Crazy about music, Janice can sing and dance away a hundred years - if she could live that long.Singing only because she wanted to dance and perform, she accidentally won herself a "Most Promising Performer" award from the Singing Shop, when she was only 8. She thought little of it. Consequently, while she continued singing, she focused more on dancing.
It was when she got roped in by her friends to join Malaysia's Battle of the Bands Competition 2005 did she begin to think of singing as a career. This was because a demo of her voice on her self-penned song for the competition started a buzz on music forums all over Malaysia and with tonnes of votes for her band, they successfully emerged as the top 5 finalists out of over a hundred bands.
After much experience through gigging as a singer-songwriter in venues like No Black Tie, Alexis, the Laundry Bar, the Attic & etc, Janice expanded her vocal capacity in Musical Theatre as well, and earned the "Best Solo Performance - Vocals" Awards, in 2006, despite being voted against veterans in the industry.
That coupled with her other songwriting awards, drove Janice to embark on a musical journey to London between 2008 - 2009. While undergoing intensive vocal training at London's Institute of Contemporary Music Performance School, Janice continued to perform all across Central London, as a solo artiste for her original material, the lead vocalist for the band, "Blues Force" and also as one of the key singers for London's Mount of Olives Gospel Choir.
Some of the reputable venues of which she was featured in while she was in London, include the highly regarded Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, Troy Bar, Raffles Club, Spice of Life, the Blues Bar, the Crown, and the Good Ship.
With a wide vocal range of 5 octaves, and musical tastes that are eclectic, Janice is a diverse singer that can deliver songs with that extra "ummph", whatever the genre. She also sings fluently in three languages, English, Chinese & Malay.
Janice always had an ear for music. She started playing the piano when she was 6, picked up the guitar along her teenage years on her own, and the drums while playing for her schools' military band. However, she was not content to only play music - she wanted to create music.Songwriting secretly since she was 8, she kept the "voices in her head" pretty much to herself. However, roped in by her friends to join Malaysia's Battle of the Bands Competition in 2005, Janice recorded a demo of her self-written song and posted it online. To her own surprise, the song generated quite a buzz on musical forums all across Malaysia, and awarded her with the first recognition for her songwriting skills, with the "Best Song Composition" Award.
She then participated in another songwriting competition, Malaysia's Revival Songwriting Competition 2006, and won yet another award, 2nd Runner Up for "Best Song Composition". Encouraged by these accolades, Janice then took her compositions to the music scene - playing in various places like No Black Tie, Alexis, the Laundry Bar & the Attic. While in London pursuing her studies in Music, she not only played in reputable places like the Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, Troy Bar, Raffles Club, Spice of Life, the Crown and the Blues Bar, but she also built a following in those places. Now, back in Malaysia, she fronts (as the lead vocalist as well as the songwriter) the band, "Janice and the Supertank" - a band that has been featured on all local TV Channels, invited various times to perform at the renowned Hard Rock, Penang, despite being albumless and less than a year old!
Sometimes mistaken as a guy through the phone, Janice is blessed with a low and warm speaking voice - one that commands attention.TV Presenter
As such, she was invited to audition for 8TV's Trippin' (Season 2) of which is an adventure and recreational programme. Out of the many other candidates, Janice was quickly selected, not only based on her ability to present and her contagious personality, but also her for her natural athletic ability developed over the years from dancing. As the TV Presenter for that programme, Janice had to learn various skills in a few days, including Drifting, Scuba Diving, Paramotoring, WakeBoarding, Skimboarding, Aerobatic Flying & etc.
As Janice left for London to pursue Music right after the show, the production of the next season never happened. However, the same season was aired not once, but twice on 8TV again.
Radio Announcer
More recently, Janice was the host of CapitalFM's breakfast show every morning - the Capital Breakfast. Hand-picked out of the many who auditioned for the same role, Janice was selected as the new voice of CapitalFM. Working alongside her radio team, they successfully drew the highest ratio of household income listeners among all other English Radio stations in Malaysia, that is 86%. Janice's breakfast show, a fun infotainment segment that focuses on bringing valuable info & updates and laughter & smiles to listeners garnered 83% of high income listeners.
Emcee / Host
Today, focusing more on music, Janice hosts both for corporate events, launches as well as parties. Some of her previous clients include, 8TV Quickie (Guest Presenter), Jaeger-Lecoultre, Wah Seong Corporation, Honda, Malaysia's Health & Wellness Convention, Seed of Darkness (distributed by Columbus TriStar Films), Malaysian Charity Draw & the Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show.
Janice's first acting role was in Kindergarten - she played a frog. And, she enjoyed every minute of it.While being active in Acting Clubs and events through out school, Janice only first realised her natural talent for acting when she earned a "Best Actress" award at a Youth Camp, out of over hundreds of other teenagers.
Finding her way around the local entertainment industry, without any formal training, Janice decided to audition for a couple of roles. As a result, she landed some lead roles in a few TV Advertisements easily, and was quickly handpicked by Joe Hasham to play the lead damsel of the award-winning musical, "Broken Bridges" in 2006. It was this debut performance in Musical Theatre that earned her first honours in the industry - she was awarded "Best Solo Performance - Vocals" by the prestigious BOH Cameronian Arts Awards.
She then starred in a couple of other productions, including "Okiku, a tragedy retold" and "Windows", of which was self-written. She was also offered roles in Broadway Productions' "Shout! The musical", and "Sparks of Broadway", both of which she had to decline because of other music commitments.
Focusing more on singing and songwriting now, Janice works only on selected productions and events.
Janice sang since she was 4, but never took singing seriously until much later in adult life. It was while landing roles in Theatre Musicals that demanded much more of her vocal abilities that challenged this lass to take things a step further.However, despite being an untrained singer amongst her musically trained peers, from her debut performance in the award-winning musical, Broken Bridges (directed by Joe Hasham), Janice was awarded the "Best Solo Performance - Vocals" by Malaysia's prestigous Cameronian Arts Awards in 2006. This, coupled with her other awards in songwriting drove her to drop everything and embark on a musical journey in London between 2008 - 2009.
Trained by various top coaches in London (many of which are involved in London Theatre as well as contemporary singing with artistes such as Jamiroquai, Groove Armada, La Roux, Donavan & etc), Janice had to unlearn many vocal habits to develop the new. As such, coupled with many hours of gigging in the Central London, Janice understands how to take a voice from "zero" to greater heights - because she in her own words, "started with a weak and broken voice".
As a vocal coach now, Janice has the unique ability in unlocking a person's true vocal potential. Her teaching style raises singers not only with great vocal control, but also singers who are well-equipped in maintaining their vocal health and uniqueness of sound.
Janice's love for music began with dancing. Enrolled by mistake, straight into Grade 1 Ballet, rather than Elementary Level, Janice was forced to pick up steps at a quick pace, with a classroom of students older and ahead of her. However, despite joining the class late in the year, through sheer determination, she earned her first Honours that very year, at the tender age of 5.Influenced by her brothers, Janice was drawn into Pop culture and music quickly as she grew up. She indulged in MTVs and learnt many Hip-hop and Pop moves on her own. She started choreographing when she was 8. Her talent for dancing however, was not only reputable amongst local schools, but at 14 years old, she also earned a position in Peter Stuyvesant's Tour Dance Team to travel and dance with the team across the world - one of which she had to reject, because she wanted to complete her studies.
She never stopped dancing, though. She continued to choreograph various dances for college, church events and even for local artistes, concerts & MTVs ranging up to thousands. Today, focusing on singing and songwriting instead, Janice only choreographs for selected events.
Janice started a blog, "Princess B Sharp - Her Majesty's Blog on Music and Other Shit" for fun in 2010. It was a blog that charted some of her experiences in the Performing Arts as well as the Music industry, while at the same time, a blog of which she also wrote about various topics not necessarily related to anything specific (random).
Funnily, her unusual style of writing was what caught the attention of readers from the corporate world, and this resulted in an invitation to write for their E-newsletters on a regular basis.
With a wide vocal range, clear diction and the ability to act, Janice is the perfect candidate if you are searching for voice that can animate several characters or personalities.Be it a child's voice, a young chap, a sexy woman, or just a down-right irritating speak-in-bad-english girl, Janice can not only read but also sing the lines in the right way, to project specific personalities.
