Zhou Shen

Zhou Shen (born September 29, 1992), also known as Charlie Zhou, is a Chinese singer known for his ethereal voice and wide vocal range.

He gained prominence with his renowned song "Big Fish", which has garnered eight awards.

Zhou was born on September 29, 1992, in rural Shaoyang, Hunan.

He and his older sister were left behind children before his family later moved to Guiyang, Guizhou during his third year of primary school.

He was subsequently admitted to Guiyang No. 6 High School.

Following high school graduation, he went to Ukraine to study dentistry due to more affordable tuition costs.

However, after a year, he made the decision to transfer to Lviv National Musical Academy to study Bel canto instead.

Zhou's music career began in 2010, when he began singing online on a Chinese video-based social network, YY.com, under nickname "卡布叻," or Kabule.

Zhou participated in The Voice of China (season 3).

He gained recognition from the coaches by singing "HuanYan" ("Smiling Face") from Chyi Yu in the blind audition round.

The song "Lake Baikal" sung by Zhou and Li Wei in the contest was awarded Song of 2014 of The Voice of China.

In the same year, Zhou participated in the live tour presented by The Voice of China.

He attended Beijing TV's New Year's Gala and supported the bid for the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing by singing a multi-language version of "Let It Go".

He also participated in the world tour of the performing-arts extravaganza Cultures of China, Festival of Spring.

In May, Zhou went to London to attend The Voice UK with Li Wei on behalf of The Voice of China.

He then released a cover album called Aftertaste together with Li Wei in July.

After that, Zhou's first single, "The Rose and the Deer", was released, and he won the Best New Artist of ERC Chinese Top Ten Awards.

In May 2016, Zhou sang "Big Fish" for the Chinese animated film Big Fish & Begonia, "Big Fish" and "The Rose and the Deer," Zhou Shen's very first single released in 2015, were both selected as part of the Top 10 Hits Songs of Fresh Asia Music Award 2016.

In October, Zhou sang several songs on the music show Mask Singer, in which he gained further recognition.

He also won the Most Popular Male Singer Online of Music Pioneer Award 2016.

Zhou performed "Echo" for the TV series The Starry Night The Starry Sea.

In November 2017, Zhou released his debut album Charlie's Debut Album, created in collaboration with producer Gao Xiaosong, songwriter Yin Yue, and composer Qian Lei.

He has performed OSTs for numerous high-profile Chinese films and TV series, including Big Fish & Begonia, Dahufa, and Jiang Ziya, among others.

Since 2022, he has been a cast member of the Chinese variety show Keep Running!.

His song "Big Fish" won the Top 10 Songs of the Year and honoured him with the People's Choice Male Singer of ERC Chinese Top Ten Awards 2017.

In June, he sang "Calm Romance" for the Chinese film Brotherhood of Blades II: The Infernal Battlefield and "Speechless" for the Chinese animation Dahufa (The Guardian).

He sang the ending song "Vicissitudes of Life" for the TV series The Starry Night The Starry Sea Second.

His debut album, Charlie's Debut Album, was released in November 2017.

Zhou sang the Chinese promotional song for the 2017 film The Shape of Water.

Zhou's inaugural series of concerts, titled "Shen's Space" (深空间), were held in May and June 2018, as well as in January, June and July 2019.

He won the Most Improved Artist of ERC Chinese Top Ten Awards 2018 and held his first series of concerts at Shanghai, Wuhan, and Chengdu.

His second concert tour, Planet C-929, kicked off in November 2019, with performances in Beijing, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Chengdu, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

He won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Greater China Act in November 2019.

In July 2020, Zhou Shen held the online concert "Good Night, See You Tomorrow" on TME live which was streamed on multiple platforms.

The QQ Music broadcast attracted over 7.2 million online viewers.

In August 2022, he presented the online concert "I want to be by your side" (想到你“深”边) on Douyin.

The livestream of this concert garnered over 140 million views.

In August 2020, he ranked 42nd in the Forbes China Celebrity List of 2020, and won the Most Popular Male Singer category two years in a row in 2021 and 2022 at the ERC Chinese Top Ten Awards.

He served as the Public Welfare Ambassador for the 2022 United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15).

A wax figure of Zhou Shen was unveiled at Madame Tussauds Beijing on July 25, 2023.