Nicole Lai

Nicole Lai was a singer-songwriter, backing vocalist, vocal trainer and performer in the Republic of Singapore.

She passed away on 6th September 2008 at Singapore General Hospital. Local newspaper and magazines published breaking news of her sudden death [1]. This breaking news generated much interest among the people in Singapore. As a result, on 8th September 2008, the name "Nicole Lai" is the 4th highest searched-name in Google Singapore [2][3]

Singapore's biggest English newspaper publication Straits Times on 26th September 2008 reported that "Fame comes too late for this singer" [4] and "Late Singer gets own CD at last" [5]

Biography

Nicole was born on 26th February 1974 in Penang. Her nickname Niguolai (你过来) was given to her by her good friend and singer-songwriter, Stefanie Sun.

Professional Qualification

Nicole had London College of Music Grade 8 (Distinction) qualification and also had undergone modeling training at Mannequin Studio and had received a diploma from Plato Make-Up Academy.

Vocal Instructor, Backing Vocalist

Nicole has worked with many famous celebrities including Aaron Kwok、 Jolin Tsai、Gigi Leung、Sammi Cheng 、Jeff Chang、Karen Mok 、Na Ying and Stefanie Sun. She has done backup vocals for albums by: Stefanie Sun, Gigi Leung, Sammi Cheng , Aaron Kwok , Jolin Tsai and also has done live backup vocals for Julia Peng and Eric Moo. Nicole was one of the most experienced instructors in Singapore. Beside being a freelance instructor, she also taught at Lee Wei Song Music School [6]. She has taught many famous celebrities, including Stefanie Sun, Niki Wu , Xiao Su Shen. She also gave training to MediaCorp Artistes including Zoe Tay, Tay Ping Hui, Christopher Lee Ming Soon [7] and Constance Song.

Awards, Judges

Nicole was a member of the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore (COMPASS) [8]. In the year 2003, she won awards for her own composition 梦想家 in the Xinyao Song competition held in Singapore [9] where she was champion in the Vocal Performance Category and 1st runner up in the Composing Category. This same song was selected to become one of the songs for the famous Taiwan TV series called Green Forest, My Home [10][11] soundtrack album. Nicole also sang on the soundtrack of Singapore's own home-grown movie, Singapore Dreaming "Mei Man Ren Sheng", [12]. Nicole has also made appearances herself on television as one of the judges for MediaCorp Channel 8’s weekend variety show, PSC Nite 2005[13]and Channel U's S-POP HURRAY song writing competition 2008 show

Commercial Performer, Charity Work

Nicole was also an avid performer herself, having performed at countless Dinner and Dance events and various other occasions. She has also sung commercial jingles for McDonald's, Canon, Slimwater and Knife Oil. Under the World Vision [14][15] Organization child sponsorship programme, Nicole sponsored 4 kids when she was alive. After her death, her friends will launch her EP album sometime at the end of 2008 and proceeds from the CD sales will go to charity and to adopting Nicole’s 4 kids from World Vision.　

Discography

Songwriter

Nicole was also a songwriting enthusiast, and recently had one of her songs published in Stefanie Sun’s album. Nicole was also a member of the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore (COMPASS) [16], and had songs published in Stefanie Sun’s, Maggie Tang’s, Vivian Hsu’s , Linda and Taiwan TV series called Green Forest, My Home [17][18] soundtrack album. Nicole's own composition of "梦想家" title was renamed to "一個人的星光" (One's Star Light) and sung by Su Yong Kang [19].

Song	Performer	Description
亲爱的	Vivian Hsu	Co-written with Low Shao Suan [20]
反过来走走	Stefanie Sun
好久不见	Maggie Tang
祝我好运	Maggie Tang
一个人的星光 (梦想家)	Su Yong Kang [21], Xu Jing Lan [22]	Taiwan TV series - Green Forest, My Home [23]
Another Me	Linda [24]	Taiwan
你我的自由 - Freedom	Nicole Lai	Co-written with Ruth Ling [25]

Albums

Before her death, she wrote the song "你我的自由 - Freedom" which carries a special messages from her -

• • "Freedom is a choice in life. We are all free to make our choices in life, and even if we decide not to make any choice, that in itself is our freedom to choose ~~With Love…nL.

The CD released is sponsored by Stefanie Sun [26] and was given to friends during her wake.

English title	Chinese title	Producer	Arranger	Launch date	Release date	Description
Freedom	你我的自由	Jim Lim[27]	Kenn C [28]	23rd April 2008	Not Applicable	Launched CD at Lunar [29]
Freedom	你我的自由	Jim Lim[30]	Kenn C [31]	6th to 10th Sept 2008 at her wake	6th to 10th Sept 2008 at her wake	Re-launch and sponsored by Stefanie Sun. - See Straits Times news printed on 26th Sept 2008 [32]
To Be Confirmed	To Be Confirmed			Before X'mas 2008	Before X'mas 2008	Include a selection of Nicole's demos and songs that are written and sang by Nicole. Proceeds from the CD sales will go to charity and part of it will go to adopting Nicole’s 4 kids from World Vision [33].

• 
  Autograph Sessions
• 
• 
• 

Record Producer

One of Singapore largest entertainment complex, St James Power Station[34] decided to produce an EP album for their Dragonfly [35] Performers in August 2007. Nicole was consulted for this project. In her own premise at Tiong Bahru, she trained the performers. The EP album was released by Sony BMG[36] in October 2007. The song that Nicole produced was one of the best track audience selected.

External Links

Websites

• Nicole Official Website [37] - (setup by Nicole's good friend Sharlyn Lim)
• Nicole personal MySpace Website [38] - Last login 29th June 2008
• Straits Times, 26th Sept 2008 - "Late Singer gets own CD at last" [39]
• 2003 Xinyao Competition - Final [40]
• 2003 Xinyao Competition - Semi Final [41]
• 2005 Xinyao Competition [42]
• Lee Wei Song Music School [43]
• Li Yun He [44]
• Asia One - "Fame comes too late for this singer" [45]
• OMY (Singapore 1st bilingual news & interactive portal) [46]
• Lucas Events [47]
• Singapore Dreaming - sung by Nicole [48]
• SoMA - School of Music and the Arts [49]
• InTune Music School [50]

Blogs

• Hong Kong actress Nnadia Chan - [51]
• MediaCorp Actor - Tay Ping Hui [52]
• Singapore singer - Kelly Poon [53]
• Sherlyn Xue Ling [54]
• Shao Suan Low [55]