"....eh? Faye who?...." by Jenn

I can't help but think to myself, "WHAT?? where have you been all your life - how could you possibly not know who Faye Wong is?".... Man! the woman's a legend! (notice I said "is a legend" and not "was a legend") Faye is undoubtedly the music diva of Asia Pacific (and indeed internationally to an extent too!) Please, please, please do not refer to her as a "canton-pop" artist - because Faye is NOT your typical cheesy canton singer who produces manufactured "pop" albums year in, year out..... she is far from that! She has got talent! (which many artist these days lack BIG time!) You just have to give her a chance and listen to her albums! Faye, now 33,  released her first album in the winter of 1989 and is still producing albums to this date! Her fans are all over Asia, predominantly in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Mainland China.  

Faye's success is reflected from the many , many, many awards that she has won over the years (none of which, however, she really cares about....). Faye doesn't like attending award ceremonies - she treats it as part of her job because she doesn't like to show off in crowds (like your typical artist these days) - instead, she tries to keep as low a profile as possible.... 

Below is a very brief summary of Faye's career as Asia's most talented Female Soloist to date:

• 1989 - our Faye signs up with Record Company, Cinepoly and produces her first cantonese album, "Wong Ching Man" (the name she was forced to change to at the start of her career because "Wong Faye" sounded too much like "queen" in Chinese and her bosses didn't want her to appear like she was too "big-headed" at the start of her career to her audience)

• 1993 - Faye is bored and tired of being forced to produce cantonese albums which she was not happy with, but simply forced to produce by her company...and so flies to New York to study music for a year.  she comes back to HK bringing with her what was then her "real" break into the HK music industry.  Her music is distinctively different from her previous manufactured "pop" albums.  

• 1994 - as well as being a talented singer, Faye also is an actress.  In 1994 she stars in Wong Kar Wei's masterpiece, "Chungking Express" and easily scoops up the best actress in the film awards in Sweden.

• 1994-96  Faye continues to "wow" us with her albums, each one being a surprise from the previous - Faye certainly is not afraid of experimenting with her talent in singing and music composition.  Albums like "Sky",  "Random Thinking" and "Didar" are just some of Faye's greatest works!

• 1996-97.  Faye commits what I call a "career suicide" by taking a year-out to give birth to her most beloved daughter, Dou ChingTong (now 5 years old!).  Understandably, Faye's career was affected by her year out - other artists were coming into scene and taking away Faye's popularity..... In 1997, Faye's contract with Cinepoly ends and she signs up with EMI.  She starts the contract with the release of "Faye Wong (1997)".

• 1997-98.  Faye hits back and shows everyone what she's made of! It seems that after giving birth to her beloved daughter, Faye's music has matured considerably (probably an influence by her husband at the time, Dou Wei - also a very talented composer but less well-known)

• 1999 - "Only Love Strangers" is released - it's certainly one of Faye's most successful albums of all time! The album easily reaches double platinum sales in the first week of release and Faye is in the "2002 World Guinness Book of Records" for being the canton Female artist with the highest albums sales for "Only Love Strangers" (a whopping 800,000 in the 3 years it's been released - that's roughly 250,000 a year!)

• 1999-2000.  Although her career is still at its peak, Faye's personal life is going through a crisis - she experiences difficulties in her marriage and eventually has a divorce with Dou Wei. 

• 2000 - Faye is rumoured to be dating the younger teenage idol, Nicholas Tse.  Being 11 years his senior, Faye tries to keep a low profileabout this but is chased like crazy by the media to learn more about this rumour. Eventually, it goes into the open that it is in fact true that the two are actually dating.

•  2002 - Faye breaks up with Nic.... (At this point, I will stop because if I continue to talk about this issue anymore, I might start offending Nic fans who may be reading this....I wouldn't like to start any fights here.....) Let's just say I don't like Nic (there! that's all I'm saying - please don't take it literally and start sending me hate mail, all you Nic fans) In 2002, Faye's contract with EMI ends and after a long deciding period, Faye signs up with Sony Music Productions.

• 2002-forever - I'm sure Faye will continue to produce good quality music in the future..... Let's wish her all the success in the future!

Faye's Profile

Name: Faye Wong
Other name(s):Wong ching Man, Shirley Wong (I know... I'm also thinking to myself, "Shirley??!...what was Faye thinking?.....)
Date of birth: 8 August 1969
Family: Parents, older brother, daughter (Tong Tong)
Height: (I don't know....) 5"7 (or thereabouts)
Favourite band/group: The Cranberries
Ambition: To reach perfection and release an album which she truly feels is perfect! (Go get 'em Faye!)

Well... that's all I'm writing on "Faye's Profile" cos frankly I can't be bothered writing anymore (actually, it's more because I don't know anymore....). Faye's profile is really no-one's business (For so many years, Faye has been fighting a war against the media who, since the day Faye entered the entertainment circle, are always frantically trying to find some news about Faye to go on the headlines! Frankly, Faye (and us Fayenatics alike) can do with less of that! Respect Faye's privacy, man! Below you will find a very familiar banner (I'm sure you've seen it on some random Fayenatic site - they're everywhere these days) - if you have your own site, please copy and paste it and start campaigning for "Privacy to Faye's personal life"!