Hsu Ru-yun, best known as Valen Hsu, is a Taiwanese Mandopop singer, author, and actress widely recognized for both her vocal prowess and tender love ballads. Born on September 20, 1974, in Taipei, she began her classical piano training starting at the age of 4, making her industry debut in 1993 while still in high school. Even though she made her official recording debut in 1994 with the album Tau Hao, it was 1998's Ri Guang Ji Chang that finally cemented her place in the world of Mandopop, selling over 3 million copies in Asia alone. In 1999, she collaborated with Enrique Iglesias on a duet, "You’re My No. 1," adding another feather to her cap. In 2001, she ventured into acting with Taiwan's boy band equivalent to NSYNC, F4. This move followed her switch from What's Music to EMI Taiwan. After taking a brief hiatus in 2004, she returned to the music scene with her thirteenth studio album 66° Pohjoista Leveyttä in 2007, featuring the hit single "Fireworks." In 2009, after a brief adventure in Cuba, Valen Hsu established her music studio, Valen Voice Production, resuming musical efforts with the albums When The Night Falls... Do You Hear (Me)? in 2011 and Miracle in 2014. During this time, her former label put out the compilation Mandarin Greatest Hits Of Valen Hsu (2011), which featured hits like "Tear Sea" from her 1996 album of the same name. Over the following years, she participated in the Chinese version of the singing competition King of Mask Singer and issued her seventeenth studio full-length, Freyja, in 2018. Her fourth EP, Thank You for Coming, arrived a year later.
