Arguably Singapore’s best female vocalist, Vanessa Fernandez has been an entertainer for over a decade. At the age of 16, she joined the Singapore Repertoiry Theatre Young Company, where she performed in various plays and musicals including Re:Mix, penned by Singapore Idol judge and music industry veteran, Dick Lee.  At 18 she became part of one of Singapore’s most successful groups, Urban Xchange, fronting Coca-Cola’s “Life Tastes Good” campaign, contributing music to the Asian edition of the Rush Hour 2 soundtrack, dueted with Brian McKnight on “When You Wanna Come” on the Asian repack of Superhero, and performing alongside American pop singer, Stacie Orrico and Malaysian rap group, Too Phat, at the 2003 MTV Asia Music Awards.

The singer-songwriter continued on with the now defunct space-rock outfit, Parking Lot Pimp, while completing a diploma in Mass Communication at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. The group put out “Welcome To Our Frequency” in 2005, on which Vanessa penned the tracks “Love Song for A Love Song” and “Mr. Glassman.” Fresh out of school she was asked to join Mediacorp Radio’s 987fm in 2006, where she hosted the weekend morning show for a year. Spotting her natural ability, she was quickly moved to the weekday line-up and eventually co-hosted the morning drive-time show AM Mayhem together with Mister Young and veteran radio presenter, Daniel Ong.  After 3 years, the 27-year-old now helms her own quirky show called The V Spot from 10am-1pm on 987fm.

In her spare time Vanessa is also working on her own songs and enjoys collaborating with other musicians on various music projects.  In 2007, she worked with acclaimed producer/songwriters, Don Richmond and Jason Tan on the song “You Don’t Need To Speed” featured on the “Sounds of the Underground” compilation album, an initiative of the Singapore Land Transport Authority. 

In 2009, Vanessa did an acoustic cover of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, which received high rotation on several Mediacorp radio stations. Never complacent, and in an attempt to keep developing her craft as a musician in a Singapore scene that is still growing, she started singing regularly at several popular pubs, including Wala Walas, where she performs 80s tunes with the band, Hard to Explain on Monday nights. Vanessa also performs an acoustic gig at Krish Restaurant at Rochester Park, accompanied by Adrian Yuen, putting her own soulful twist on interpretations of classic, contemporary and indie tunes.