Faye Wong

Name: Faye Wong
Chinese name: 王菲
Date of birth: 8 August 1969
Profession: Singer, Actress
Place of birth: Beijing, China
Birth name: Xia Lin
Height: 5′ 7

Faye Wong, or Wang Fei (Chinese: 王菲; pinyin: Wáng Fēi) (born August 8, 1969 in Beijing) is an extremely popular singer in Asia, especially in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and to some extent in the West.

She is believed by critics and fans alike to be the most commercially and artistically distinguished female vocalist in Chinese music history, with a following so large and devoted that media in Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China often place the title tiānhou, (天后; diva or goddess) before her name while Japanese fans call her “Diva of Asia”. Shy and intensely private, she is one of the very few people widely popular on both sides of the Taiwan straits despite her aggressive avoidance of the media. According to the Guinness World Records, she has sold 9.7 millons copies of all her albums as of March 2000, earning her the title of the best selling canto-pop female. Not only openly admired by well-known celebrities around the world, her fashion in movie roles has had her labeled a gay icon among the gay community. She has acted in several TV shows and films, most memorably in Wong Kar-wai’s Chungking Express, a role that garnered her international acclaim, as well as the award for “Best Actress” at the 1994 Stockholm International Film Festival; and her most recent movie 2046, starring as an android and one of Tony Leung’s love interests. She is known not only to many Final Fantasy fans for her Final Fantasy VIII theme “Eyes On Me”, but also as the spokeswoman of such brands as Head & Shoulders shampoo and Pepsi-Cola. She was chosen by Zhang Yimou to record the theme song for the critically acclaimed film Hero.

Born in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, she was originally named Xia Lin (夏琳), adopting her mother’s maiden name because the Wong family was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution (her grandfather was once a congressman during the Republic of China). At the age of 15, several years after the turmoil ended, her name was changed to Wong Fei (王菲). She inherited a talent for music from her mother, who was a soprano, and recorded several low-cost albums in high school covering the songs of Teresa Teng, her personal idol.

In 1987, she moved with her family to Hong Kong and began her musical career after a brief stint as a model. She signed a contract with Cinepoly and released three albums under the stage name Shirley Wong (王靖雯, pinyin Wang Jingwen). Containing a large number of covers of songs by artists from the US and Japan, these albums attracted little attention and a lukewarm response from critics. Frustrated with her career direction, she decided to take some time off in 1991 and travel to New York for vocal studies and cultural exchange. This brief hiatus would prove to be important for her artistic development.

During her absence, Cinepoly released a few compilations repackaging songs from her three albums, thereby keeping her somewhat visible at the record stores.

Back to Hong Kong
A year after returning to Hong Kong, she burst into the spotlight with her new album Coming Home, which incorporated R&B influences like her previous two and was a drastic change in musical direction from the more traditional Cantopop fare of her earlier albums. On this album, she covered the song “Fragile Woman,” originally sung by the Japanese music diva Miyuki Nakajima. While this song had been covered by other Chinese singers, her angelic version nonetheless swept over Hong Kong and singlehandedly lifted her to superstardom. Also, she sang her first English-language song, “Kisses in the Wind,” and starred in TVB shows such as Files of Justice II (壹號皇庭II) and Legendary Ranger (原振俠).

Changing her style
Not satisfied to rest on her laurels, she also wrote her own Mandarin ballad “No Regrets” (執迷不悔) in 1993, which led many people to praise her not just as a talented singer but as a gifted songwriter as well; in February, the similarly titled album was released and became an instant best-seller. Although the songs were mostly more soft contemporary arrangements, like most of what was being traditionally released in Hong Kong, it also had a few dance songs and two versions of the title track: one in Mandarin and the other in Cantonese, with new lyrics by Chen Shao Qi (the Mandarin version is by far the more popular one).

Since then, she has completely shed any R&B influence and has moved on to produce works of considerable originality and a more alternative flavor, epitomized in her next album 100,000 Whys (released in September 1993). Before this album was released, a few of its tracks were mainstream enough to air in radio transmissions among listeners. Therefore, it became another instant best-seller in the same year with No Regrets and people’s recognition of her first introduction to the alternative rock from the West.

In 1994, she changed her stage name back to her original name “Wong Fei” (王菲) for all subsequent releases in Cantonese Hong Kong, one year later in the Mandarin market.

It was around this time that she began experimenting with alternative music styles from the West. The ethereal Scottish post-punk group Cocteau Twins’ influence on her was clearly shown in her next Cantonese album, Random Thoughts. She learned the unique vocal stylings of Dolores O’Riordan of the Irish band The Cranberries, which culminated in her covering their song “Dreams” in Chungking Express (retitled as “Dream Person” for Faye’s Random Thoughts (胡思亂想)) and other songs by such other artists as The Sundays and Tori Amos. Besides covering songs and learning distinct vocal techniques, Wong recorded her own compositions like “Pledge” (誓言), co-written by and featuring Dou Wei on Di Zi, and her first and only rap song “Exit” (出路). She also sang songs written by others, such as “Pure Love” (純情) and “Sleepwalk” (夢遊).

Because of the diversity of musical and aesthetic styles contained in these releases, they became quite influential among singers (old and new) as well as consumers in the Asian markets. To Wong’s credit, each album still carried a balance between her preferred artistic taste and Cinepoly’s commercial preference.

Mandarin market
Besides two Cantonese albums in 1994, Wong released another two in Mandarin in Taiwan, Mystery (迷) and Sky (天空). The runaway hit “I’m Willing” (我願意) became her trademark song throughout the Chinese-speaking world for years to come. Deemed as one of the greatest Chinese songs of the late 20th century, it has been covered by many other Chinese singers, such as Gigi Leung, Sammi Cheng, Jay Chou, and more.

While her music in Hong Kong had gone remarkably away from the mainstream, these two Mandarin albums, as her first attempt to enter the Taiwan (and later the mainland) market, were nonetheless the warmest and most traditional during her entire career and are especially cherished by her old fans. Critics generally agree that Yang Minghuang, the producer of these albums, made them achievingly successful; although Faye Wong would still have climbed to the top, her music style would have been completely different from how it turned out, that is to say: exquisite and romantic as opposed to exotic, sharply distinctive and peculiarly artistic.

Four best-selling albums both in the Cantonese and Mandarin-speaking regions, a record-breaking series of 18 consecutive concerts in Hong Kong and a widely acclaimed film (Chungking Express) all in 1994: these achievements together made her the single most eminent female Hong Kong singer at that time. However, as a northern girl with an upbringing at odds with the way of life in Hong Kong, her distaste for the profit-oriented entertainment industry became more and more apparent. Meanwhile, she was frequently in touch with the rock circle back in Beijing. Due to her somewhat reticent and nonchalant attitude, some began to consider her a defiant and arrogant superstar. For example, Wong would often give terse, direct, and somewhat unexpected answers when asked personal questions. To read more, visit Wikipedia Faye Wong page.

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