Jacintha

Jazz and bossa nova vocalist Jacintha was born Jacintha Abisheganaden in Singapore on October 3, 1957. She grew up in a family of music lovers and musicians – her mother was a vocalist and pianist and her father was a guitarist. Jacintha’s first foray into the music business was in 1976, when she won a local television talent show, Talentime. In 1981, she won the Best Female Performer Award at the Drama Festival for her role in General Hospital. In 1983, she released Silence, her new wave-influenced debut album, on WEA. Her acting and performing career took up much of her time for the next few years as she performed in a variety of stage musicals and plays. After a brief time living in the U.S., she returned to Singapore and recorded her second album, 1987’s Latin jazz-inspired Tropicana. More stage and television filled her schedule throughout most of the 1990s, but she was able to release the albums Dramarama (1991) and My Life (1997) as she made her full transition to jazz. She signed to the label Groove Note and released two tribute albums - Here's to Ben: A Vocal Tribute to Ben Webster (1998) and Autumn Leaves: The Songs of Johnny Mercer (1999). She followed those releases with Lush Life (2001), a tribute to Julie London with Julie Is Her Name (2003) and a tribute to Brazil on The Girl from Bossa Nova (2004). Her next project was Jacintha Goes to Hollywood (2007), an album filled with famous songs from movies. After an 11 year break from recording, she returned in 2019 with the album Fire & Rain.