Victor was born in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on December 4, 1978. She is the eldest and only daughter of Maggie Victor, a single mother of Indian descent. Her siblings includes three younger brothers. When Victor was nine years old, her father passed away, prompting her mother to take on three jobs simultaneously to support her four children. At the age of eighteen, Victor started singing in clubs and hotel lounges. With the support of friends and family, Victor and her friend Ravi recorded an album, titled Dream. This self-produced album features songs co-written by Victor as well. Attempts to promote this album includes an appearance on TV show Latte @ 8. In 2004, her mother encouraged her to audition for Malaysian Idol after hearing 8TV CEO Ahmad Izham Omar saying, “Who knows, somebody in Bukit Kepong could be the first Malaysian Idol”[citation needed]. Along with ten thousand others, Victor auditioned for Malaysian Idol. The judges Roslan Aziz, Fauziah Latiff and Paul Moss put her through to the next round. Upon landing a final thirty-third spot, Jac performed “Superwoman” live, becoming the seventh person to reach the top twelve. In the first spectacular, the theme for the week was “Song from your Pop Idol”. Victor chose a song in Malay, “Keliru”. Her performance took her through to the next round. The second theme was “Song from your Classic Idol”. Victor’s choice was When I Fall in Love. After another double elimination sending off Fahmy and Rydee, Victor was back next week performing a “Song from the 80s”, Chaka Khan’s I Feel for You. She went on to the “Rock Show” with a performance of Sweet Child o’ Mine. The last six contestants included Nikki, Dina, Vick, Andrew, and Saipul. Victor performed an effortless Lady Marmalade, but received a less favourable comment from Roslan, who expressed that “she is a super singer but not an idol”, and he felt bored week by week of her performances thus far. On the results show, she found herself in the bottom two for the first time (with Nikki, who performed Emotion), but she survived the elimination. After reaching the last three, her chances were improved by her performance of Alicia Keys’ If I Ain’t Got You. Victor had become the final two contestants on Malaysian Idol, and on October 16, she took the title of Malaysian Idol, earning 76% of audience votes over Dina.[2] In tears, Victor performed the ballad Gemilang (Glory), the song written for the winner of Malaysian Idol, which would subsequently appear on her début album Gemilang. The song’s music video incorporated short scenes of Victor through her journey in Malaysian Idol. Victor’s album achieved gold status within weeks of going on sale. Her previously-released album Dream, sold out within days, despite the sudden increase in price[citation needed]. She won the “Best Newcomer Award” on Hitz. FM and “Best New Artist” in Anugerah Bintang Popular. Since winning, Victor has appeared in numerous television and talk shows such as Pillow Talk and Muzik-Muzik. She has also performed “Gemilang” at a Tsunami Concert held to aid victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. She has performed in duets with Hazami, Taufik Batisah, Akademi Fantasia’s second winner, Zahid, Delon Thamrin, and Misha Omar. Victor emerged as the champion during the Asian Music Festival in Shanghai with her winning song, “Gemilang”. On 21 January 2006, Victor walked away with RTM Hits 1 Best Song and Best Performance awards for Gemilang. Later, on 5 February the same year, the song earned her and its composer Aubrey Suwito and lyricist Azmin Mudin the “Juara Lagu” (Champion of Songs) and “Best Ballad Song” awards in TV3’s 20th edition of the Anugerah Juara Lagu. She was expected to win the TV3’s “Anugerah Vokal Terbaik” (Best Vocal Award). However, she lost the title to Hazami who performed “Kata”. Victor grabbed the Best Female Artiste award at the Anugerah Planet Muzik (Music Planet Awards) in Singapore on 24 March. On April 29, 2006, Victor won four of seven nominations from the Malaysian music scene’s biggest night, the 13th Anugerah Industri Muzik. They are Best New Artist, Best Musical Arrangement in a Song, Best Pop Album and Best Album.She is currently competing for the Ikon Malaysia awards for the solo category.Victor has made it to the Semi-Finals and made it to the final along with Dayang Nurfaizah. In the final, Jac sang a medley songs which is “Impian” (hope) from her first album, “Cepat-cepat” in her second album and her third song “Gemilang”. After a series of delays, Victor’s second album, Inilah Jac, was launched on 25 August 2006. Around the time it was launched, she was on a trip to Australia for both leisure and business purposes, including visiting Mount Buller, and performing in two concerts in Melbourne’s Australia for Christ Fellowship Church (alongside singer-songwriter Juwita Suwito), and in Adelaide’s Paradise Community Church (which inaugural Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian is a member of; though Sebastian himself did not appear). While in Australia, Victor also did an interview for gospel radio station HCJB [3]. In November 2006, she finally landed her first “proper” music video (previously her videos are snippets from studio recording sessions or footage from her Malaysian Idol days) when she filmed Ceritera Cinta with male crooner Rio Febrian in his homeland in Indonesia. In 2007, Victor received an AIM award for Best Female Vocal Performance in an Album as well as two APM nominations, all of which are attributed to Inilah Jac. In the same year, she joined Ikon Malaysia and in July, she emerged as the champion of its solo category. Besides this, two of her songs have been made as opening themes for two Malaysian television series, Fara (Cepat-Cepat) and Manjalara (Satu Harapan). |
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