Faye Wong

Faye Wong (; born Xia Lin on 8 August 1969) is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actress. Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong. Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong in 1987 and her debut album Shirley Wong (1989) came to public attention in the early 1990s by singing in Cantonese, often combining alternative music with mainstream Chinese pop. Since 1994, she has recorded mostly in her native Mandarin. In 2000, she was recognised by Guinness World Records as the "Best Selling Canto-Pop Female". Following her second marriage in 2005, she withdrew from the limelight, but returned to the stage in 2010. Hugely popular in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and Singapore, she has also gained a large following in Japan. In the West she is perhaps best known for starring in Wong Kar-wai's films Chungking Express (1994) and 2046 (2004). While she has collaborated with international artists such as Cocteau Twins, Wong has recorded only a few songs in English, including "Eyes on Me" (1999), the theme song of the video game Final Fantasy VIII (1999). Wong is known to be a "diva with few words" in public, and has gained a reputation for her "cool" personality. In Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture, Jeroen de Kloet characterised her as "singer, actress, mother, celebrity, royalty, sex symbol and diva all at the same time". Wong is considered by some as one of East Asia's biggest popstars with a career of over 30 years. Life and career 1969–1987: Early life and career beginnings The daughter of a mining engineer and a revolutionary music soprano, Wong was born at Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Dongcheng District, Beijing in the midst of China's Cultural Revolution. She has an elder brother named Wang Yi (王弋). As a student, Wong already was involved in singing and attracted interest from several publishers . On occasions, the school had to hide her artistic activities from her strict mother, who as a professional saw singing as a dead-end career. Despite her mother's opposition, Wong released 6 low-cost cover albums from 1985 to 1987 while still in high school, all in the form of cassettes, mostly consisting of songs by her personal idol, iconic Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng. For the last of these early recordings, the producer Wei Yuanqiang chose the title Wong Fei Collection, intending to show that he recognised a distinctive talent in the teenager.