ANGELA VIA

'Angela Vía' (born December 29, 1981 as 'Angela Jolene Trullinger Villarreal') is an American singer/songwriter from Texas. Initially marketed as a pop artist, Angela’s catalog contains music of a variety of genres in both English and Spanish. Her next album, which will feature both English and Spanish recordings is due out in 2007.

Contents

Biography

Childhood and beginnings

1999–2002: Lava/Atlantic Records

2003–Present: "Ready to fly/Supergirl"

Discography

Singles

Albums

Compliation albums

References

External links

Biography

Childhood and beginnings

'Angela Jolene Trullinger Villarreal' was born in Raymondville, Texas, to parents Tom Trullinger, of European-American and Native American ancestry, and Annie Villarreal, of Mexican and Spanish ancestry. During her early childhood, she grew close to her Mexican/American heritage, and often listened to the local Tejano music. Every day, Vía would lock herself in her room or take her boom box to the porch and practice singing for hours. She wrote her first song at the age of three.
At the age of nine, Vía and her family moved to Gresham, Oregon, a suburb of the most populous city in the state, Portland, Oregon. It was here that she began singing in her school and church choirs, as well as discovering some of her favorite artists, BeBe & CeCe Winans and Kirk Franklin. This was when she began to gain a deeper connection to R&B and soul music. In 1996, Angela’s father took her to a studio to record some of her favorite songs at the time. Among these songs were Mariah Carey’s “Hero” and Selena Quintanilla’s “Amor Prohibido.” In 1997 her version of Whitney Houston’s "You Were Loved" appeared on a regional fund raising album. This led to performances at cultural and charity events throughout the city. In 1998 she won a talent show sponsored by a Portland radio station and was flown to Los Angeles to perform at the Planet Hollywood party for the movie ''The Wedding Singer''.

1999–2002: Lava/Atlantic Records

In 1999, Vía signed a seven-album deal with Lava/Atlantic Records thanks to her co-self-penned demo track, “Picture Perfect,” which Angela wrote in part by gathering poems that she had written down previously. It also showcases her ability to utilize the whistle register.^[1] The record deal opened with the inclusion of Angela’s co-self-penned song “Catch Me If You Can” on the , Co-written and produced by Michael "Smidi" Smith and Brian Steckler. which to date has sold more than two million copies in the U.S. alone.

A year later, Vía made the promotional rounds for the release of her debut single and album. Her first single, “Picture Perfect,” hit airwaves in March and was the most-added single to Top 40 Mainstream radio in its first week. It went on to sell more than 110,000 copies in the U.S.. ''Smallville'' star Tom Welling played Angela’s love interest in the music video, which received heavy videoplay on both MTV and The Box. A Spanish version, “Retrato Perfecto,” also hit Spanish airwaves in the U.S. and a commercial single for “Picture Perfect” was released in Australia in May.
Vía’s second single, “I Don’t Care,” received moderate airplay and sold a respectable amount of commercial singles, but its success was not strong enough to launch her debut album, Angela Via. Originally scheduled for release on June 6, 2000, the album was shelved indefinitely, until 2004, when the album appeared as a digital download on RealPlayer’s music store. “I Don’t Care” was remade a year later by Australian pop singer Delta Goodrem, where the song achieved equal, moderate success “down under.”
In the same year, Vía appeared on the soap opera ''The Bold and the Beautiful'', as well as Nickelodeon’s ''Snick House'' and ''The Rosie O'Donnell Show''. Her gig on ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' would be her only major acting gig until 2004’s ''Pastor Greg'' appearance. In 2001, Atlantic Records readied the release of an updated version of Vía’s debut album, which failed to hit stores the previous year. A new music video, scheduled to be filmed in August and directed by N’Sync members Lance Bass and Joey Fatone, almost became a reality, before Atlantic Records put a last minute halt to it due to Vía’s rejection of a deal she felt was demoralizing to her image in the music industry.
The year 2002 proved to be a mixed success for Vía. At the start of the year, she recorded a Six Flags commercial in which she performed “Papi Chulo.” Co-written and produced by Michael "Smidi" Smith. It received heavy play in her home state, as well as in other states for which the commercial was later edited. Nonetheless, despite the success of Vía’s commercial, she found herself among the long list of Atlantic artists dropped from the roster later in the year.

2003–Present: "Ready to fly/Supergirl"

In 2003, two artists released remakes of Vía’s recordings. Chinese girl duo T-Rush recorded and released a Chinese remake of Angela’s “Girl Playa No. 1.” Salsa artist Kevin Ceballo recorded and released a salsa interpretation of Vía’s duet with Frankie Negron, “Eternamente Te Amaré”. She then spent the next two years writing songs for her Sony/ATV Music Publishing affiliate, Gruvia Productions, while she shopped for and reviewed new record deals.
In early 2006, Vía went to Los Angeles for 3 weeks to write with an old friend and producer, and in only 2 weeks of shopping for a deal, she was involved in massive interest from many major record labels. In April 2006 she signed with Virgin Records. In May, a new recording titled "Speakin' Spanish" premiered on her official MySpace. In July, she opened RBD concerts in Miami and New York City. On September 26, 2006, "Speakin' Spanish" was released as a promotional single. Later, in December, "Baila Baila (Don't Let This Party End)" was released as a promotional single and received moderate airplay. It also made the No. 8 position on Clear Channel's new artist chart.
In February 2007, Vía started posting video messages through her Angela TVia channel on YouTube. In April 2007, Vía posted an in-studio video which featured a new song called "Wrong For You," which was co-written with soul artist Robin Thicke. She also revealed a new track, on her MySpace, from ''Supergirl'' called "What I Like".
In May 2007, Via was featured in rapper Hunter Brown's song called "The One" [1].
In Brown's MySpace he refers to Via as the "diva" of Virgin Records.
In June 2007^[2], Via changed the title of her upcoming album from "Ready to Fly" to "''Supergirl''" according to her Official MySpace, her description of the album was
On July 2007, according to Via's MySpace, she said to her fans she would start working in three remixes, one with Reggae singer Sean Kingston for his song "Beautiful Girls", Fabolous for "Make Me Better", and another one for 6-time Grammy Award winner Kanye West for "Stronger".
In July 2007,after Via appearing in the "Make Me Better" Remix^[3] with Grammy Award nominee Fabolous she announced on her Official MySpace Blog Page that she was setting up for a Promotional Radio Tour.^[4]

Discography

Singles

★ "Picture Perfect" (2000)

★ "Retrato Perfecto" (2000)

★ "I Don't Care" (2000)

★ "Speakin' Spanish" (2006)

★ "Baila Baila (Don't Let This Party End)" (2006)

★ "Supergirl" (2007)

Albums

★ ''Angela Via'' (2000)

★ ''Angela Via (Spanish version)'' (2000)

★ ''Angela Via'' (2001)

★ ''Supergirl'' (2007)

Compliation albums

★ '' (Catch Me If You Can) (2000)

★ ''Pokémon 2000'' (Wonderland, Mundo Mágico) (2000)

★ ''The Little Vampire'' (Best Friends) (2000)

★ ''TRL Christmas'' (Christmas Wish/I Wish We Could Be Free) (2001)

★ ''Boat Trip'' (Kissing You) (2003)

References

1. http://www.hiponline.com/artist/music/v/via_angela/angela_via.html
2. http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=77331283&blogID=272558256
3. http://youtube.com/watch?v=WlExIeDUtV4
4. http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=77331283

External links

★ Official Site

★ Official MySpace Page

★ Official Video Blog Channel

★ Angela-Via.net | The Official Fansite

★ Official forum