Jaclyn Victor

Early life

Jaclyn was born in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur, on 4 December 1978. She is the only daughter of Maggie Victor, a single mother of Tamil Indian descent. Jaclyn's father died when she was nine years old, prompting her mother to take on three jobs simultaneously to support her and her three younger brothers. At the age of eighteen, Jaclyn started singing in clubs and hotel lounges.

With the support of friends and family, Jaclyn and her friend, Ravi, recorded an album, titled "Dream". This self-produced album includes songs co-written by Jaclyn. There were attempts to promote this album including an appearance on the 8TV television show Latte @ 8.

Malaysian Idol

In 2004, her mother encouraged her to audition for Malaysian Idol, which she did along with ten thousand others. The judges Roslan Aziz, Fauziah Latiff and Paul Moss, put her through to the next round. Having secured a final thirty-third spot, Jaclyn performed "Superwoman" live, becoming the seventh person to reach the top twelve.

In the first spectacular show, the theme for the week was "Song from your Pop Idol". Jaclyn choose a song by the Indonesian diva Ruth Sahanaya, "Keliru". Coached by Aubrey Suwito, Juwita Suwito along with Elaine Pedley, her performance took her through to the next round. The second theme was "Song from your Classic Idol". Jaclyn's choice was "When I Fall in Love" and Michael Xavier Voon joined in as performance coach. Her performance gained resounding praise. After another double elimination sending off Fahmy and Rydee, Jaclyn was back the following week performing a "Song from the 80s", Chaka Khan's "I Feel For You". She went on to the "Rock Show" with a performance of "Sweet Child O' Mine".

The last six contestants included Nikki, Dina, Vick, Andrew and Saipul. Jaclyn performed an effortless "Lady Marmalade", but received a less favourable comment from Roslan, who said that "she is a super singer but not an idol", and he felt bored week by week of her performances thus far. On the results show, she found herself in the bottom two for the first time (with Nikki, who performed "Emotion"), but she survived the elimination. After reaching the last three, her chances were improved by her performance of Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You".

Jaclyn had become one of the final two contestants on Malaysian Idol, and on 9 October 2004, she took the title with 76% of audience votes over Dina. In tears, Jaclyn performed the ballad "Gemilang" (Glory), the song written for the winner of Malaysian Idol, which subsequently appeared on her first album Gemilang. The song's music video incorporated short scenes of Jaclyn in Malaysian Idol.

Post Idol career

Jaclyn's album achieved gold status within weeks of going on sale. Her previously released album Dream, sold out within days, despite the sudden increase in price. She won the "Best Newcomer Award" on Hitz. FM and "Best New Artist" in Anugerah Bintang Popular.

Jaclyn has since appeared in numerous television and talk shows such as Pillow Talk and Muzik-Muzik. She has also performed "Gemilang" at a tsunami concert held to aid victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. She has performed in duets with Hazami, Taufik Batisah, Akademi Fantasia's second winner, Zahid, Delon Thamrin and Misha Omar, and has performed and recorded with international singers such as Peabo Bryson, Ramin Karimloo, Simon Bailey and Az Yet.

Jaclyn received her first international award when she won gold at the Asia New Singer Competition at the Shanghai Music Festival in China on 28 October 2005, emerging as the champion with her winning song, "Gemilang". On 21 January 2006, she received RTM Hits 1 Best Song and Best Performance awards for "Gemilang". On 5 February the same year, the song earned her and its composer Aubrey Suwito and lyricist Azmin Mudin the "Juara Lagu" (Champion of Songs) and "Best Ballad Song" awards in TV3's 20th edition of the Anugerah Juara Lagu. She was expected to win the TV3's "Anugerah Vokal Terbaik" (Best Vocal Award) but was beaten by Hazami who performed "Kata". Jaclyn took the Best Female Artiste award at the Anugerah Planet Muzik (Music Planet Awards) in Singapore on 24 March.

On 29 April 2006, Victor won four of seven nominations from the Malaysian music scene's biggest night, the 13th Anugerah Industri Muzik. They were Best New Artist, Best Musical Arrangement in a Song, Best Pop Album and Best Album.

After a series of delays, Jaclyn's second album, Inilah Jac, was released on 25 August 2006, while she was on a trip to Australia for both leisure and business purposes, including visiting Mount Buller and performing in two concerts in Melbourne's Australia for Christ Fellowship Church (with the singer-songwriter Juwita Suwito), and in Adelaide's Paradise Community Church (of which the inaugural Australian Idol winner, the Malaysian-born Guy Sebastian is a member, though Sebastian himself did not appear). While in Australia, Jaclyn also did an interview for the Christian radio station HCJB.

In November 2006, she made her first proper music video (previously her videos were clips from studio recording sessions or footage from Malaysian Idol) when she filmed "Ceritera Cinta" with the male crooner Rio Febrian in his homeland in Indonesia.

2007 was a very busy year for Jaclyn. She competed in the Ikon Malaysia 2007 (solo category) competition, getting to the final round with Dayang Nurfaizah and Mawi. In the final, she sang a medley of songs: "Impian" (hope) from her first album, "Cepat-cepat" from her second album and "Gemilang", to win the title.

Later that year, she competed in Ikon Asean and was defeated by the Philippines' Vina Morales. She also participated in the first Asian Idol which was won by Hady Mirza of Singapore Idol.

At the 14th Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM) Malaysia, on 28 April 2007, Jaclyn was nominated for four awards – Best Vocal Performance in an Album – Female; Best Music Arrangement in a song – Inilah Masanya; Best Pop Album – Inilah Jac; Ceritera Cinta – Song of the year. She won the "Best Female Vocal Performance in an Album" award. She also received two APM nominations, all of which are attributed to Inilah Jac.

Jaclyn's music was used on the Special Edition of Disney studio's High School Musical 2 soundtrack. She sang the duet "You Are The Music in Me" in both English and Bahasa Malaysia with Vince Chong, the season 1 winner of another singing reality-TV program, Akademi Fantasia. A music video and nationwide mall tour followed for fans of the High School Musical franchise. The video of their version of the song is now on the Special Edition DVD of High School Musical 2 (2008).

As part of the year-long "50 Years of Malaysian Independence" celebrations, Jaclyn was part of the "Live and Loud KL" concert series which featured international and local artists. This 10-day music extravaganza included a wide range of genres and more than fifty performers, with more than 45 hours of live music. The festival was held from 23 November until 2 December, with each day giving festival-goers a different genre, a different theme, a different repertoire, a different venue and different stars, including Whitney Houston, Elliott Yamin, Shaggy, Project Pop, James Taylor Quartet, Joe Flizzow and Hannah Tan.

Before Christmas 2007, Jaclyn flew to Moscow for a charity Christmas concert named Christmas Bash 2007, co-organized by the Sechenov Malaysian Student Association and Malaysian Fellowship Moscow after an invitation by the organising committee. The concert was attended by almost a thousand people, the majority of them being Malaysian Medical Students studying in Moscow. She also performed during the 8TV's fourth birthday party in January 2008.

On 27 January 2008, the finals of the annual Anugerah Juara Lagu were held in Kuala Lumpur. After a long and difficult competition, Jaclyn won the Best Vocal Award with Lah from VE for their rendition of Jaclyn's duet "Ceritera Cinta" (originally with the Indonesian singer, Rio Febrian). The song is on Victor's second Sony BMG album, Inilah Jac.

Two of her songs have been used as opening themes for Malaysian television series, "Cepat-Cepat" for sitcom Fara and "Satu Harapan" for the TV drama Manjalara.

In 2009, Jaclyn Victor released her third official album entitled "Jaclyn Victor III".

2010 - Present

In 2011, she released a collaborative album with Ning Baizura and Shila Amzah entitled "3 Suara", they won "Best Vocal in a Song" at the 18th Anugerah Industri Muzik and "Most Popular Group" in "Anugerah Bintang Popular 2011".

In 2012, Jaclyn Victor won three Anugerah Industri Muzik awards for the song "Counting days" with Aubrey Suwito.

Jaclyn wanted a change in her musical direction and in 2012, she signed a recording agreement with "KRU Music", a progressive independent label. Through this label, Jaclyn Victor released 3 successful singles namely "Sebelah Jiwaku", "Jagalah Diri" and "Ikut Rentakku", produced and written by Malaysia's prolific singer-songwriter-producer Edry Abdul Halim. She recorded a rock track "Shine" with Beat The System and won VIMA Song of the Year. In July 2014, Victor continued her contract with KRU Music and released her English EP entitled "Unleashed" in September 2014. Jaclyn promoted the album in Los Angeles in a one-week tour, performing live shows and attending TV and radio interviews. She performed in Istana Budaya for a James Bond musical tribute entitled The Licence To Thrill: A Bond Concert in September 2014. The concert features West End stars David Shannon and Simon Bailey and local singers, Salamiah Hassan and Nikki Palikat.

In 2015, Jaclyn Victor released the Malay version of her song "Sweeter than a dream" entitled "Seindah Mimpi" as a single.

In early 2016, she performed as a guest artist in Stadium Negara alongside Siti Nurhaliza for her concert, Dato' Siti Nurhaliza & Friends Concert, as a celebration of the latter 20th anniversary in music industry.

In early 2017, Jaclyn performed at the Anugerah Juara Lagu as an 'opening act'. In July, She released a collaborative song with Siti Nordiana titled "Nisan Cinta". Upcoming, Jaclyn Victor is scheduled to perform at the SEA Games this year.

Acting career

She starred in the film Talentime, directed by Yasmin Ahmad, in 2009. She received the award for Best Promising Actress at the 22nd Malaysian Film Festival. She was reportedly invited to star in a film by Mamat Khalid but declined. She made a cameo appearance in a local horror fiction, Susuk. Jaclyn also appeared in a local Tamil film, Appalam, directed by Afdlin Shauki.

She has also appeared in musical theatre, in Cuci The Musical Season 2 in 2010.

Controversy

A song titled "Harapan Bangsa" sung by Jaclyn in 2007 for the churches in Sabah and Sarawak caused controversy in certain sections of the Muslim community, which is predominantly Malay-speaking people in Peninsular Malaysia, when a YouTube clip of the song using Christian images was uploaded five years later by a fan. Perkasa, the infamous non-governmental Malay organisation which was formed in the aftermath of the Malaysian general elections in 2008, has called for a blanket boycott of Jaclyn by Muslims nationwide over the song, which it claims is an insult to Islam.

Personal life

On 12 August 2014, Victor officially introduced her husband, a Puerto Rican singer, Shawn Rivera. The couple tied the knot in a Philadelphian church in the United States on 19 July. Together the couple has a son, Jonah Josiah Rivera, born 24 August 2015. Their second child, a girl, Molly Marguerite Rivera, was born 24 August 2017.

EPs

Compilations

Singles

[Year 2000 - 2009] :

[Year 2010–Present] :

Awards

Anugerah Industri Muzik:

Anugerah Juara Lagu:

Anugerah Bintang Popular:

Anugerah Planet Muzik:

Other Accolades:

Concerts