Asian Singers

I was watching a repeat of So You Think You Can Dance Season 6 episode, and a South Korean pop group performed.  The group is called the Wonder Girls and they have five girls.  Fans of K-pop probably already know who they are, but I remember this was the first time I saw them.  They performed the song, "Nobody," which was a pretty bland, typical pop song.

This group reminds me of another Asian pop group that I saw on So You Think You Can Dance this season, Blush.  Blush is interesting because it's a Pan-Asian group.  Their members were found through reality shows that aired all throughout Asia, and the final group consists of girls from India, South Korea, China, Japan, and the Phillippines.  Their first single, "Undivided," featured Snoop Dogg.

I was racking my brain to think of individual Asian singers (both Asian-Americans and Asians) who actually managed to make it big in the United States, and I can't think of any.  There are Asian singers who are better known as actors here, like Rain, Andy Lau, and Jay Chou, but not as singers, and there are Asian-Americans in successful bands Apl.de.Ap. (Black Eyed Peas) and Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park), but no individual Asian stars at the level of Justin Timberlake or Lady Gaga or Jennifer Lopez.  Out of curiosity, I googled Asian singers in the United States, and this interesting article came up:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/world/americas/04iht-singer.4787848.html?pagewanted=1