User:Cheetah255/Sophia (singer)

Sophia Ayako Mock (born September 19, 1994), better known by her stage name Sophia, is a Japanese-Canadian singer, songwriter, and performer who resides in Victoria, BC. Originally raised in Japan, Sophia has been involved with music from a very young age. At the age of 10, Sophia was selected to be the youngest member of the J-Pop group HappyNs. After two years with HappyNs, her family made the move to Canada. Once in Canada, Sophia continued to pursue her passion for music and discovered her love for songwriting. At the age of 16 Sophia was signed by local record label "Prodigy Records”.

Early Years
Sophia was born on September 19, 1994 in Tokyo, Japan to a Dutch father and Japanese mother, which gave her quite a broad perspective on culture. She was born the middle child having an older brother and younger sister. She enjoyed the move to Canada as she quickly made friends and became acquainted to the Western way of life.

During Sophia's teen years she became fixated with the entertainment business. She loved singing, dancing, and acting. As she pursued all three avenues she soon came to realize her passion was in singing. Sophia experimented with different vocal coaches and found that her interest lie in the teachings of Pop/R&B.

Career
During the Christmas of 2010, Sophia was given a microphone. She spent countless hours in her room recording covers of her favourite songs. She started posting covers on YouTube and was soon noticed by Prodigy Music Group. Early in 2011, Sophia signed a record deal and became a part of the Prodigy team.

At the age of 16, Sophia had her first single "What You Said" charted on various Canadian and U.S. radio charts. It was featured on DJ Anyu's mixtape "Essence Vol. 9". For her next release "Sunglasses", Sophia teamed up with award winning producers SA Trackworks (Elise Estrada, Laura Pausini, Ne-Yo, Ray J). Sunglasses received airplay in Indonesia, Canada and the US.

In the summer of 2012, Sophia collaborated with fellow singer songwriter A-Lo and producer Steve Kroeger (Brad Urba, Ace Jonez) resulting in a song called “Superhero”. A music video with award winning director Alon Isocianu was released in January 2013 coinciding with the single release. On March 2013, the song was announced as the official song of the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer tournament..

In the late stages of 2012, Sophia teamed up with producer Troy Samson (Victoria Duffield, Cody Simpson, Kelly Rowland, Hedley) and wrote a song titled "Crazy Stupid Love" for release in 2013.

Sophia spends most of her time in the studio honing her song writing skills and writing new music.

Albums

 * HappyNs: EP (2006 Release)
 * Live 4 Love: Full-Length CD (Mar. 2013 Release)

Singles

 * Realistic (HappyNs)
 * Excellent (HappyNs)
 * What You Said (Live 4 Love)
 * Sunglasses (Live 4 Love)
 * Tonight Ft. A-Lo (Live 4 Love)
 * Superhero w/ A-Lo (Live 4 Love)