B i o g r a p h y
(by Jason Gervais)
Faye
Wong was born on August the 8th in 1969. Her mother was a singer and her
father a mining engineer. During childhood, as a past time, she sang
Chinese songs and later developed a growing talent and interest in the
field of music. She moved from Beijing to Hong Kong and decided to pursue
her potential, where she began taking singing lessons after each school
day. She began her career at the age of eighteen years old, when she was
introduced by one of her singing teachers. Cinepoly took interest in her,
and decided to contract her. In 1989, Faye Wong released her first studio
album, which was self titled after her "Shirley Wong" name. It was changed
for complications that audiences would have a problem with a singer who's
first name meant "Queen" in English. Her first album would pull out one
hit, "However That Day". The following year, the albums "Everything" and
"You're The Only One" would hit the market. At this point, she was very
unsatisfied with her career and decided to move to New York to take time
off. There, she studied music and literature. She would often wander the
streets, where nobody would notice her. During this time, she was highly
inspired by bands outside of Asia. This period would highly affect Faye
Wong's future in musical sound and eventually shatter her R&B only image.
Writing music for her upcoming album, she decided to release one more
album. In 1992, Faye Wong's career would take a drastic change. She
returns from New York and releases "Coming Home" under her favored name,
Faye Wong. An album that shook the Canto-Pop music scene forever, and put
Faye at the top of the charts. Her song, "Easily Hurt Woman", would become
a phenomenal success. This album also had other popular hits such as "Miss
You Night And Day", "Romantic Storm", and her first professional studio
English song "Kisses In The Wind". Some audiences doubting her success,
she would smash the charts once again with her "No Regrets" album the
following year. Proving to doubters that she is here to stay with the
extremely popular title song, "No Regrets".
In 1994, she took an important step in her career and sang her first album
entirely in Mandarin titled "Mystery". Her song "I'm Willing" once again
blew the charts to the roof and is a very popular song among Fayenatics.
During the height of the success of "Mystery", she began a liking for a
band called the Cocteau Twins. This band would highly influence Faye's
sound and taste in music. That same year, she would star in her second
film role in Wong Kar-Wai's explosive "Chungking Express" film. Her first
film role was in "Beyond's Diary", which really didn't get Faye recognized
as an actress. Soon after, Faye released her new album titled "Random
Thoughts", which featured two covers songs by her newest favorite band the
Cocteau Twins. One of which was featured in "Chungking Express", and the
other song in the film was a cover song of Cranberries "Dreams". All
featured on the "Random Thoughts" album. To close the year off she
released "Sky", and "Ingratiate Oneself". She shocked the music scene with
her first rap song "Exit", a song that nobody ever expected Faye to
actually do. Faye would become so popular at this point that she went into
hiding from the press from time to time. This would not stop Faye however
from releasing her album "Di-Dar". In 1996, she took full creative control
with her album titled "Restless". An album which has become one of the
most favored and beloved albums by both fans and Faye Wong personally. She
composed and wrote seven songs herself. Featuring three songs with sounds
by Faye, and one instrumental song. An extremely risky, but ultimately
very popular move made by Faye. Faye then made a switch of record labels.
She decided to move over to EMI to release her newest albums. She released
her second self-titled album in 1997. Featuring a ton of chart hits. She
would continue her successful career contracted under EMI with 1998's
"Scenic Tour" album, with a very popular cover art. Faye would grab the
attention of Japanese music composer Nobuo Uematsu the following year.
Nobuo Uematsu, who is best known for his work with the Final Fantasy
series, decided to contract Faye to do the theme song "Eyes On Me" for
"Final Fantasy VIII". Saying that Faye's voice is very suitable for the
mood of the game. "Eyes On Me" garnered her international success,
especially in Japan and North America, in which began a whole new
generation of Fayenatics.
Her "Lovers And Strangers" album released in the same year of 1999, and
presented many new fans to another important album in Faye Wong's career.
Featuring the song she did with Pepsi, and as well several other hits,
"Lovers And Strangers" is another album of hers that has received
worldwide attention. Like some sort of angel sent down from heaven, Faye
then released her "Fable" album. She composed and co-produced the first
five songs on the album. Faye would once again appeal to the Japanese
audience with her "Separate Ways" single, featuring the theme song to the
short lived Japanese show she was apart of. That same year came her third
self-titled album and was her last studio album with EMI. She also took
the time to be apart of Jeff Lau's "Chinese Odyssey 2002", which was
produced by Wong Kar-Wai. Doubting her acting ability, Faye does not take
acting as seriously as some other people. She assures fans that her music
career is a lot more important to her than acting. With each passing film
that she continues to make, Faye continues to improve her skills in
acting. "2046" and "Leaving Me, Loving You" adding assurance to that fact.
In 2003, Faye got contracted with Sony to release her new album "To Love".
Which became an instant hit. She is currently in the process of working on
her next album, and as well upcoming film features she's currently
involved in. |