Vanessa-Mae
Vanessa-Mae's parents divorced when she was very young and she has been adopted by her step-father. She was born Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn (she added Nicholson to her name when she was adopted by her English lawyer step-father) in Singapore and is half Thai and half Chinese, but moved to the UK when she was four.
She began playing the piano (her mother is a professional pianist) at three, and won the British Young Pianist of the Year competition when she was eight, but decided to concentrate on the violin, which she took up aged five. At 10 she was performing with orchestras, and was a child prodigy in the mold of Mozart and Mendelssohn.
She is one of the most spectacular of young recent concert violinists, combining classical and modern music and her own compositions. Like Nigel Kennedy, she is sometimes criticized for the publicity machine which surrounds her.
References
Newman, Tommy. "The Ultimate Vanessa-Mae Website." [Includes portraits]. Available at: http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/square/ev90842/mae/vm.htmIndexes
AsianSingapore
Uk/great Britain
20th Century
21st Century
Music and Dance
Step-parents
