We have posted about Vanessa only once before, and since we all are posting about musicians now anyway, I figured this personal favourite of mine (and I am not only talking about the music here ;-)) deserved another (longer and better!) posting.
Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson, known onstage as Vanessa-Mae, is an internationally known British classical and pop musician, especially noted for her violin skills. Her music style is self-described as “violin techno-acoustic fusion”, as several of her albums prominently feature the techno style.
You will find some more photos (including FHM shoot), clips and info in
Vanessa-Mae was born in Singapore to a Chinese mother and a Thai father. After her parents separated, her mother married Englishman Graham Nicholson, and the family moved to England when Vanessa-Mae was four years old. She grew up in London and is a British citizen.
She began playing piano at the age of three and violin at five. She was relatively famous in the United Kingdom throughout her childhood making regular appearances on television mostly involving classical music and conservative style. According to Guinness World Records she became the youngest person to record both the Beethoven and Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos, which she did at thirteen.
Vanessa-Mae made her international professional debut at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany in 1988, and also during 1988 made her concerto debut onstage with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London.
On entering adolescence Vanessa-Mae broke away from her traditional classical influences and became known for her flashy, sexy style appearing in music videos in stylish outfits. She appeared on the Janet Jackson album The Velvet Rope playing a violin solo on the song “Velvet Rope”. Her first pop styled album, The Violin Player, was released in 1995, and is still regarded as one of the best works of her career.
Some facts:
Full name: Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson
Date of birth: 27th October 1978
Place of birth: Singapore (moved to London aged 4)
Ethnicity: mother Chinese, father Thai
Resicence: Kensington, London
Vannessa Mae on the web
Vannessa Mae @ vanessa-mae.com (official site)
Vannessa Mae @ vanessamae.com (gallery at fansite)
Vannessa Mae @ youtube.com
Vannessa Mae @ images.google.com
Vannessa Mae @ wikipedia.org
she is SUCH a stunner! talk about great genes! i have been in love with her since her first album years and years ago. incidentally, she was profiled in a BBC special recently too. love her british accent, too. 🙂
I wonder what she is doing today? Haven’t heard from her in a big while. Still remember how hot she was performing. Sexy, with talent, superb.
she looks great..dont care much about the pop style of her music..i prefer clasicals with the strings….but she looks hot….just the fact she is talented, makes it worth the boink:))
To answer dazn’s question, she’s still going strong. Indeed, her most recent album Choreography is possibly her strongest yet. Vanessa is a truly great musician – probably my favourite living violinist actually (and I’m not just saying that because of how she looks!). Indeed, I don’t think she gets as much respect as she deserves in classical circles, because of her sexiness.
Lawboy: you should check out her version of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons – IMHO, it is the best I have ever heard.
Thanks, Dr. Lee, I’ll look into that album.
Is it possible that you also haven’t been looking at many other violinists, since you lay eyes on her? 😀
Nevertheless, I do think she is very, very talented, I just am not very good at comparisons in that area. So, well, just asking if you did a thorough comparison, hehe
Well actually, yes. Even though the vast majority of my CD collection is in the ‘pop’ genre (although most of the stuff I like is relatively obscure), the only radio station I can listen to on an extended basis these days is Australia’s national classical music station, Classic FM – most top 40 pop these days is just too unbearable for me. But even though most classical music is listenable (except for bel canto opera – yuck!), most classical musicians are too ‘stuffy’ to really inspire me. But Vanessa has real fire and passion, along with great technical ability.
doc..i actually prefers the vienna orchestra or st. louis phil harm with leonard slatkin…or herbert von karajan…i think he was a nazi but he is very, very good…sorry i am old fashion…vanessa mae reminds me too much of the Hongkong and Korean youth bubblegum music…just cant swallow it:)
LawBoy, it seems you are judging Vanessa by her ‘pop’ albums. She has done a few straight classical albums, of which her version of The Four Seasons is an outsanding example.
how about we cross vanessa with tila…what will we get? 🙂
That sounds like crossing matter with anti-matter, so I guess we’d have total annihilation! 🙂
like when the Ghostbusters crossed streams? world will end:))
I have been a fan of hers since Violin Player came out. Unfortunately, she has disappointed me lately because she decided not to release Change of Seasons and Choreography in North America. In my opinion, that is shutting out a large fan base.
Still, she is a beautiful and pretty talented musician. 4 Seasons is my favorite work by her as well. If any of you are interested, she has a forum called vanessamae.org that I’m a member of. Its been pretty slow lately, so they’d love it if any of you popped over there to offer some comments on Vanessa.
Nice info wylde8, about that forum. I’m checking it now.
She’s pretty but flat-chested. Pass. Love her music though.
^Well, at least I’m not the only one who was thinking that.
She is very beautiful and talented, but the first thing I think of whenever her name is mentioned is how flat-chested she is.
Yes, she has little filling. This is an example where I would have no problem with a boob job, Doc! 😉
No disrespect to Miss Mae intended of course!
i dont know why women these days would deprive themselves from such enhancement surgery:) i hope she is not deluted thinking that men will like her for what she has….we are all shallow cads…especially the big boob loving Doc:)
maybe she thinks it will get in the way of her violin…hard choice….:)
Yeah, I suspect it’s an issue of practicality for a violinist. But damn, wouldn’t she look great with tits!
yea doc…she would look great with bigger boobies…not too big, but big enough…like sachiko…btw…sachiko is pretty pettit…your pictures give her a different angle…great job…bet you can make me look, tall, dark and handsome:))
I thought you were already tall, dark and handsome. 😉
I haven’t heard of her until now, but I will definitely give her music a listen. Vanessa is stunning. Would she look better with bigger breasts? No doubt. But what Asian woman wouldn’t look better with bigger tits? Or bigger tits and a nice round ass? Cut her some slack. Vanessa doesn’t need to change a thing. If she needed to, she would have done it by now.
doc…nope, i am short, chubby, and not so handsome 🙂 any hotties takers? i am still waiting for Tila, or Bebe to call….long wait i’ll bet… 😉