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Violinist Vanessa-Mae performing at Royal Albert Hall.

World-famous violinist Vanessa-Mae will in future carry a Thai passport when on tour. Foreign Ministry permanent secretary Tej Bunnag yesterday presented a Thai passport to the violinist under the name Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn, whose biological father is Thai. Ms Vanessa-Mae, who turns 24 on Oct 27, said she was excited to have a Thai passport along with her British one. She normally goes by the name Vanessa-Mae Nicholson, the family name of her British step-father. ``It is fantastic to be out there half-Thai, and now carrying a Thai passport,'' said the musician during a classic repertoire at the Queen Sirikit Convention...

Hong Kong - A sell-out Hong Kong concert by violin superstar Vanessa Mae ended in chaos when her trademark electric fiddles failed to work, a news report said on Friday. Audience members walked out and the 23-year-old Singapore-born star apologised for the technical problems which dogged her one-off performance at Hong Kong's Convention and Exhibition Centre on Thursday evening. Nearly 5 000 people packed into the venue for the concert which began half an hour late, setting off a slow-handclap from the crowd, the South China Morning Post reported. Her electric violins failed from the outset and Vanessa Mae stomped...

SINGAPORE (AP) - Violinist Vanessa-Mae is best known for bringing sex appeal to classical music, but she doesn't consider herself sexy. "I've always been a bit of a tomboy," she said before a concert in Singapore on Wednesday. "I'm not your usual hourglass figure." Vanessa-Mae, a child prodigy who picked up the violin at age 5, shot to fame in 1995 with her triple-platinum debut album, "Violin Player," which showed her on the cover in a clinging, wet dress. But the 23-year-old says she relates to Marilyn Manson — the male shock rocker known for his ghoulish outfits and stage...