Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson (born October 27, 1978 in Singapore), known on stage as Vanessa-Mae (in Chinese: 陈美, Chén Měi) is an internationally known classical and pop musician. Her music style is self-described as "violin techno-acoustic fusion." She was born to a Chinese mother and a Thai father. After her parents separated, her mother married Englishman Graham Nicholson. She grew up in London and is a UK citizen. She began playing piano at the age of three and violin at five. She was the youngest violin soloist to record both Tchaikovsky and Beethoven concertos, doing so at age 13. She is known for her flashy, sexy style and she has appeared in music videos in stylish outfits since her adolescence. Vanessa-Mae appeared on the Janet Jackson album The Velvet Rope playing a violin solo on the song "Velvet Rope". Some critics have suggested that Vanessa-Mae's technical and musical abilities are in fact unspectacular and that she is merely a typical product of a music industry attempting to use sex appeal to sell commercialised classical music. Yet others feel she is doing a disservice to classical music. She retorts that these critics are too traditional and élitist and because they are unable to appreciate her fusion of classical and pop music nor perform music themselves, they resort to vindictive cynicism.
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