Female solo artist alan‘s full name is Alan Dawa Zhouma. She was born and raised in the province of Sichuan, China. alan learned how to sing and play the erhu at an early age. At the age of ten, she entered a music school in Chengdu, China, and by the age of sixteen she entered a prestigious music school in Beijing. There, she double-majored in the erhu and vocals. During this time she actively performed and competed in musical competitions. In 2005, she entered the Chinese music industry, releasing her album Sheng Sheng Zui Ru Lan under an indie label.
In April 2006, alan was discovered by Avex when the label was holding auditions all over China. She astounded judges with her uniformed look and her voice. After her graduation from her school a year after succeeding in the Avex auditions, alan moved to Japan and started her music career. She debuted in 2007 on the November 21st with her single, Ashita e no Sanka. On the Avex label, she has the well-known Kikuchi Kazuhito as her producer.
In May 2008, alan took part in a charity to raise money for her home region in Sichuan after a devastating earthquake. The single released for this charity was Shiawase no Kane. During this busy month for alan, she was chosen to sing the theme song for the Chinese two-part blockbuster, “Red Cliff.” Because of this, she was able to perform at the Cannes Film Festival in France. The single, RED CLIFF ~Shin • Sen~, was released on October 15th.
That year, alan also participated in NHK’s world environment awareness project, SAVE THE FUTURE 2008. She was able to sing the theme song for this project titled Natsukashii Mirai ~longing future~. This became her third single, which was released in July. After these projects, alan, together with her Avex label, continued to participate in charity projects.
In the beginning of 2009, alan released Gunjo no tani. This was a song written for her by well-known J-Pop singer Cocco. Cocco was especially touched by alan’s work and wrote this song dedicated to the earthquake victims of Sichuan. In March, alan released Voice of EARTH, her first album which contains her first eight singles. The next month, the single Kuon Kawa was released. This was used as the theme song for the second part of the “Red Cliff” series. It was also alan’s first time at the number one spot on the Oricon daily rankings, making her the first Chinese artist to do so.
In September, she released her tenth single, BALLAD Namonaki koi no uta. This was used as the theme song for a movie of the same name. Two months later, alan released her second album, my life.
alan began 2010 by holding a small tour entitled alan 1st concert -voice of you- in Nagoya, Tokyo and Osaka. The Tokyo concert was filmed and later released as her first live DVD. The next month she released a double-sided single, Diamond/Over the clouds. Diamond was used as the anime “InuYasha” 's theme song.
alan always seems to be growing as an artist with each new release. Her future seems to be taking off.
