About F4
F4 is a boy-group compose of Jerry Yan, Vic Zhou, Vanness Wu and Ken Zhu. In the taiwanese series "Meteor Garden", these 4 guys portray different characters and these characters in that series form a group called "F4". This series became popular in taiwan, later then to Hong Kong and China. Because the series is so successful, the person who produces this series also signed them to her company and decides to group all these 4 guys together to form a boy-group using the same group name from the series, that is "F4". Today they are known also by the new name " JVKV "
F4 (2001-2002)
The Meteor Garden series is an adaptation of the Japanese shōjo manga series, Boys Over Flowers (Hana Yori Dango). Yan plays the lead role of Dao Ming Si, an extremely arrogant and rich university student who meets his match in the poor but proud girl, Shan Cai - played by Barbie Xu. Zhou, Wu and Zhu play his friends Hua Ze Lei, Mei Zuo, and Xi Men respectively. The four boys were the most popular and handsome boys at the university; they were recognised as the group named the "Flower Four", hence the title: F4.
Meteor Garden was released in Taiwan in 2001 and turned the leads into stars virtually overnight. In 2002 Meteor Garden was released in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and in the Philippines in 2003. The series was smuggled into Mainland China in 2002 despite an official ban by the authorities there on its showing due to its emphasis on power and materialism. A sequel, Meteor Garden II, was shot in Spain later and released in 2002. The success of "Meteor Garden" is notable because it has launched the idol drama craze.
In 2001, F4 became a boyband and signed a record deal with Sony Music Entertainment. Together they have released three albums, Meteor Rain, Fantasy 4ever, and "Waiting for You Here". In 2002, F4 sang the Mandarin cover of "Can't Help Falling in Love" included in the Asian version of Walt Disney's Lilo & Stitch soundtrack. The English version of this song is sung by A*Teens, which is a cover of the 1961 Elvis Presley hit of the same title. They also made the Mandarin cover of Yo Te Amo by Chayanne.
F4 has been sponsored by Pepsi, Yamaha Motorbikes and Samuel & Kevin. The Taiwan Tourism Bureau appointed members of F4 as Tourism Ambassadors on March 9, 2007. Their "Wish to See You in Taiwan" campaign involves filming a television advertisement and a drama series filmed on tourist locations. As tourism ambassadors, F4 members also invited its overseas fans from South Korea and elsewhere to visit Taiwan.
JVKV (2007-present)
On April 29, 2007, Meteor Garden producer Angie Chai announced that the group would no longer be known as F4. The change in name stemmed from copyright-related issues. Japanese publisher Shueisha, who owns the copyright to Boys Over Flowers allowed the group to use F4 as its band name in 2001. However, as Japan had filmed and aired its own live action versions of the popular manga, with its own cast of four, the publisher felt that there may be confusion over the name in different countries. Due to this conflict, the group was renamed JVKV using the first initials of each of the group's members. According to the producer, the members are listed in the new name by the order of their birth dates from oldest to youngest, thus Vanness Wu's name appears before Vic Zhou's.
Despite rumours of disbanding, JVKV released their third album, Waiting For You, on December 28, 2007. Their third album still bore the name F4, not JVKV
The four of them just recently got together once again and held a 7 day sold out concert in Japan this past month
SOLO PROJECTS
F4/JVKV are also concentrating on their solo careers in acting and music.
Wu has focused more of his attention on movies and music. He released his 2nd album titled "V.Dubb" (his nickname) in April of 2007, five years after his first album, "Body Will Sing". He's been in numerous music videos, "Ai Cuo" with Wang Leehom, Chinese version of "Crazy in Love" with Beyonce and Coco Lee's "Hip Hop Tonight". He has also been involved with several big-screen movies such as "Kung Fu Fighter", "Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon", and "Dragon Squad" just to name a few.
In August 2004, Yan came out with his first solo album titled, 'The First Time' (第一次 Jerry for You). He's acted in Taiwan drama series "Love Scar", "The Hospital" and made a movie, Magic Kitchen 魔幻廚房 (2004). Now, "Hot Shot(2008)"is broadcasting in Taiwan.
Zhou has come out with 3 solo albums, "Make a Wish" (January 2002), "Remember I Love You" (January 2004), and "I'm not F4" (November 2007), not to mention, he has acted in at least one drama series every year since his first break in 2001 with the exception of 2003. Within the last year, he also came out with 2 movies, "Linger" and "Tea Fight."
Chu, known to love food and cooking, came out with his own cook book, "Delicious Relations" [美味关系] in 2006 after starring in a string of idol dramas. He has also starred in at least one drama every year since 2001, with the exception of 2005. That year, he came out with his own solo album, "On Ken's Time." He has filmed 3 movies to date. In a recent interview with F4, Chu has mentioned that he is growing increasingly more interested in music.
Three of the four acted in "Wish To See You Again." Vic Zhou and Ken Chu will be starring in it, while Vanness will have a guest appearance in a few episodes. Due to scheduling conflicts, Jerry Yan was not in it and instead, Kingone Wang played the part that was initially intended for Jerry. Instead, Jerry Yan is filmed a series in Taiwan alongside Wu Chun of Fahrenheit and Show Luo, called "Hot Shot" which was released this summer of 2008. The series is based around basketball and the boys' competition on court. This series was highly anticipated due to the star status of the 3 male leads.
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