Tiara J Danced Wit Da Stars in Melbourne, yay!

two nights ago, whilst in Melbourne, i watched the Australian semi finals of Dancing With The Stars at Global Studios in SouthBank, as the guest of the show's musical director, Chong Lim, a Malaysian who has lived in Oz for 30 years.

Not only was i floored and completely awed by the music and the awesome band, i was so impressed by the quality of dancing and the slick production of the show. I had Mila with me, and we were both watching a soap star, a footballer, a boxer and a kids' show host contend. We were rooting for Charlie Delaney from Hi-5 (for sentimental reasons), who unfortunately got voted out :-( but..... The star of the show that night, whose name got mentioned more times than anyone else on the show, was the show's Musical Director, OUR very own Chong Lim! Chong and his band of flawless musicians pulled off 19 songs in one show, from James Bond Themes to Prince and J.lo with only a week's preparation, amazing...

At the end of the show, i met up with this amazing guy and told him i wish i had a huge Malaysian flag in my hand that i could wave around from where i was in the audience. I was so, so proud that night. Of all the most talented musicians in all of Australia, and on the most popular TV shows watched by almost all of Australia every week, here was OUR HOMEBOY, YEEEEAAAHHHHH!!!!

read about Chong's most impressive bio here.

Chong Lim - Biography

Dancing With The Stars musical director Chong Lim is one of Australia's most-experienced musicians, working as a producer, musical director, arranger, keyboardist, sound programmer and composer for internationally renowned talents.

While he had been playing piano since the age of seven, Lim had never touched a synthesizer until he was twenty years old. He began playing in bands while studying Mechanical Engineering at Melbourne University, and then had his first break, joining Venetta's Taxi and then The Eurogliders, culminating in getting the seat in John Farnham's band in 1994 and most famously became John's Musical Director.

Lim has worked in the music business now for over 20 years turning his passion for music into a lifelong career. He has heard his work played at the Olympics Games, felt the excitement of being on stage in front of tens of thousands of people and his work has flowed over into television working on Australia's highest rating television programs.

He has also worked with the who's who of music, from Kylie Minogue, Olivia Newton-John, Tina Arena, Paul Kelly, Dame Edna Everage, Sir George Martin, Boz Scaggs, Jermaine Jackson, Anthony Callea, to Delta Goodrem, Tina Arena, and Christine Anu.

Lim was involved in both the opening and closing ceremonies of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and he was Musical Director and Composer for the recent Closing Ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

His passion for music turned to television when he signed on as Musical Director on the television program Don't Forget Your Toothbrush. Since then he has appeared on countless television programs and celebrated his 10th year as Musical Director for the Logie Awards.

Lim is more prominently known for his work as Musical Director on Dancing With The Stars which he has been involved with since it premiered. Chong is also the musical director for It Takes Two.

He was the Musical Supervisor for the stage production of "Dirty Dancing" and also helped orchestrate Guy Sebastian's album 'Taller, Stronger, Better' while Guy was starring in the first series of It Takes Two.

Later that same year he also composed music for the Opening ceremonies of the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.

He produced David Campbell's hit album 'Swing Sessions' with a full orchestra recorded mostly live and they reunited to produce "Swing Sessions 2" which went platinum and was top 10 on the ARIA charts.

Not one to be idle, 2007 was an extremely busy year for Lim. In addition to providing Musical Direction on It Takes Two series two and series six and seven of Dancing With The Stars, he produced David Hobson's album "The Promise", was Music Director and composer for "Citrawarna", a Malaysian cultural event in Kuala Lumpur May 2007 and worked on Kylie Minogue's H&M Shanghai Launch April 2007.

In January Chong Lim was made an Australia Day Ambassador 2008.