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Tila Tequila

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Template:Infobox musical artist 2 Tila Nguyen (IPA: ) (born October 24, 1981 in Singapore), commonly known as Tila Tequila or simply Tila, is a Vietnamese-American glamour model and singer of French ancestry. Residing in West Hollywood, California, she is best known for her appearances in automotive import magazines and films, her role as host of Pants-Off Dance-Off and her position as the most popular person in MySpace as of April 2006. She is currently signed to will.i.am Music group/A&M Records.

Early years

Although Nguyen is of Vietnamese descent, she was born in Singapore where her family emigrated after The Vietnam War. Her family later moved to the Alief neighborhood of Houston, where she was raised. During most of her early childhood, her family lived in rundown housing before being admitted to a Buddhist temple. During that time, she spent most of her time in a gated community. When she reached her adolescent years, she was released from the temple. As soon as she entered middle school, Nguyen developed a tomboy/bad girl attitude. Her behavior eventually caused her to be sent to a boarding school for six months before being transferred to another school.

In her first year of high school, Nguyen frequently got into fights. As she got older, she used her sister's identification card to enter nightclubs, where she began experimenting with drugs as well as joining a gang. In an interview with Import Tuner, Nguyen mentioned how she was trying to find a sense of identity; "I was really confused then, 'cause at first I thought I was black, then I thought I was hispanic and joined a cholo gang." Later, she made some friends outside the gang who, for a short time, helped turn her life around; however her gangbanger past caught up with her, and Nguyen fled to Queens where she returned to her previous decadent lifestyle. Once she returned to Texas, she had a three-way relationship with two other girlfriends until she decided she couldn't handle her lifestyle and she began to focus on her studies and her jobs.

Modeling

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File:Stuff Magazine Apr 2006.jpg
Tila on the cover of Stuff magazine.

Nguyen realized her life would get worse if she lived in Texas, so she moved to Hollywood to pursue her career in entertainment. She claims her career began at the age of eighteen when she was spotted at a mall by a Playboy scout and was offered a chance to model nude for Playboy. She at first declined but decided to accept upon repeated entreaties. On April 22 2002 she was featured as Playboy's Cyber Girl of the week and soon thereafter she became the first Asian Cyber Girl of the Month.

Leanna Scott, a nude model who performed in a pornographic video and who happens to resemble Nguyen, was being marketed by a number of porn sites as Nguyen. Tila announced on her MySpace blog that it was not her in the video.

Nguyen gained further popularity through the Import Racing Scene. She has been featured on the cover of the magazine Import Tuner, at many car shows, including Hot Import Nights, and in the video game Street Racing Syndicate.. She was also a contestant on VH1's Surviving Nugent, a reality TV show where she would do various compromising tasks and stunts for Ted Nugent.

Nguyen was featured on the cover of the April 2006 issue of Stuff magazine. In the interview, she claimed that her nickname "Tila Tequila" comes from her tendency to blush when she drinks alcohol.. She was later included in Stuff's 100 Sexiest Women Online. Nguyen also appeared on the cover of the August 2006 issue of Maxim magazine as well as being named #88 in their Hot 100 List.

Nguyen was also the most frequent host on the first season of Fuse TV's dance show, Pants-Off Dance-Off; a competition where a motley group of contestants strip to music videos.

Music career

Nguyen used modeling as a foot in the door for other career opportunities. At age twenty, she took interest in rock and started looking for bands willing to have her join. However, her Playboy past hurt her credibility, but she eventually assembled a band called Beyond Betty Jean. Through her run with the band, she gained enough skills and confidence to become a singer-songwriter. Following the break-up of Beyond Betty Jean, Nguyen started working in recording studios to sharpen her vocal skills and write music.

Nguyen is now the lead singer of a band called Jealousy, who has been releasing songs over the Internet. Jealousy has appeared on MySpace Records' inaugural compilation album, released through MySpace Records/Interscope.

A major turn in Nguyen's music career occurred during the April 24 2006 taping of Total Request Live. In an interview with the TRL VJs, will.i.am announced that Nguyen was signed to the will.i.am Music group, a record label under A&M Records. This marks Tila's first contract with a major record label.

Music clips

These clips are mono, and encoded in the Ogg Vorbis sound format at a nominal (average) bitrate of 60 kilobytes per second.

Audio file "Tila Tequila - No Woman No Cry.ogg" not found
0:39; Ogg Vorbis, 272 KB
Audio file "Tila Tequila - Playgirl Central.ogg" not found
0:32; Ogg Vorbis, 241 KB

External links

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References

  1. Weiner, Jonah Tila Tequila, the first star of MySpace, slate.com, April 11 2006
  2. Up Close & Personal: Tila Nguyen - Import Tuner
  3. Nguyen, Tila ' Tila's official biography at TilasHotspot.com'
  4. ^ Nguyen, Tila 'Tila's official short biography at TilasHotspot.com' - Biography covering Nguyen's modeling years.
  5. Nguyen, Tila '[http://blog.MySpace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=41736&blogID=28365046', blog.myspace.com, (May 28, 2005)
  6. SRS: Street Racing Syndicate Hands-On for Xbox - GamePro article
  7. VH1's Surviving Nugent interview with Tila
  8. Gilbert, Laura 'Enter the Dragon', Stuff Magazine (April 2006)
  9. Maxim Hot 100
  10. Nguyen, Tila 'TILA GETS SIGNED...ANNOUNCED ON MTV!!' blog.MySpace.com, (April 24, 2006)
  11. WENN "Will.I.Am's New Signing Is A Tough Girl", PostChronicle.com, July 25, 2006
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