Chosen Effect

Early life

Chosen Effect grew up in a Baptist household with both his parents being heavily involved in the church. His Dad was a deacon and singer in the church whilst his mom sung and was a Sunday school teacher. His parents had a passion for music and both played musical instruments, his dad the guitar while his mom played the organ. These musical influences rubbed off on Chosen early on as by the age of 6 he was already playing the piano by ear and soon after the drums. This eventually led him to becoming the church pianist and even directing the youth choir. His first live show was when he was the young age of 8 years old which he played the piano and sung to a crowd of about 400 people. Soon after, Chosen had started to learn how to produce his own music and was even DJing & MCing.

Entertainment beginnings

Growing up a military brat Chosen eventually ended up living on an army base in Japan with his family. This twist of fate was the unforeseen door that would ultimately lead Chosen to fulfilling his dream of having an entertainment career. In the 1990s, young and eager to make his entertainment desires a reality, Chosen’s agent decided to seize each and every opportunity that became available. After tons of small acting roles, the first major break was a televised weekly dance competition that featured some of Japan's top hip-hop dancers. Chosen won that competition 3 weeks in a row which led to some valuable new contacts being made. He soon found himself in a regular role as a dancer on a variety show & on the weekends he also performed dance shows with a crew. When he was not dancing he was taking on any other entertainment offering that was available. Chosen's hard work lead to a recording contract.

Subsonic Factor

Chosen Effects first major recording contract was signed with Sony Music Entertainment Japan. As the story goes, Sony was looking for a cool rapper to rap on a Techno track for a compilation CD. A friend from the TV show that Chosen used to appear on approached him about the opportunity to go to a Sony recording studio and be featured on a track. Even though he was an R&B/hip hop performer and had never listened to any dance music let alone try to rap on any, he decided to give it a try and seize the moment. Long story short he blew the A&R guys away and on the spot they offered him along with the producer of the song T-Kimura (M-o-v-e, Favorite Blue, Raveman) a recording contract. A third member for the group was also sourced named Christina Hane. Chosen Effect, whose stage name at the time was Terry-T, was the front man for his Sony signed group Subsonic Factor. The groups biggest hit was their single “2-B-In Love” which was the group’s first studio recording as Sony artist. Originally the song appeared on a CD compilation called Tokyo House Underground Vol 1 but was also featured on a compilation CD called Tokyo Babylon and of course it also appeared on the group’s debut album called Echoes. This song became an anthem for the unit with the song gaining even more popularity thanks to it being used in a TV commercial as well as the theme song for a Japanese Anime. The group's success saw them having their faces plastered on the back of magazines and interviewed regularly on TV. Subsonic Factor went on to have other music releases and their next album after Echoes was called Too Late and showcased a different sound then their previous album. Every show that was ever performed by this amazing unit was always sold out, however creative differences would lead to the group’s members (Chosen, Christina, and T-Kimura) wanting to pursue other ventures. This was the birth of multiple solo projects by Chosen and the official launch of his solo music career.

Terry-T

He soon found himself with a hit single on his hands. His first hit single as a solo artist was called “Vamo La Verdy” & the song went gold. It was released by Pony Canyon in Japan & became the official support song for the then champion J-League professional soccer team Verdy. His next single was released for the Japanese Woman’s Professional Wrestling league called Deep Up. The Japan Broadcasting Corporation then asked Chosen if he would do a sports theme album. The album was called “Action” and the great songs kept flowing with tracks like Silent Dance dedicated to the memory of F1 legend Ayrton Senna. Chosen Effects music has also been featured in movie soundtracks like the Japanese movie called “B” & also video games such as the song “Power” featured in the PlayStation game Bust-a-Move.

Raveman

Raveman exploded on the scene after a Chosen’s old Subsonic Factor member T.Kimura, Japanese Dj Gee (GTS), & and another good friend Motsu aka US Tom (More Deep) decided to put together a Dance unit with Chosen once again taking his place as frontman. The unit had tons of success in the Japanese dance scene. The debut album called “Pumpin” in fact had multiple songs chart very well in the Japanese club charts. Raveman shows were full of energy which was a perfect fit to the high octane dance music. The Raveman name is iconic in the Japanese Dance scene and there are tons of Japanese artists who have had mixes of their music produced by Raveman. Raveman music has also been featured in Japanese Anime such as the song called “Shin-chan” which was featured in the very popular Japanese Anime by the same name. Even though the group was mainly known as a Techno Dance act, the music knew no boundaries such as the track “Gotta Be Funky” which was a hip-hop track with r&b flavor & the jungle styled track called “Jungle Bells. Tracks like these showcased Chosen’s smooth rap skills and patented lyrical word play.

T-Effect aka Chosen Effect

After having a break from the music industry on a quest to try to find himself and pursue a serious relationship, Chosen Effect returned with a new outlook on life. He initially spent a great deal of time producing new and upcoming artists & trying to help them get one step closer to realizing their dreams. However, in the process of helping others, Chosen’s own passion for performing and his overwhelming desire to write his own music resurfaced. Finally a fully recharged Chosen Effect who had conquered all of his demons was resurrected. His first new single was called “Backstab” which was a Hip-Hop track with a pop feel that told the story of all the various backstabbers he had come across in his journeys. That theme continued with the release of his next single called “Friends Like you”. Finally a song which he wrote for his mom, dad & little brother called “Better Days” was released which was the title track from the EP with the same name. All of these releases were released by Vircenia Records which is Chosen Effects record label. T-Effect changed his name to Chosen Effect in 2011 as a tribute to his mother who died late 2010 from cancer. His mom was always his number one fan and growing up she always told him he was chosen. In honor of his mom Chosen Effects new single called “Tonight” was due to be released on May 11, 2011 which is his mother’s Birthday however an unknown technical glitch with the labels previous distributor caused the release of this single to be delayed. As a result of the release of "Tonight" being delayed Vircenia Records unexpectedly decided to release the single "Liar Liar" 2 months earlier than originally planned on May 28, 2011 due to the popularity of the song. The single “Tonight” was to be the first new song to be released from Chosen’s upcoming album called “Resurrection” however that honor has now been given to the track "Liar Liar".

Entertainment

Chosen has also modeled in print, television and catwalk for the likes of fashion designers Michiko London Koshino and Koshin Satoh and at one stage was even the official face for Casio’s popular keyboard the Rapman. Chosen is also an actor. He has appeared in various acting roles in his life both on stage and also on TV ranging from commercials to dramas. T-Effect was also a radio personality with his very own radio shows including his popular 3-hour radio show called Night in Motion which aired on FM Fuji in Japan & not only showcased his DJ & emcee skills but also showed his amazing comedic ability. Chosen has been a guest radio host on various shows and has even performed live on radio both thru singing and even playing non-stop DJ mixes. Chosen’s talents has also seen him land the role as the official team DJ and announcer for the at the time number one J-League professional soccer team Verdy in Japan.

Business

Chosen Effect the entrepreneur has had many different business ventures that he has been very passionate about. Having an extreme love for food, being a restaurant owner was one of them. As a result, he has had a café, a restaurant and his last food venture which was a theater restaurant which had a stage that was graced by the likes of Hip-Hop artist Ja Rule & Australian Diva Jessica Mauboy. Chosen is the President & Ceo of his own record company Vircenia Records & also has an entertainment company that specializes in audio and visual production called Tpt Star Entertainment which stands for Total Production Technologies & Star Entertainment. Another one of Chosen’s previous ventures was a nightclub and he currently also owns a magazine.

Personal life

Late 2010 tragedy struck when Chosen’s mom died from cancer. Two years leading up to her death, his beloved mother struggled to recover from an aneurism that she barely survived. His mom ended up surviving that event, however just when his family thought that the worst was over and she was on her way to a full recovery the horrible news about her cancer came to light. Chosen enjoys bowling in competition and has been bowling since he was just a little kid. He has bowled perfect games and his usual average is over the 210 mark. He once considered bowling in the PBA but did not think he would have time to fully commit due to his entertainment career. He now bowls in various tournaments around the world with some of bowling’s top bowlers when he can find the time. When Chosen is not bowling he enjoys cooking and loves to spend time in the kitchen. He has been known to describe his Sloppy Joes and Fried Rice dishes as the world’s best. He has spent time helping sick people in hospitals, the homeless and has performed various charity shows.