Jacintha

Jacintha is a Singaporean jazz singer/torch singer and stage actress who has been well-known in parts of the Asia-Pacific region since the '80s and has been increasing her exposure in North America since the late '90s. Jacintha has never been the type of jazz artist who goes out of her way to be abstract, difficult, or complicated; her work has been quite accessible and easy to absorb, drawing on direct or indirect influences that have included Julie London and Shirley Horn as well as Brazilian star Astrud Gilberto. Jacintha has long been fluent in English, which is widely spoken in Singapore and is one of its four official languages along with Malay, Mandarin Chinese (as opposed to Cantonese Chinese), and Tamil. Jacintha was born Jacintha Abisheganaden in Singapore on October 3, 1957. Both of her parents were musicians who encouraged her interest in the arts; her Chinese mother was a singer/pianist, and her Sri Lankan father, Alexander Abisheganaden, was a guitarist who was into both classical guitar and jazz guitar. Growing up in Singapore, Jacintha listened to a wide variety of music -- not only vocal jazz and traditional pop, but also artists who ranged from Stevie Wonder to Joni Mitchell to South African star Miriam Makeba. Jacintha was a big fan of Brazilian bandleader Sergio Mendes during her upbringing, and she has been quoted as saying that she was "obsessed" with Barbra Streisand. Early in her career, Jacintha dabbled in techno-pop, but jazz and torch singing ultimately became her primary focus as a recording artist and live performer. In the '70s, Jacintha sang in the Singapore Youth Choir and attended the National University of Singapore (where she earned a degree in English). Jacintha, who lived in the U.S. for a while in the '80s but returned to Singapore,...