1. Yao Beina, known as Bella Yao, was a Chinese singer and songwriter.
47 Facts About Yao Beina
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Yao Beina debuted as a professional singer with her portrayal of the diva of the musical Jin Sha in 2005.
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Yao Beina performed at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.
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Yao Beina was best known for recording the soundtracks and theme songs of movies and TV shows, such as Empresses in the Palace, Painted Skin: The Resurrection, and Back to 1942.
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Yao Beina recorded the Mandarin version of "Let It Go" from Disney's Frozen.
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Yao Beina was born on September 26,1981 in Wuhan, Hubei, China, to a family of musicians.
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Yao Beina's father, Yao Feng, was an associate professor at Wuhan Conservatory of Music and her mother, Li Xinmin, was a vocalist of the Hubei Song and Dance Ensemble.
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Yao Beina started learning piano at the age of four under the supervision of her parents.
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Yao Beina was first found to have absolute pitch by her father when she was six years old as she could accurately identify keys by listening to the piano, and this ability was validated by several noteworthy musicians during her singing career later.
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Yao Beina debuted as a singer on stage at a local television at the age of nine, since when she occasionally performed at galas and contests.
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Yao Beina attended Wuhan No 45 Middle School from 1993 to 1997 when she was determined to make singing a career.
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Yao Beina majored in popular music when she was admitted to the Affiliated High School of Wuhan Conservatory of Music as the top scorer in 1997, when her father, the founder of the Department of Vocal Music at Wuhan Conservatory of Music, was the only professor in the major of popular music.
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In 2000, Yao Beina was admitted to China Conservatory of Music with the highest score among her class in high school and ranked the seventh among the 15 admitted students nationwide.
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Yao Beina continued majoring in folk music in college under Professor Dong Hua and Professor Ma Qiuhua.
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In 2005, Yao Beina was selected as the diva of musical Jin Sha, the plot of which was based on the discovery of the archaeological site Jinsha, and gained recognition from the public.
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Yao Beina graduated from China Conservatory of Music in the same year and was admitted to the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Political Department of the People's Liberation Army Navy as the only college student admitted to the military from regular college.
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In 2006, Yao Beina won the second place of pop singing in the 12th CCTV National Young Singer Contest, the most prestigious singing contest in China at that time, and assisted in Song Zuying's concert at Kennedy Center, Washington DC In 2007, she stepped onto the stage of the CCTV New Year's Gala, the biggest and most well-known gala in China, for the first time.
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Yao Beina again competed in the 13th CCTV National Young Singer Contest in 2008 and won the championship by earning the first and the only full score throughout the history of the contest.
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Yao Beina performed at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.
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In 2009, Yao Beina left the military to pursue her interests in pop music.
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Yao Beina was invited by Liu Huan to record the original soundtracks of Empresses in the Palace in 2011.
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On June 8,2012, she released her first album named after herself, Yao Beina, consisting of most songs composed by herself.
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In March 2013, Yao Beina was invited to return to the 15th CCTV National Young Singer Contest as the youngest judge.
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In 2013, Yao Beina was invited to participate in The Voice of China Season 2.
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Yao Beina gained much focus as an already well-known singer and earned great popularity by her skilled vocal control and range.
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On July 12,2013, Yao Beina performed "Maybe Tomorrow" in the blind auditions and was selected by all the four coaches, and she chose coach Na Ying to work with.
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Yao Beina finally earned the second place within the coach's team and the top 8 of the Season 2.
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Yao Beina became the champion of the personal popularity leaderboard online by the end of the competition.
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Yao Beina's performance listing in The Voice of China Season 2:.
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On January 22,2014, the music video of the Mandarin version of "Let It Go" from Disney's Frozen recorded by Yao Beina was released by Walt Disney Records.
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Yao Beina was admitted to the hospital on the same day as her visit and decided to remove her whole left breast without hesitation.
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In both 2012 and 2013, Yao Beina participated in the Pink Ribbon charity events organized by Trends Health magazine; on September 26,2013, her 32nd birthday, she released the covers of Trends Health she photographed in the nude with the slogan "That scar is my exclusive pink medal" and became a spokesperson for the Pink Ribbon, hoping to leverage her personal experiences and influence to raise awareness about breast health.
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On December 9,2013, Yao Beina released the extended play Half of Me, including a song "Fire of the Heart" describing her struggle and pain when she fought breast cancer in the past two years.
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On October 23,2014, despite coughing up blood backstage, Yao Beina performed "Fish", the finale of her stage career, at the recording scene of the musical reality TV show Hi Song.
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Yao Beina was admitted to the Hospital Affiliated to Peking University in Shenzhen in December 2014.
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On December 26,2014, Yao Beina was transferred to the intensive care unit due to her deteriorating conditions.
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Yao Beina expressed her wish to donate her body about 20 days before her passing.
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Yao Beina passed away at 4:55 pm CST on January 16,2015, aged 33.
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Yao Beina's corneas has restored sight for four people and can help at least two more patients.
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On June 14,2015, Yao Beina was posthumously titled the Moral Exemplar of Guangdong and nominated for the National Moral Exemplar by the government of Guangdong.
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Yao Beina's funeral was held at Shenzhen Funeral Home on January 20,2015.
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Yao Beina's ashes was interred in the Shimenfeng Memorial Park in Wuhan, China, her hometown, in September 2015.
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Yao Beina's gravestone is shaped like a seashell as her fans are called "seashells", and it stands on a piano keyboard of 34 keys, representing her age.
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The main body of the statue is cast in cupronickel with a base height of 0.926 meters and an overall height of 1.81 meters, a deliberate reference to Yao Beina's date of birth ; on the base of the statue is an inscription by Yao Beina's parents: "A girl who loves to sing, a girl who sings with her life".
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Yao Beina's second posthumous album, Born Proud, was released on September 26,2015, her first posthumous birthday, including three complete songs, five demos, and three hummings as the lyrics were unfinished before her death.
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Yao Beina's fans produced a memorial album, Extraordinary, including a song for which her fans composed and the lyrics written by Yao Beina was adopted.
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Yao Beina wished to perform in the musical reality TV show I Am a Singer produced by Hunan Television when she was alive.