Faye Wong was born on August 8 1969, she is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actress, often referred to as "the Diva" in the Chinese-speaking world. Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong. Born in Beijing, she moved to British Hong Kong in 1987 and came to public attention in the early 1990s by singing in Cantonese, often combining alternative music with mainstream Chinese pop. Since 1994 she has recorded mostly in her native Mandarin. In 2000 she was recognized 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 amidst immense interest. Hugely popular in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, she has also gained a large following in Japan. In the West she is perhaps best known for starring in Wong Kar-wai's films Chungking Express and 2046. While she has collaborated with international artists such as Cocteau Twins, Wong recorded only a few songs in English, including "Eyes on Me" – the theme song of the video game Final Fantasy VIII. Wong is known to be a "diva with few words" in public, and has gained a reputation for her "cool" personality. The daughter of a mining engineer and a revolutionary music soprano, Wang Fei was born at Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Dongcheng District, Beijing in the midst of China's Cultural Revolution. She also has an elder brother named Wang Yi. 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. 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 recognized 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 British colony, she experienced great loneliness. Following a brief modeling stint, she began singing lessons with Tai See-Chung, 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.

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