(Also known as Miss Tila.) Tila Tequila (born Nguyễn Thị Thiên Thanh on October 24, 1981) is one of the new "online celebrities" of our generation. Tila was born in Singapore but raised in Houston, Texas, United States, with an older brother and sister. She is of Vietnamese and French heritage. She got the name "Tila Tequila" when she was in high school and had a bad experience with tequila. Her friends then began to call her "Tila Tequila", and the name stuck. She claims her career began at eighteen when she moved to Hollywood and was "discovered" at a local mall. Since then, her career has taken off and many photos of Tila can be found on the internet. She even had got her own MTV reality show called "A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila", which had two seasons. A major turn in Tequila's music career occurred during the April 24, 2006 taping of MTV's Total Request Live. In an interview with the TRL VJs, will.i.am announced that Tequila was signed to the Will.I.Am music group, a record label under A&M Records. Despite her major-label signing, Tequila independently released her first single "I Love U" through iTunes on February 27, 2007, justifying the independent release through her desire to become famous by herself.