Today you may know me as a Radio DJ, voice-over artist, emcee or even a home cook. But it all started when I was part of a girl band called Cherry Chocolate Candy who won “Talentime 2001”, a national televised singing contest,
The three of us Claudine Chan, Cristal Simon and yours truly were professional dancers, and long time friends before we started our girl band.
We were in competition with a lot of strong singers, but we came in first in the group category and emerged overall champions. I am unabashedly proud to say winning Talentime 2001, with my best friends beside me, is one of my happiest moments and my biggest accomplishment.
The Winner Takes It All
As Top in Group Category and Overall Champions, we bagged prize money amounting to $25,000, a car we sold for about $75,000 and a 1-year contract.
It was the start of a wonderful journey that opened many doors for me in my career in entertainment and media.
Here’s some of our original songs that you may have heard on the radio, and a few that I performed solo. You can click to listen to the full playlist right here in the browser!
Oh Come & Dance With Me, My Baby…
For a collection of videos of some of our performances, starting with Talentime 2001, check out the links below.
NOTE: To watch our Talentime 2001 quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals, click on the respective highlighted links here to watch it on my Facebook page.
Meanwhile, below is a quick show reel of some of our best bits as Cherry Chocolate Candy.
Cherry Chocolate Candy were also McDonald’s Ambassadors for the Chicken Big Mac. I guess I can add “was once a Happy Meal” to my resume! Haha!
However, did you know, before we appeared on your television screens, Cherry Chocolate Candy were known as Crush (later CCCrush)? We performed at a very popular night spot called Roar together with the legendary Wendi Koh and her band Sonic Boom.
Here’s our background story about how we started out and why decided to rename:
Before Cherry Chocolate Candy…
Before joining Claudine and Cristal as a back-up singer, I was actually a back-up dancer.
However, once I started singing, the manager decided to officially make us a girl-group. We named ourselves Crush because all of our names start with C and because the word means something sweet (“I have a crush on you!”) and strong (“I will crush you like a cockroach!” PS: That line from Singaporean TV drama, “Masters of the Sea”, cracks me up every time!)
I managed to dredge up these homemade videos of our shows. They are unedited and not the best quality but full of great memories for me. I’ll just leave them here for you to enjoy if you have the time to check it out.
We Even Performed for The President of Singapore!
Another highlight of our 1999 – 2008 singing career, was when we performed for the then President of Singapore, the late and very much beloved President S.R. Nathan.
Lessons from Cherry Chocolate Candy
I may not have become the grammy-award winning singer I still believe is hiding in there somewhere (haha!), but I am a killer bathroom singer and have a treasure trove of amazing memories from my time as a “pop-star” and member of Singapore’s only girl band.
Here are some of my #cherylisms that have shaped my fibre, work ethic and outlook on life:
- If you play to win, you’ll always win. A trophy does not determine the heart of a champion. It’s the effort and authenticity you put into all your endeavours that sets you apart.
- Be thankful for everyone on stage, backstage and off stage. It takes a large team to put on any production and if you cannot remember to thank the sound guy for giving you his best, you’ve got a lot to learn.
- Be grateful for your audience – no matter how large or small. They could have been anywhere doing something else but they chose to show up. It’s your responsibility to show up for them!
- It’s not about you. Even though the attention is on you, it is not about you. Get your ego out of the way! You are only a messenger and your craft gives you a platform to share your message. So be humble.
- Fame is fleeting. Do not define your success by your popularity. Define it by your purpose. When you live life with purpose, your career and success are not defined by your job title or bank account, but by the wisdom you are able to share from what you learnt on your journey.
- Dreams do come true – but only with determination, hard work, humility, gratitude and a willingness to learn from past mistakes. The added bonus is, if you open your heart and mind and follow your dreams, they can take you to places beyond your imagination. If you are reading this, it’s taken me to you, and that’s pretty awesome!
“Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all.”
Helen Keller
Cherry Chocolate Candy Today
After almost a decade of shows, writing a bunch of fun songs, and an epic concert, our girl band eventually broke up. However, our friendship has continued and deepened.
Claudine now resides in Scotland, Cristal in Australia and me (and another dear dancer friend, Pamela Pung, pictured below) remain in Singapore.
I hope my story helps you pursue your dreams too. As Helen Keller puts it, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”
