Sun celebrated the 20th Anniversary of her debut in the showbiz. That means her album that debuted in 2000 is older than most poly students now!
While the singer may not be as active in the industry anymore due to her commitment to her family, she is still widely celebrated as she was one of the most popular Mandopop singers in her heydays.
Let's take this chance to look back at Stefanie Sun's achievements as she celebrates her big 2-0.
Life Before Debut
Born and raised in Singapore, Stefanie Sun spent all her educational life here. If you're a Singaporean, you'll know that Stefanie's schools were all renowned. She attended Nanyang Primary School, St. Margaret's Secondary School, Raffles Girls' School, Saint Andrew's Junior College, and Nanyang Technological University, where she obtained a bachelor's degree of Marketing in 2000.
Debut and Breakout
While attending LWS School of Music, Stefanie's vocal talents were noticed by her mentor Paul Lee. Her mentor later introduced Stefanie to Samuel Chou, who was the chairman of Warner Music Taiwan at the time. One thing led to another, and Stefanie Sun made her debut with the album 'Yan Zi (2000)' under Warner Music Taiwan. The title track "Love Document (愛情證書)" placed 4th on the Hit FM Annual Top 100 Singles in 2000 which helped the singer-songwriter secured a Golden Melody Award for Best New Artist.
In her debut album, the song 'Cloudy Day (天黑黑)' also became a timeless classic that is still remembered by many fans in this era! The song reached 33rd place on the Hit FM Annual Top 100 Singles in 2000.
Continued Success
Stefanie Sun placed herself firmly in the mandopop-music industry with her continued success as she released 9 studio albums, 2 compilation albums and 2 live concert albums within 9 years! The singer became popular in Singapore, Malaysia, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The singer's 3rd studio album 'Kite (2001)' did exceptionally well and it managed to earn an IFPI Hong Kong Top Sales Music Award for Top 10 Best Selling Mandarin Albums of the Year in 2001.
In 2002, Stefanie Sun was invited back to Singapore and her song "We Will Get There" is the theme song of the Singapore National Day Parade 2002. The song is still iconic and sung at the National Parade in current years!
'Stefanie', her seventh studio album was released in 2004. The album did tremendously well, and the singer was nominated for two Golden Melody Awards in 2005 — Best Mandarin Album and Best Mandarin Female Singer — where she finally won the latter award. The award recognised Stefanie's blood, sweat and tears that she had put in for 6 consecutive years.
Hiatus and Present Years
After Stefanie Sun release her ninth studio album 'Against the Light' in 2007, she took a break of 4 years before releasing her 10th studio album in 2011. You might think that her fanbase might have dwindled over the years, but her 10th studio album managed to sell more than 75,000 copies in Taiwan alone and became the second best-selling album of the year in Taiwan.
In 2011, it not only marked the comeback of Stefanie Sun but it was also the year she settled down with her husband, Nadim van der Ros. Not long after, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy in October of 2012.
In July 2018, the singer and her family welcomed a daughter into the family. Ever since then, Stefanie Sun hasn't been active in the showbiz.
The singer only released two more albums 'Kepler (2014)' and 'No. 13 — A Dancing Van Gogh (2017)' after her marriage to her husband. Looking at the trend of Stefanie Sun's return to the music scene of staggering 3 years between every comeback, her next album release is most likely in 2021.