Adrienne Lau (born September 7, 1983 ; Chinese: 劉晨芝)[1][2] is a Hong Kong-American singer and actress. Lau is the first Chinese American to hit the Top 10 on the U.S. Pop Billboard Sales Chart.[3]
Early life
Nga Wing Lau was born in British Hong Kong in 1983. She grew up splitting her time between there and Los Angeles.[3][4] Lau graduated from UCLA with double major degrees in Communications and Sociology.[2]
Her single "Wanna be Happy" debut on the US Pop Billboard Charts at number 14 and has remained there for 9 weeks. Another single ‘Magic Tricks’ reached number 7.
Named the first Chinese American to hit the U.S. Pop Billboard Sales Chart Top 20.[3] Lau also did an advertising campaign and was the spokesmodel for Vigoss Jeans in China.[2] In January 2005, her debut album "Hypnotic" was released. Her first single "Hypnotic Love" features Jin tha MC. Mike Tyson also made an appearance in the music video.[5] Mýa also produced the song "Xtacy" in the album. Lau performed at the MTV Chi Rocks concert for MTV Chi in September 2006.[6] In December 2006, Lau performed on The V Party for Channel V in Singapore.[7] In March 2007, Lau made an appearance in the Bangkok International Fashion Week in Thailand with a performance on the catwalk.[citation needed]. In her second self-titled album "Adrienne", Petey Pablo is featured in the single "You’re the One". She appeared in the 2006, 2007, and 2008 Grammys. In 2008, Lau sang the song "Olympics Beijing" ("Ao Yun Beijing") for 2008 Olympics.[8] In 2010, Lau released her single "Coming" in Hong Kong. The single reached number 1 on the HMV Charts. [citation needed]. She started fashion business, restaurant, and bar businesses in Hong Kong.[9] Hosting TV shows in Hong Kong, she invited her Kpop star friends to appear on Seoul Stars for TVB and she is hosting her show for Bread TV.[10]
Controversy surrounding MIG Records and Henry Jones
In the early 2000s, Lau received a record deal from Henry Jones of MIG Records (later renamed to Global Village Records). Jones used the proceeds from Tri Energy to fund his MIG Records enterprise.[11]
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a suit against Henry Jones and argued successfully that Jones was operating Tri Energy as a Ponzi scheme.[12] Although Jones (sentenced to 20 years in prison) claimed Lau had nothing to do with the scheme, and that usage of Lau's bank account was just an innocent mistake,[11] Lau was named a Relief Defendant and ordered to pay a disgorgement of $200,000 plus pre-judgment interest of $20,000.[13]
