The Eraserheads are a very talented group from the Philippines. Most of their stuff is English-language. Some of their work is available via the filesharing services (Kazaa etc.).
janet english from spiderbait, dude. but she ain’t asian.
quan is, though.
cibo matto fucken rock, grendel72!
Actually, I enjoyed the show! The crowd scene audition! The jokes about Johnny Carson’s guest hosts! Mi and Kei singing in what I think was phonetic English! And my favorite spot was when they would show clips from their Japanese conccerts, where the crowd was simply going wild and the girls were totally inaudable. I was probably the one loyal viewer, and very dissappointed it was cancelled.
Thanks, Medstar, you’ve brought back happy childhood memories.
Well, I don’t know if I’d call if him a “star,” but a Japanese musician named Tetsu Yamauchi played bass for the Faces for several years after Ronnie Lane’s departure, and was Rod Stewart’s bass player for a long time after that.
While hardly a rock star, Sooyoung Park has gained some notariety in the indie rawk world with his bands Seam and before that, Bitch Magnet.
David Usher is half-Asian. He’s the lead singer of Moist and recently put out a solo album.
He’s fairly popular/well known in Canada, but I can’t speak as to his American success. Have you guys heard of him?
25 replies and no mention of the biggest Asian rock star ever?
The Asian Prince
He’s not much of a star anymore…and he sings country, not rock…but Neil McCoy is of Filipino descent.
So is Enrique Iglesias ( http://fsufsa.tripod.com/famous_pinoys.htm ).
K.
Bic Runga is a singer songwriter who is Chinese but sounds 101% Western because she is, in fact, a New Zealander. She has put out at least 4 or 5 world class songs and some artists have built international careers on fewer. I’m going to do a thread one day called “How much does accent matter?” because in my mind, at least, it is a strong determinant of how a person will be perceived. A good way to demonstrate this would be to view Hollywood movies in which Bruce Willis, Matt Dillion and Tom Cruise had their voices dubbed with a range of accents.
Actually, she’s half Chinese and half Maori (indigenous race of New Zealand)
Her sister Boh Runga also a singer in a band called Stellar*
The Linkin Park guys. Joseph Hahn. Mike Shinoda? Probably, since it’s a Japanese last name. I can’t tell anymore and I honestly don’t think about it when I listen to any musician.
I think the problem of just coming out and saying “Why aren’t there any asian rock stars” is that many are half asian and don’t see any reason to make it an issue. Like one site says Michelle Branch is half asian. I don’t know whether thats true or not, but I can’t tell and I never would have guessed.
The Guitarist from Sum 41, Cornershop, Tindjer Singh, Cornelius, the bassist from Feeder, Jina the lead singer from Racecar… there is a lot out there.
Yoko Ono. Fun-da-mental (which had numerous spin-offs). Ian Brown’s guitarist Aziz Ibrahim.
Aziz Ibrahim was also John Squire’s replacement.
Towa Tei.
She had a duet with NKOTB’s Donnie Wahlberg. I remember her.
DJ Krush
Well, there was Yoko Ono…
Eddie and Alex van Halen are half Indonesian.
Ryuchi Sakamoto anyone?
I seem to recall the singer for Sneaker Pimps was asian. Too bad they have disapeared from the music scene.