MOVE over, Tata Young.

There’s another Thai diva in the region who can beat you at your game of sexy and naughty.

Her name is Marsha Vadhanapanich, the singer/actress who’s better known as just Marsha to fans and who recently appeared in Thai horror movie, Phobia 2.

From a recent interview with my paper (where she kept this reporter waiting for close to two hours before finally showing up) and a concert here, Marsha, 39, is clearly the superstar she is known to be in Thailand.

From her daring bondage-inspired style to sensuous dance moves – which have her gyrating her hips like a succubus with too many choices as well twining herself around her back-up dancers – the entertainer of over 20 years has it all.

But, she told this reporter, she was a “little surprised” that she has fans in Singapore.

A crowd of around 600 had turned up at upmarket Thai disco Club Ratchada in Cairnhill Place to watch her performance, which had her belting out English and Thai pop songs.

They roared their approval as she pranced across the stage, her commanding presence filling the room.

But Marsha – who is divorced from Thai singer Amphol Lampoon, with whom she has a son in his 20s – isn’t all diva.

The singer, who got her start in showbiz at age 15 when she appeared on the cover of a Thai magazine, once wanted to teach children in small rural villages.

“It wasn’t my dream (to be a singer and actress),” insisted the woman who starred in her first film at age 16 and released her first album in 1992, about four years after major Thai record label GMM Grammy signed her on.

Since then, she has had 10 solo albums, 19 movies and 12 drama serials to her name. Her image, during those years, has gone from schoolgirl singer to bawdy sex symbol.

Though some have objected to the dramatic shift in her image, what can one say – it works.

She attributes part of her success to her mixed heritage – she has a Thai father and a German mother.

“My face doesn’t look Asian nor European. I love it,” she said, preening a little as she spoke.

And, she says, she’s good friends with the aforementioned Young.

Young and Marsha go way back, from when the former started out on GMM Grammy at the tender age of 14. They still hang out occasionally, and, “sometimes, we have a party, like a New Year’s party at home”, said Marsha.

“She’s like a sister (to me),” she added of her younger contemporary. But though Young’s name is arguably better-known around the region than Marsha’s, the latter doesn’t want to imitate anything Young is doing.

“I don’t want to be like her,” she said with a laugh. “I want to be me. I love being Marsha.”

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