44 Facts About Faye Wong

Faye Wong is known to be a "diva with few words" in public, and has gained a reputation for her "cool" personality.

Faye 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, Faye Wong was born at Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Dongcheng District, Beijing in the midst of China's Cultural Revolution.

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

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

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

Faye Wong stated in a 1994 concert that she very much liked this song, after which various websites listed it as her personal favourite; however, in a 1998 CNN interview she declined to name one favourite song, saying that there were too many, and in 2003 she stated that she no longer liked her old songs.

Faye Wong has named the Scottish post-punk group Cocteau Twins among her favourite bands, and their influence was clear on her next Cantonese album, Random Thoughts.

Besides covering songs and learning distinctive vocal techniques, Faye Wong recorded her own compositions "Pledge", co-written with ex-husband Dou Wei, and her first and only spoken-word song "Exit", which expresses some of her pessimism about the future.

Besides two Cantonese albums in 1994, Faye Wong released two other albums in Mandarin in Taiwan, Mystery and Sky.

Faye Wong was frequently in touch with the rock circle in Beijing.

In 1995, she released Decadent Sounds of Faye Wong, a cover album of songs originally recorded by her idol Teresa Teng, one of the most revered Chinese singers of the 20th century.

Faye Wong did not sell well in Hong Kong, but did quite well in Taiwan and mainland China.

Na had been a regular at the annual CCTV New Year's Gala, the highest-watched TV show in Mainland China, and she invited Faye Wong to do a duet with her on the upcoming show in 1998.

Thanks to this exposure, in late 1998 Faye Wong finally held her first concert in her native Mainland China, and continued her tour in 9 cities.

The video game Final Fantasy VIII was released in Japan in February 1999, for which Faye Wong recorded the ballad "Eyes on Me" in English.

Faye Wong herself admitted that she was not totally satisfied with some tracks, namely those produced by Taiwan 'father of rock' Wu Bai, which had an industrial electronica flavour reminiscent of Karen Mok's 'Golden Flower' album.

Faye Wong cited the two folk-style songs written by Singaporean singer-songwriter Tanya Chua as her favourite picks on her album.

Faye Wong reached number 14 on the Japan Oricon charts.

Faye Wong performed at fund-raising concerts to benefit various charities, including ones that helped those who suffered from AIDS and SARS.

Faye Wong sang on tracks with other celebrities such as Tony Leung, Anita Mui, and Aaron Kwok.

Faye Wong starred in a Japanese TV serial, Usokoi, and the film Leaving Me Loving You with Leon Lai.

Faye Wong recorded several other solo non-album tracks, such as the eponymous hit theme song to Hero and a Buddhist song containing similar sounds to some of her work on her album Fu Zao.

Faye Wong recorded "Passenger", a cover of Sophie Zelmani's "Going Home".

Faye Wong was awarded pan-Asian female artist of the year at the sixth CCTV-MTV Music Honors.

In May 2009, Faye Wong appeared in an ad for "Royal Wind" shampoo, sparking speculation that it would be the first step in her comeback.

In recent years, Faye Wong completed an extensive concert tour, but is otherwise relatively inactive in the music industry.

Faye Wong has not announced any intention to produce further studio albums, although she has made occasional releases of a few singles.

Faye Wong's return was clearly marked in February 2010, when she performed at the CCTV New Year's Gala watched by over 700 million people, covering Li Jian's ballad "Legend".

Faye Wong began dating Mainland television actor Li Yapeng in 2004 in Beijing; their wedding took place in July 2005.

In January 2011, appearing for the first time with her husband on a talk show, Faye Wong told host Yang Lan that the past 5 years of her married life has been "very steady, very satisfying".

In 2014, rumours surfaced that Faye Wong was back together with Nicholas Tse, whom she had dated in a high-profile relationship in 2000.

Faye Wong expressed their reason for seeking medical treatment in California: due to the severity of Li Yan's cleft, the special reconstructive surgeries she needed were not available in China.

On 26 December 2006 Faye Wong made her first public appearance since 2005 at the foundation's inaugural fundraising ball.

Faye Wong opted not to speak or sing, but her new composition "Cheerful Angel" debuted at the event as the official theme song of the charity.

At the second fundraising ball on 8 December 2007, Faye Wong mentioned that although she would not return to her music career in 2008, she would consider it afterwards.

On 19 May 2013, Faye Wong sang four songs in a memorial concert celebrating Teresa Teng's 60th birthday, with a portion of the concert proceeds going to the charity.

In 2010, Sina Weibo users discovered Wong's microblog under the account "veggieg", and unveiled a Faye Wong who is open, talkative and surprisingly funny with her use of cyberlanguage and puns.

The focus of Faye Wong's concerts has always been on her vocal performance.

Faye Wong has given concerts in North America and Australia as well as many venues in East and Southeast Asia, including charity concerts.

In 2004 and 2005, Faye Wong was ranked in the top five on the Forbes China Celebrity 100, as well as in 2011 and 2012 after her hiatus.

In 2009, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, a government web portal conducted an online poll on The Most Influential Chinese Cultural Celebrity in the Past 60 Years; out of 192 candidates, Faye Wong received over 7 million votes, second only to the deceased Teresa Teng from Taiwan, Faye Wong's own personal idol.

The female protagonist in the 2013 Chinese film Beijing Flickers was prototyped after Faye Wong, according to director Zhang Yuan.

Faye Wong's name was mentioned in the 2003 Japanese film The Blue Light as one of the protagonist's favourites.