She is remembered as one of the lead vocalists in one of Singapore’s most successful English music export, Urban Xchange; as well as the lead singer in the quirky yet popular space-rock outfit, Parking Lot Pimp. Her name is Vanessa Fernandez. Arguably Singapore’s best female vocalist, for the 26-year-old, music was never a choice, but what she was born to do. At 12 she was part of a church choir and performed at various school events. Four years later she became a member of The Singapore Repertory Theatre Young Company acting in several plays and musicals including a leading role in Dick Lee’s Re:mix. In 2000, her group Urban Xchange took Singapore and the region by storm. The regionally successful band had a song featured on the Rush House 2 soundtrack, sang on a specially re-packaged Asian edition of Brian McKnight’s “Superhero” album, was nominated at the MTV Asia Awards 2002, and performed with Stacie Orrico at the MTV Asia Awards 2004. Later she became the lead female vocalist in the band, Parking Lot Pimp, featured by MTV as their first local artist on their Advance Warning programme, and chosen to be Singled-Out by Channel [V]. Besides being a seasoned performer, Vanessa is also a talented songwriter. Having penned her first song when she was 16, she had the chance to showcase her songwriting skill on Welcome To Our Frequency (Parking Lot Pimp’s debut album), writing two songs on the album and co-writing several more. When Parking Lot Pimp disbanded in 2006, Vanessa decided to take a break from music but it wasn’t long before the versatile entertainer was sought after and asked to become a radio presenter on Singapore’s premier pop music station, 987fm. She now helms the morning drive time show, AM Mayhem, with co-hosts, Daniel Ong and Mister Young. Never too far away from her first love, Vanessa has worked on various music projects, including the single “You Don’t Need to Speed” for the compilation album “Sounds of the Underground” in 2007, featuring some of Singapore’s best music talents. In June of 2008, Vanessa worked with legendary Singaporean producer, Iskandar Ismail, on songs for “Magicbox”, a theatre production starring Singapore’s infamous father-daughter magic team of Lawrence and Priscilla Khong. For the seasoned entertainer, music and is not only second-nature but also a vital part of her life and is currently writing songs for a debut solo album. Talented and accomplished yet down-to-earth, Vanessa is an average girl next door who just so happens to have a whole lotta soul. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.