From top: Shunza performs at Blue Note Beijing, a jazz club; Shunza with the Red Groove Project, a 10-member funk instrumental band from Shanghai. The band has been an ongoing project of guitarist/composer Lawrence Ku since 2004. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Chinese-American singer-songwriter Shunza, who has teamed up with the Red Groove Project, is now touring major cities on the Chinese mainland

When Chinese-American singer-songwriter Shunza launched her debut self-titled Mandarin album in 1997, her wide vocal range and velvet voice soon gained her a large fan base in China.

One of the songs, a love ballad titled Going Home, became her best-known hit and topped the charts.

She further displayed her talent by releasing other albums, such as her second Mandarin album I'm Not A Star and her English album, Open Up, in 1998 and 1999, respectively. The latter won her best female singer and best composer awards at Taiwan's prestigious Golden Melody Awards.

Now, the singer-songwriter, 43, is returning to her jazz roots by touring major cities on the Chinese mainland, such as Chongqing, Xiamen, Xi'an, Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan.

Teaming up with multinational funk, jazz band, the Red Groove Project, she has performed her popular hits as well as songs from her upcoming album, which has a crossover touch.

"My fans, who come to the shows, want to listen to my classic songs and songs from my new album, and we won't let them down. The Red Groove Project have rearranged all my songs. It's like a reincarnation of my older songs along with my new songs. We bring new versions to the audiences. We are really excited," says Shunza in an interview with China Daily before she performed at Blue Note Beijing. The first Chinese branch of the Blue Note Jazz Club, the famous New York establishment, launched in August 2016 at the renovated site of the former US embassy near Tian'anmen Square.

Born in Beijing to a clarinet player father and a classical pianist mother, Shunza started studying piano at 4.

After moving to San Francisco with her family at 6, she was exposed to a variety of music genres, such as R&B, hip-hop, soul and jazz.

At 17, she joined the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in Lausanne, Switzerland.