Chen Hsin-hung (Chinese:陳信宏; pinyin:Chén Xìnhóng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Tân Sìn-hông), known professionally as Ashin (Chinese:阿信; pinyin:Āxìn) (born 6 December 1975), is a Taiwan singer and songwriter. He is best known as the vocalist of the rock band Mayday. He is also the founder and designer of the clothing line StayReal, a shareholder of the music label B'in Music, and was elected a board member of the Taiwan Public Television Service in 2013.
Early life
Ashin was born in Beitou District, Taiwan into a family of four, consisting of his parents, himself, and a younger brother. His family owned a record store, which inspired his passion for music. Ashin's childhood ambition was to become a singer, but his vocal range was too narrow. He claims his bandmates selected him to be Mayday's singer as he was the worst instrumentalist out of all of them. Ashin can play both guitar and drums.[citation needed]
Ashin joined his high school's guitar club and was made president the following year. It was in this guitar club that he met the other members of Mayday: Monster, Masa, and Stone. At the age of 19, he began composing music. He wrote songs in Mandarin and Taiwanese Hokkien as his parents and grandparents are fluent in both languages. As a child, Ashin was highly influenced by The Beatles, Lo Ta-yu (羅大佑), Wu Bai(伍佰), and Mr. Children. Ashin's first song, "Hao Ju Hao San", was released on Richie Jen's 2001 album "Fei Niao." After graduating from high school, Ashin attended Shih Chien University, where he majored in interior design.[citation needed]
1995–1997: SoBand
In 1995, together with Monster and Qian You-Da (Mayday's original drummer), Ashin formed "SoBand". Shortly after the band formed, Masa came on board as the band's bassist. Ashin was both the lead vocalist and the guitarist and during their formative years the band played at a number of major bars across the country. In 1997, shortly after Stone joined the band, the members decided to change their name to Mayday. Ming joined the band later as the group's drummer.
1997–present: Mayday
Ashin in 2008
Mayday began as an underground rock band. They sent demo tapes to the major record labels and were spotted by producer Jonathan Lee (李宗盛) of Rock Records. Under Rock Records, Mayday released their first official album in 1999 and began to gain fame. They released five albums under Rock Records before leaving to set up their own record label, B'in Music, with former Rock Records executives Chen Yongzhi and Xie Zhifen.
In 2019, he collaborated with Jay Chou and released a single called Won't Cry (說好不哭), a song from his 15th studio album titled Greatest Works of Art. In 2021 he composed the official main theme from Brave Animated Series, in association with the rock band LION.
Outside of music, Ashin published his first book, Happy.BIRTH.Day: Birth of Rock Poems, in 2006. It features the lyrics of 60 of his songs, as well as a selection of his photography. In 2008, he published "Escape to Japan", a guidebook to unconventional traveling in Japan. In 2012, he collaborated with Ninagawa Mika and published a photography book called "Stairway to Heaven".
