Na Ying (born 27 November 1967) is a Chinese singer. Rising to fame in the late 1980s, Na signed with Linfair Records in 1993, becoming one of the first singers from mainland China to join a Taiwanese label and subsequently gaining popularity across
Greater China
In ethnogeography, "Greater China" is a loosely-defined term that refers to the region sharing cultural and economic ties with the Chinese people, often used by international enterprises or organisations in unofficial usage. The notion contains ...
. In 2001, she became the first and only mainland Chinese singer to win the Best Mandarin Female Singer at the
Golden Melody Awards
The Golden Melody Awards (), commonly abbreviated as GMA, is an honor awarded by Taiwan's Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka, and Formosan-languages popular and traditional music ...
for her song ''Sad and Romantic'' from the eponymous album (2000). Since the 2010s, she has become a staple of music shows, serving as a coach for eight seasons of ''
The Voice of China'' from 2012 to 2021, and participating in Season 1 and 4 of ''
Mask Singer (China)'' (2016; 2019), ''Our Song'' (2019), Season 2 and 3 of ''
Sisters Who Make Waves'' (2021–2022), where she won the champion in Season 2, ''Infinity and Beyond 2023'', and ''
Singer 2024'', where she won the champion.
Biography
Early career
Na was born in
Shenyang
Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the list of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Liaonin ...
,
Liaoning
)
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, image_alt =
, image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong
, image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg
, ...
of ethnic
Manchu
The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...
parents. She is of Manchu descent. She became a member of the Liaoning Juvenile Broadcasting Chorus in 1979, and the Shenyang Singing and Dancing Troupe in 1983. In 1983, Na won a national singing contest, where she was noticed by composer and later mentor
Gu Jianfen ().
After recording demos for singers such as Mao Amin and releasing cover albums, mostly featuring songs by
Su Rui, Na had her first hit song "Shan Gougou" (山沟沟), followed by "Shan Bu Zhuan Shui Zhuan" (山不转水转). In 1991, she released her first album entitled "A single woman like me" (), which had a moderate reception. Two years later, in 1993, she released the album "I Hope My Dreams Come True" () which was not popular either.
Success
She released her first major album ''Dreaming With You'', in 1994. Following the release of that album, she released several additional albums, becoming one of the most popular Mandarin-language artists of
Mainland China
"Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...
.
At the 1998 ''
Spring Festival Gala'' show hosted by
CCTV
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...
, Na sang a duet "Meet in '98" () with
Faye Wong
Faye Wong ( zh, 王菲; pinyin: ''Wáng Fēi''; born 8 August 1969) is a Chinese singer-songwriter and actress. Early in her career, she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong (). Born in Beijing, she moved to British Hong Kong at the age o ...
. Wong had already achieved fame in Hong Kong and elsewhere, but the performance with Na brought her to superstar status in China itself.
Na had a relationship with Chinese footballer
Gao Feng and a son by him, they separated in 2005. She married Meng Tong in 2006, and they had a daughter in 2007.
Although she devoted time to her family and children from 2002 to 2009, she never quit singing, and had a prominent role at the
closing ceremony of the Beijing
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...
.
At the close of 2009 she performed the concert "20 Years of Na", a retrospective of her stage career, at the
Capital Gymnasium. Although her 2009 single "The Journey of Love" topped the charts wherever it was released, her early song "Follow Your Instinct" remains her favourite.
After a hiatus of nearly nine years, Na returned to the music scene in 2011, releasing a new album called ''So... What?''. The album reached the number one position on both the mainland China and
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
album charts.
The Voice of China
In 2012, Na became a coach and judge on the
first season of the popular television singing show ''
The Voice of China'', along with
Yang Kun,
Liu Huan and
Yu Chengqing. She returned to the judges panel in 2013 for the second season of
The Voice of China, along with
Wang Feng,
Zhang Hui-mei and Yu Chengqing. Na continued being a judge on the third and fourth season of that show with Wang Feng, Yang Kun,
Jay Chou
Jay Chou Chieh-lun ( zh, s=周杰伦, t=周杰倫, first=t, p=Zhōu Jiélún; born 18 January 1979) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, actor, director, and businessman. Regarded as one of the most influential artists in the Chinese-speaking worl ...
and Yu Chengqing.
In 2016, Na appeared on the first season of the show ''
Sing! China'', along with
Wang Feng,
Zhou Jielun, and
Yu Chengqing. In 2017, she was also on the second season of the show along with fellow judges
Zhou Jielun,
Eason Chan
Eason Chan Yick-shun ( zh, s=陈奕迅, t=陳奕迅, first=t, p=Chén Yìxùn; born 27 July 1974) is a Hong Kong singer and actor. He is one of the most popular and influential singers in both Cantopop and Mandopop. Besides holding the record ...
, and
Liu Huan.
On 11 October 2017, Na announced through a letter that she would be resigning as a coach from ''Sing! China''.
Other projects
In 2017, she released ''NASING'', an EP featuring three songs that were used in film soundtracks.
In 2018, Na Ying and Faye Wong performed together on the CCTV new year's gala singing the song "Lunar year".
In early 2021, Na participated in a popular Chinese reality TV show called ''
Sisters Who Make Waves''. After winning first place during the second season, she was invited back during the third season as one of the two group captains in Spring 2022.
In 2023, Na Ying served as the resident singer in "The Everlasting Sound·Treasure Island Season", and a group of young singers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait participated in the form of "flight" to perform Taiwanese songs of different eras for the audience.
Discography
The following are a selection of her albums released from 1991 to 2015.
Studio albums
* 1991: 像我这样的单身女子 (A single woman like me)
* 1993: 但愿好梦都成真 (I hope my dreams come true)
* 1994: 為你朝思暮想 Wèi nǐ zhāo sī mù xiǎng (Dreaming with you)
* 1995: 白天不懂夜的黑 Bái tiān bù dǒng yè de hēi (The day doesn't know the night)
* 1998: 征服 Zhēng fú (Conquering)
* 1999: 乾脆 Gān cuì (Totally)
* 2000: 心酸的浪漫 Xīn suān de làng màn (Sad and romantic)
* 2001: 我不是天使 Wǒ bù shì tiān shǐ (I'm not an angel)
* 2002: 如今… Rújīn… (Nowadays)
* 2011: 那又怎樣… Nà yòu zěn yàng… (So what?)
* 2015: 默... Mò... (Sadness)
* 2016: NASING (EP)
Compilations
* 2001: Na Ying selected hits
Live albums
* 2001: Na Ying live in concert
References
External links
Na Ying Official Weibo profile
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Top Chinese Music Chart Awards
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Na, Ying
1967 births
Living people
Chinese women singers
Chinese Buddhists
21st-century Buddhists
Manchu singers
Manchu actresses
Musicians from Shenyang
Chinese Mandopop singers
Singers from Liaoning