Career
Originally known as "Four Little Golden Princess" (the word "Princess" in the singular form, not "Princesses"), and commonly abbreviated to FGP or 4GP, they were recruited by recording company Ya-Ko Enterprise around 1995, after mass success other than child star, Crystal Ong Shir Ching, who is currently a member of M-girls. At that time, the members of Four Golden Princess averaged 5–6 years old (Ginger was born in 1988 and the others in 1990). Each of them hail from different parts of Malaysia, but they were brought together at company headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on school holidays and weekends for recording sessions or promotions. As they grew older and remained popular, the word "Little" was quietly dropped from the group name.
They made their debut effort in a compilation album in August 1996 (album title unknown). Under the management of Ya-Ko Enterprise, the Four Golden Princess released 3 Happy Children’s Songs albums and 1 Chinese New Year 1997 album. Each album grossed more than 50,000 copies sold, which made an astonishing figure for local artists.
In September 1997, the parents of Four Golden Princess filed a lawsuit against Ya-Ko Enterprise for the non-payment of contractual fees. The parents claimed that they had only received partial payment for one-and-a-half albums. With the lawsuit was settled out of court, Four Golden Princess was permanently switched to another recording company called "Wayang Tinggi Entertainment (WTE)" as of October 1, 1997.
Over the years with WTE, Four Golden Princess has recorded and filmed over 20 albums (8 albums under the Children’s Wonderland series, 3 under the Golden Folk Songs series, and 10 Chinese New Year albums). Each of them are best sellers, giving the group's title "Super Child Star". They also recorded a number of popular songs (especially in their teens) with several songs that are combinations of Chinese and American songs.
Their Chinese New Year albums have become a trademark success. At what was perhaps the peak of their child-group popularity around 1999-2001, their album "Dancing Dragons Dazzle in Beijing City 1999" sold over 100,000 copies in Malaysia and another 450,000 in China; "Lovable Dragon Year 2000" over 125,000; and their "Dance of the Golden Snake 2001" over 100,000 in Malaysia alone.
In early 2003, Min Er announced her intention to leave the group to concentrate on her studies. She had always been the most studious member of the group and dreamt of a career as a doctor since childhood. However, much to the relief of their legion of fans, Min Er decided to remain in the group after much persuasion from her friends and fans.
On June 5, 2004, Four Golden Princess celebrated their 10th anniversary as a group with a mini concert at Malaysia’s UE3. They were the first child group to last 10 years (or even 5 years) from Malaysia’s music scene. Along with growing up, they have progressed from singing nursery rhymes to children songs to school folk songs and love songs. All these categories of songs were showcased in this concert. Hearing Four Golden Princess re-sing their nursery tunes again, a childhood innocence in their voice is no longer felt.
Around November 2004, a video from their very early days circulated around the internet in Taiwan like storm. "The Laughing Song" featuring their shaking heads and funny lyrics caused the internet news to spread quickly. “Why is Math class your favorite? Because my teacher is always absent!” or “Today I got 100%, English 50%, Math 50%, add it together, and I have 100%” became favorite quotes amongst Taiwan teens. Taiwan youth even filmed their own version of the music video to this song. Although this sudden surge of popularity in Taiwan was a result from them being mocked, it also lead numerous people to learn about the recent Four Golden Princess and converted some into fans as well. One of the websites devoted to Four Golden Princess, www.fourgoldenprincess.com, was so overwhelmed by the amount of people visiting that its bandwidth ran out very early in the month, something that never happened before.
YouTube has introduced numerous Four Golden Princess music videos to a worldwide audience.
Their last album was released for Chinese New Year 2008, followed by their disbandment, though the members occasionally get together to do public performances during the Chinese new years. Their reason was that they want to lead to a normal life.
In late September 2012, behind the scene pictures of the two Four Golden Princess members Ginger and Richell filming a CNY album with 6 other artists appeared on the Facebook page 8大贺岁. It was confirmed that the group 八大巨星(Eight Superstars) would reform. Four Golden Princess were previously in their 1999 CNY album and briefly in their 2000 CNY album. The page said that the album would be released in December.
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