Faye Wong

Faye Wong (王菲; pinyin: Wáng Fēi; born on 8 August 1969) is a Chinese singer-songwriter and actress.

Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong.

Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong at the age of 18.

(Thanks to Wong's cover, this 1972 song—in different language versions—would in the early 1990s become a huge regional hit in Thailand, Vietnam and the rest of Southeast Asia and even Turkey; the most popular English version was titled "Broken-Hearted Woman".) Coming Home also included her first English-language number, "Kisses in the Wind".

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.

In 1987, after being accepted to Xiamen University for college, she migrated to Hong Kong to join her father, who had been working there for a few years.

The plan was for her to stay there for a year to fulfill the permanent residency requirement, and go to a university abroad thereafter.

However, since Wong did not know a word of Cantonese, the language spoken in the Hong Kong, she experienced great loneliness.

Following a brief modeling stint, she began singing lessons with Tai See-Chung (戴思聰), who was also from Mainland China and had previously tutored Hong Kong superstars Anita Mui, Andy Lau, Leon Lai and Aaron Kwok.

Under Tai's tutelage, the 19-year-old signed with Cinepoly Records after winning third place in an ABU singing contest in 1988.

It was a risky move on the part of Chan Siu-Bo, Cinepoly's general manager, since Mainlanders were stereotyped as "backwards" in Hong Kong.

As a result, Cinepoly asked Wong to change her "Mainland-sounding" name to a "sophisticated" stage name Wong Jing Man.

(Her English name was to be "Shirley".)

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.

In 1989, her debut album Shirley Wong sold over 30,000 copies and helped her win bronze at the "Chik Chak New Artist Award".

Two more albums (Everything and You're the Only One) followed, similarly featuring many cover songs by artists from the US and Japan.

However, they sold worse than her debut album, despite relentless promotions by the company.

Many in Hong Kong perceived her to be "backwards", lacking personality.

Frustrated with her career decision, in 1991 she travelled to New York City for vocal studies and cultural exchange.

Because it was a hurried decision, she also ended up missing the registration deadline for her classes in New York.

The 1992 album Coming Home incorporated R&B influences and was a change in musical direction from the more traditional Cantopop fare of her earlier albums.

One song by her of this time was "Fragile Woman", a cover of a Japanese song "Rouge" originally composed by Miyuki Nakajima and sung by Naomi Chiaki.

Since 1994, she has recorded mostly in her native Mandarin.

In the West she is perhaps best known for starring in Wong Kar-wai's films Chungking Express (1994) and 2046 (2004).

Faye Wong explained in 1996,

"I wandered around, visited museums and sat at cafes. There were so many strange, confident-looking people. They didn't care what other people thought of them. I felt I was originally like that too, independent and a little rebellious. But in Hong Kong I lost myself. I was shaped by others and became like a machine, a dress hanger. I had no personality and no sense of direction."

Wong returned to Hong Kong and found a new agent in Katie Chan, who would remain her agent for the next two decades.

The next album, Coming Home, would prominently feature on the cover the English name "Faye", a homophone to her given Chinese name, and the word "Jing", a reference to her hometown Beijing.

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.

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.

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, Tibet, Macau, China and Singapore, she has also gained a large following in Russia, Cuba, Mongolia, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei, East Timor, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.