Jacintha Abisheganaden facts for kids

Jacintha Abisheganaden (born 3 October 1957), known professionally as Jacintha, is a talented Singaporean singer, actress, and theater artist. She studied English literature at the National University of Singapore. Jacintha is also one of the people who helped start the performance company TheatreWorks.

Early Life

Growing Up with Music

Jacintha was born in 1957. Her parents were both musicians. Her father, Alex Abisheganaden, was a classical guitarist and music teacher from Sri Lanka. He received a special award called the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to art. Her mother, Eileen Wong, was a pianist and an arts teacher from China.

Jacintha started learning piano and singing when she was young. She also sang in the Singapore Youth Choir, where she met her future friend and music partner, Dick Lee. As she grew up, Jacintha listened to many different types of music. She enjoyed vocal jazz and traditional pop, as well as artists like Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, and Miriam Makeba. She was also a big fan of the Brazilian bandleader Sérgio Mendes and the singer Barbra Streisand.

Education and Studies

Jacintha went to Marymount Convent School and Raffles Institution. She then studied at the National University of Singapore, where she earned a degree in English. Later, she traveled to America and studied creative writing at Harvard University.

Career Highlights

Early Success in Entertainment

Jacintha first became well-known in 1976. She won a local TV talent contest called Talentime by singing jazz music. In 1981, she won the Best Female Performer award for her role as Nurse Angamuthu in the play General Hospital. This happened at the Drama Festival.

In 1982, Jacintha worked as an arts reporter for The Straits Times newspaper. She interviewed famous people like Neil Sedaka, Cliff Richards, and Sophia Loren. She also acted in several plays, including Samseng and the Chettiar's Daughter and Terry Rex.

Music Albums and Stage Shows

In 1983, Jacintha released her first album, Silence. Her friend Dick Lee wrote most of the songs on it. The album was well-received, with The Straits Times calling it a very impressive first album from a local singer.

Jacintha continued to act in plays and musicals. In 1984, she starred in Dick Lee's play Bumboat. She also performed in Love and Belacan by TheatreWorks in 1985. In 1987, she won Best Performer at the fourth ASEAN Song Festival and released her second album, Tropicana. She also performed in the musical Beauty World and the play Piaf in 1988.

Jacintha and Dick Lee represented Singapore at the Asia Song Festival in Japan in 1989. She sang "Come Back to Me Tonight," a song Lee wrote for the event. She also performed with the famous New York Philharmonic orchestra.

Continued Performances and Jazz Music

In the 1990s, Jacintha continued her busy career. She acted in plays like Mimi Fan and Fried Rice Paradise. In 1992, she starred in Dick Lee's musical Nagaland, which was very popular in Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. A big moment was in 1993 when she sang the main role of Grizabella in the famous musical Cats when it opened in Singapore. She also hosted a cooking show called Mum's Not Cooking.

Around the mid-1990s, Jacintha started recording jazz music. Her first jazz album, Here's To Ben – A Vocal Tribute To Ben Webster, came out in 1998. Her second jazz album, Autumn Leaves: The Songs of Johnny Mercer (1999), had a song used in the TV series Alias. Another song from the album was used in the Hollywood movie Play It to the Bone. She has released several other jazz albums, including "Lush Life" (2002) and "Jacintha Goes to Hollywood" (2007). A collection of her best songs, "Best of Jacintha," was released in 2008.

In 2004, Jacintha performed her own jazz show called The Angina Monologues. In 2006, she was a judge on the second season of Singapore Idol, a popular singing competition. In 2012, she returned to the stage after some time away, playing herself in the musical National Broadway Company.

Personal Life

Jacintha has been married three times. In 1983, she married an American lawyer named David Scheffer. They separated after three years.

In June 1992, Jacintha married her close music partner, the singer-songwriter Dick Lee. They divorced in 1997.

In May 1998, Jacintha married Koh Boon Pin, a former journalist. They have a son together named Alexander. They divorced in 2008.

Discography

• Silence (WEA, 1983)
• Tropicana (WEA, 1987)
• Dramamama (Sony, 1991)
• My Life (Springroll, 1997)
• Here's to Ben: A Vocal Tribute to Ben Webster (Groove Note, 1998)
• Autumn Leaves: The Songs of Johnny Mercer (Groove Note, 1999)
• Lush Life (Groove Note, 2001)
• Jacintha Is Her Name (Groove Note, 2003)
• The Girl from Bossa Nova (Groove Note, 2004)
• Love Flows Like a River (Harmony, 2005)
• Jacintha Goes to Hollywood (Groove Note, 2007)
• Best of Jacintha (Groove Note, 2008)
• Fire & Rain (Groove Note, 2018)

See also

• Chindian