Fahrenheit () was a Taiwanese boy band composed of members Calvin Chen, Jiro Wang, Wu Chun, and Aaron Yan. They were formed in 2005 by Comic International Productions and HIM International Music and GMM Grammy in Thailand. Their music is distributed by WOW Music in Hong Kong Fahrenheit Storms Through Hong Kong April 21, 2007. Retrieved April 21, 2007 and by Pony Canyon in Japan. Fahrenheit ware often associated with their labelmate seniors S.H.E, who are also under HIM International Music.
In June 2011, Wu announced his decision to leave the group to focus on his acting career, but is open to the idea of reuniting with Fahrenheit in the future. HIM International Music 吳尊無心出片,離團成定局 華研自信三人飛輪海吸金力不減 June 22, 2011. Retrieved June 25, 2011 Following Wu Chun's departure, the remaining members also went off to pursue solo projects, putting the group in an indefinite hiatus.
Background Fahrenheit first gained minor recognition around late 2005 when they first acted altogether in the series, KO One, was broadcast on television in Taiwan. Wu Chun joined the group later in late 2005. On December 28, 2005, Fahrenheit officially became a vocal quartet boy band.
Derived from the definition of Fahrenheit, each of the four members represents a season or temperature that corresponds with their different personalities. Calvin Chen represents spring, warm; Jiro Wang represents summer, hot; Wu Chun represents autumn, cool; and lastly, Aaron Yan represents winter, cold. Each of the four members also has his respective temperature represented on the Fahrenheit scale: Calvin Chen is at 77 degrees, Jiro Wang is at 95 degrees, Wu Chun is at 59 degrees, and Aaron Yan is at 41 degrees. Each of their temperatures are separated by 18 degrees.
Members Calvin Chen (vocals, tenor, rap) After Calvin Chen graduated from one of the top high schools in Taiwan, he further pursued his college education in Canada, where he completed his Master's degree in Economics at University of Victoria. He entered a pageant-like competition called Sunshine Boyz in Vancouver and won first place with a free ticket to Taiwan and a contract with a music company. Calvin Chen comes from a very traditional family, where his father, at first, disapproved of his career as an idol. It is rumored that Calvin Chen was going to be on "Guess Guess Guess" in 2001, because of getting first place in a singing competition, however, he had to return to Canada and therefore, did not attend the show. After returning to Taiwan, Calvin Chen further pursued his education at a Taiwanese university.
Jiro Wang (vocals, baritone, rap) In 2000, Jiro Wang started to work after graduating from Taiwan's Fu-Shin community college, and did part-time jobs wherever he could, such as commercial modeling. BMG, the label that signed him, planned to package him with Jay Chou and Jordan Chan to form a boy band called 3J, but due to 9/11, BMG's stocks crashed and the 3J plan was scrapped. He later joined the army for 2 years, and came back around 2003. Since he was still popular around Taiwan, he was given two roles as a guest-star in Pawnshop No.8 () and I Love My Wife (). Then Comic Productions approached him, and gave him the supporting role of Ah Jin () in 'It Started with a Kiss'. Jiro was the first person to be contracted. Calvin, Aaron, and later Wu Chun joined him and formed Fahrenheit.
Joseph Wu Chun (vocals, bass) Joseph Wu Chun was born in Brunei and is of Chinese descent (his ancestors were from Fujian). He graduated from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration. Prior to joining Fahrenheit, Wu worked as a model for Yilin in Taiwan and Diva Models in Singapore. He was introduced to the entertainment industry during a trip to Taiwan at around mid-November 2005. A television producer discovered him during this trip, and recommended him to play the lead male role of Tokyo Juliet, which Wu accepted.
After some time, Wu Chun admitted that he had married and had a daughter and he left the group in order to spend more time with his family. He will not be making an album with his bandmates because of his two movies in Hong Kong. Wu Chun concluded that he will make future albums with them.
Aaron Yan (vocals, tenor) Aaron Yan was born in Taiwan, but moved to Connecticut at a young age. He later returned to Taiwan for high school and college. He attended the Chinese Culture University, majoring in Journalism but later switched universities and majors in his third year. He is currently on a study hiatus due to work commitments. Around early 2005, comic producers had been searching for elite bloggers around the web. They discovered Yan, who, at that time, was really popular online, and thus recommended him to audition for a role in a drama. Yan thought it was a fraud at first, but after several tests, he realized that it was true. He was given a small role in I Love My Wife ().
Music career
Rise to stardom Before Fahrenheit released their first album on September 28, 2006, they gained minor attention as singers from contributing in several Taiwanese drama soundtracks. Their popularity immediately rose after the soundtracks were released, but was only limited to Taiwan and Mainland China. After their first album was released, their fan base had extended to South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia . Overseas fans such as from North America and Europe are also getting more familiar with them.
As soon as announcements for their debut album pre-order was released on August 30, 2006, the album broke past 10,000 copies. (Pre-Order of Fahrenheit's Debut Album Sold 10,000 Copies Within 4 Days) September 5, 2006. Retrieved April 10, 2007. After its release on September 15, 2006, the album entered the G-music charts and was ranked #2. It was less than 1% below Jay Chou's Still Fantasy album, which came out two weeks prior to the release. (Fahrenheit Almost Topped Pres Chou) September 25, 2005. Retrieved April 10, 2007. Fahrenheit's album sold more than 80,000 copies, an impressive feat, in Taiwan within the first month. (Wu Chun sears chart with hot boy band) October 12, 2006. Retrieved April 7, 2007. Ultimately on the G-music Mandarin Charts their album was ranked 11th for the top 20 of 2006 and stayed in the charts for 17 weeks. (G-Music Top 20 of 2006) December 31, 2006. Retrieved April 9, 2007. Their primary song, or zhuda () song, I Have My Youth (我有我的 Young, Wo You Wo De Young) was on Hong Kong's Global Rhythm List as the Top 16th song for weeks. Their duet with Hebe of girl group S.H.E also won them several popular awards. Fahrenheit was also the first new foreign boy band to have won third place for Best Group at Hong Kong's TVB8 Awards. Although unable to defeat their seniors S.H.E and Twins, who had won first place and second place respectively, they have beaten Hong Kong's local boy bands such as Sun Boy'z and Soler. In less than a year, Fahrenheit has already won eight awards. Despite the outburst of winning multiple awards, there had been debates where fans disagreed with the awards that they have won. The most debated topic was when Fahrenheit won HITO Music Awards 2007's Best Male Group award, arguing that Fahrenheit is too inexperienced to have won the award.
Popularity and success With the help of starring in popular dramas, Fahrenheit has been the fastest moving boy band and has quickly gained their status as one of the top boy bands of the year in Taiwan. Within a year, they had already debuted in over 30 different magazine covers all over Asia. They make frequent appearances in Taiwan's Play and Color magazine covers. After their predecessors F4, they are the second Taiwanese boy band to hold a concert in Indonesia with only just one album released. They already held two mini concerts: one in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia on March 31 and one in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong on April 19. Also, they held 2 concerts sponsored by Watsons Water at the end of September 2007: one in Hongkong on September 28, 2007, and one in Guangzhou on September 29, 2007.
Major concerts Ever since Fahrenheit's meteoric rise to stardom, HIM has been giving quite a bit exposure for Fahrenheit, such as promoting the group in two of S.H.E's major concerts in Taipei, Singapore and Malaysia where they were seen performing their duet with Hebe as well as their own songs. Ever since their exposure had hit the Hong Kong market their company does not want to miss this chance for more promotion for the group and is currently organizing Fahrenheit's first major concert in Hong Kong in September at the HKCEC. It was reported that they are originally going to hold a concert in Hong Kong's renowned coliseum, Hong Kong Coliseum, but because all of the performances slots are full, they have to move their concert to a different venue. The director of WOW Music expressed that Fahrenheit is currently slated for performing in the HKCEC for two to three nights. In the winter of 2008 they will debut in the Hong Kong Coliseum. (Fahrenheit to Hold First Major Concert in Hong Kong) April 4, 2007. Retrieved April 22, 2007 as part of their All-Asia Concert. During their All-Asia press conference for the release of their second album in Hong Kong, it was revealed that plans for the All-Asia Concert were in the works. Confirmed concert stops include Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. Towards the end of October, Fahrenheit had their Fantasy Tour stop at Taipei Arena on two nights being October 24, 2009, and October 25, 2009.
Musical style Fahrenheit's songs mainly fall into the bubblegum pop and pop ballad category. However, songs like Teachable Child (孺子可教 Ru Zi Ke Jiao) and Love's Arrived (愛到 Ai Dao) are intended for a light R&B approach. Songs similar to The Secret of Immortality (不死之謎 Bu Si Zhi Mi) and Superb (出神入化 Chu Shen Ru Hua) are leaning toward the pop rock and rap genre, where they displayed their ability to rap and harmonize well.
Their much anticipated second album, Two-sided Fahrenheit, was released on January 4, 2008. The new album saw the four employ more advanced harmonizing techniques as well as some progression from bubblegum pop to more mature ballads, such as Ten Thousand Joys (一萬個快樂 Yi Wan Ge Kuai Le). Nonetheless, the band's youthful energy was retained in songs such as the opening song for the drama Romantic Princess, New Home (新窝 Xin Wo), which is a duet by Fahrenheit and their seniors S.H.E. On the album Little VIP (小小大人物 Xiao Xiao Da Ren Wu) is the Disney theme song for 2008.
Often criticized for the lack of character in their music, Fahrenheit finally moved towards carving a more distinct musical style with their third album, Love You More & More (越來越愛 Yue Lai Yue Ai) which features a new maturity that is brought out by rock ballads like the main track, Lonesome Sprint (寂寞暴走 Ji Mo Bao Zou) and Stay With Me (留下來 Liu Xia Lai)， of which the latter was written by Monster, the lead guitarist of popular Taiwanese band, Mayday. The album also features Artery (動脈 Dong Mai), theme song of Mysterious Incredible Terminator (霹靂MIT), Shining Star (恒星 Heng Xing), theme song of Rolling Love (翻滾吧！蛋炒飯) and the ending song of drama ToGetHer (愛就宅一起) featuring Jiro and Rainie Yang, The Love of Silence (默默 Mo Mo). The album is completed by slower ballads that showcases the quartet's improved vocals and chemistry in harmonization.