Four Golden Princess

Four Golden Princess
Origin	Malaysia
Genres	Chinese New Year & Mandarin Folk Songs
Occupations	Singers
Years active	1994–2008
Labels	Wayang Tinggi Entertainment
Members
君儿 Ginger Keong Hueh Chin (姜慧君) 敏儿 Mins Eng Lee Min (黃麗敏) 凯儿 Samantha Ee Kai Chee (余凱慈) 红儿 Richell Lee Lian Hong (李廉紅)

Four Golden Princess (Chinese: 四千金)is a Malaysian girl group that consists of four members: Ginger Keong Hueh Chin, Mins Eng Lee Min, Samantha Ee Kai Chee and Richell Lee Lian Hong. They are best known by their stage names Chin Er, Min Er, Kai Er, and Hong Er.

Commonly abbreviated to FGP or 4GP, they were recruited by recording company Ya-Ko Enterprise around 1995, after mass success with their other than child star, Crystal Ong Shir Ching (currently a member of M-girls). At that time, the members of Four Golden Princess averaged 5–6 years old. Each of them hail from different parts of Malaysia, but the four girls get together at company’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on school holidays and weekends for recording sessions or promotions.

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, an astonishing figure for local artists.

In September 1997, the parents of Four Golden Princess filed a lawsuit against their recording company, Ya-Ko Enterprise, for non-payment of contractual fees. The parents claimed they had only received partial payment for one-and-a-half albums. The lawsuit was settled out of court and as a result, Four Golden Princess was released to another recording company, Wayang Tinggi Entertainment (WTE) as of October 1, 1997, where they remain presently.

Over the many years with WTE, Four Golden Princess has recorded and filmed over 20 albums (8 albums under the “Children’s Wonderland” series, 3 albums under the “Golden Folk Songs” series, and 10 Chinese New Year albums), each of them all best sellers, earning them the title of super child star.

Their Chinese New Year albums have become a trademark success. At what was perhaps the peak of their popularity around 1999-2001, their “Dancing Dragons Dazzle in Beijing City 1999” album sold more than 100,000 copies in Malaysia and another 450,000 copies in China. Their “Lovable Dragon Year 2000” album sold more than 125,000 copies, and their “Dance of the Golden Snake 2001” album sold about 100,000 copies in Malaysia alone.

In early 2003, Min Er announced her intention to leave the group and her singing career to concentrate on school studies. She had always been the most studious one of the group and dreamt of a career as a doctor ever since she was little. However, much to the relief of their legion of fans, Min Er decided to remain in the group after much persuasion from fans and friends.

On June 5, 2004, Four Golden Princess celebrated their 10 year anniversary as a group with a mini concert at Malaysia’s UE3. A child star singing group to have lasted 10 years (or even 5 years) was the very first in Malaysia’s music scene. Over the years, 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. You knew that for a fact, Four Golden Princess was certainly growing up.

Around November 2004, a video from their very early days, circulated around the internet in Taiwan like a storm. “The Laughing Song” featuring their shaking heads and funny lyrics even made the internet news for spreading so 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.

Their last album was released for Chinese New Year 2008. They have since stopped producing new albums to focus on school studies, though the members occasionally get together to do public performances during the Chinese new years.

Albums

Happy Children's Songs

• Volume 1 (1995)
• Volume 2 (1996/1997)
• Volume 3 (1996/1997)

Children Wonderland

• Volume 1 (1998)
• Volume 2 (1998)
• Volume 3 (1999)
• Volume 4 (2000)
• Volume 5: Red Dragonfly 紅蜻蜓 (2000)
• Volume 6 (5/2001)
• Volume 7: Flower Butterfly 花蝴蝶 (10/2001)
• Volume 8: 民謠風 Folk Songs (5/2002)

Golden Folk Songs

• Volume 1: Bean Sprout Dream 豆芽夢 (3/2003)
• Volume 2: Your Cold Hands 你那好冷的小手 (3/2004)
• Volume 3: Chinese & English Songs 東拼西湊 (3/2005)

Chinese New Year

• 1997 Chinese New Year 賀歲專輯
• 1998 Chinese New Year 賀歲專輯
• 1999 Dancing Dragons Dazzle in Beijing City 威龍揚武耀京城
• 2000 Lovable Dragon Year 龍年多可愛
• 2001 Dance of the Golden Snake 金蛇狅舞齊拜年
• 2002 Arrival Of The Horse Year Brings Success 馬到功成慶豐年
• 2003 Prosper Every Year 年年豐收好
• 2004 Flowers Blossom in the Spring 春風催花開 / Spring is Here 春天來了 (四千金& M-Girls)
• 2005 Don't Want Your Red Envelope 不要你的紅包
• 2006 Celebrate Together 同歡共樂 (四千金& M-Girls)
• 2007 Paradise 世外桃源 (四千金& M-Girls)
• 2008 Chinese New Year 喜年一開財富來 / 飛躍新年

Others

• ABC Small World ABC小天地(1999)
• 10 Years Diary 1995-2004 10年記事本 1995-2004 (4/2004)
• 10 Years Diary 1995-2004 Mini Concert 10年記事本1995-2004迷你演唱會 (7/2004)
• Kingdom of Children Songs 兒歌王國 (8/2004)
• 11th Year New Journey 四千金11週年新旅程 (5/2005)
• New Songs & Best Selections 新歌 + 精選 (9/2006)

Guest Appearances

• Ya-Ko Artists Chinese New Year 1997 雅歌群星賀新年 1997
• Crystal Ong & Queezy Cheng: Twin Stars Bring Luck (2) 王雪晶 & 莊群施: 雙星報喜 (二) 1997
• Crystal Ong: Sailormoon 王雪晶﹕美少女戰士
• Christmas Songs 1998
• 1999 Eight Superstars Chinese New Year 八大巨星京城喜迎春
• 2000 Eight Superstars Celebrate the Millennium 八大巨星歡慶千喜年

Commercials

• CNI-Cocoa (CNI 可可)
• Ginvera Garfield Shampoo
• Nesh Life Water (Nesh 生命水)
• Six Happiness Mooncake (Hong Er only) (六福月餅)

Television

• Adik-Beradik 兄弟姊妹 (Kai Er only)
• Gung Xi Fa Cai Grandmother 2006 恭喜發財婆婆 2006 (Kai Er only)
• Love 9 9 愛心。九。九 (Chin Er only)

External links

• Wayang Tinggi Corporation - official company website
• Four Golden Princess - comprehensive FGP fansite
• M-girls Wikipedia on another girl group from the same company
• Cute Princess Wikipedia on another girl group from the same company