Fei Yu-ching

Fei Yu-ching (費玉清; born Chang Yen-ting (張彥亭) on 17 July 1955), is a Taiwanese former singer and television host.

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Chang. In the stage name, the surname is Fei.
Fei Yu-ching
費玉清
Fei in 2012
Born
Chang Yen-ting

(1955-07-17) 17 July 1955
Taiwan
NationalityTaiwanese
Other namesLittle Older Brother (小哥)
Ting-ting (亭亭)
歌壇九官鳥
EducationHsieh-ho Youteh Senior High School
Occupation(s)Singer, host
Years active1973–2020
Parent(s)Chang Wu-hsi (father)
Tan Hsiu-hsia (mother)
FamilyHeng Shu (sister)
Chang Fei (brother)
Musical career
GenresMandopop, Jazz, folk
LabelsWMG, UMG, Sony Music (present)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese費玉清
Simplified Chinese费玉清
Chang Yen-ching
(birth name)
Traditional Chinese張彥亭
Simplified Chinese张彦亭

Early life

Fei Yu-ching was born Chang Yen-ching in Taiwan on 17 July 1955, to Mainlander parents, being the youngest of three children. His eldest sister Chang Yen-chiung (張彥瓊) was a singer professionally known as Jenny Fei (費貞綾) before becoming a Buddhist nun in 1991 with the dharma name Heng Shu (恆述法師). His elder brother Chang Fei (張菲) is also a singer and a television personality.

Career

Fei's career began in 1973, and he began to build a large fan base along with his brother. He performed several theme songs for television shows, some of which were more successful than the shows themselves. He has sung numerous hits such as "Yi Jian Mei" (A Trim of Plum Blossoms), "Ode to the Republic of China", and "Good Night Song" (晚安曲; Wǎn'ān Qǔ), which was composed by the Taiwanese songwriter Liu Chia-chang. This song was chosen by China Television to end each day's broadcast in 1979. It is dubbed as "打烊歌" (Closing Shop Song) which is played when shops and department stores are about to close for the day. In 1996 at the 7th Golden Melody Awards, his album Good Night Song (晚安曲) won Best Mandarin Album[1] and he was nominated for Best Mandarin Male Singer.[2]

From 1993 to 1998, Fei hosted the Taiwan Television prime time variety show The Fantastic Brothers (龍兄虎弟) with his brother Chang Fei. He was well known for his witty humor, improvised singing and celebrity impersonations in the show, for which he was nicknamed the (九官鳥)"myna bird". He went on to host several other television music programs, including "Flying to the Rainbow" (飛上彩虹), "Fei yue xing qi tian" (飛越星期天), "Jin xiao hua yue ye" (今宵花月夜) and "fei yu qing shi jian" (費玉清時間), as well as award-winning "Golden Voice, Golden Award" (金嗓金賞) and "Fei Yu-ching's Music" (費玉清的清音樂).

In 2006, he was featured in a duet, "Faraway" (千里之外), with Jay Chou released in his seventh album Still Fantasy. In February 2008, he performed it during CCTV-4's Chinese New Year special, singing a solo version of "Faraway", which was also performed by Chou later in the program.

Fei announced his retirement from the entertainment industry in September 2018, stating that his farewell concert tour was scheduled for 2019. He held his farewell concert tour in few cities in China, Macau, Malaysia, USA, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.[3] His final concert was held in November in Taiwan.[4] He also completed filming for his TV show "Our Song" with his apprentices Timmy Xu and Ayanga in January 2020, which was originally slated to before his concert but was delayed due to circumstances beyond his control.

In 2020, the song "Yi Jian Mei" (commonly known as "Xue hua piao piao" in the West) became a viral internet meme that reached the top spots on the Spotify Viral 50 chart in countries like Norway, Sweden, Finland, and New Zealand.[5]

Personal life

In 1981, he was engaged to Chie Yasui, a Japanese actress, but he called off the wedding because the Yasui family expected Fei to enter matrilocal residence, switch to Japanese citizenship and give up his career in Taiwan. He remained single thereafter.[6]

References
  1. (in Chinese) GIO, Taiwan 7th Golden Melody Awards winners list Archived 9 July 2012 at archive.today 28 March 2006. Retrieved 10 June 2011
  2. (in Chinese) GIO, Taiwan 7th Golden Melody Awards nomination list 6 January 1996. Retrieved 10 June 2011
  3. Chang, Eddy (4 October 2018). "Veteran singer Fei Yu-ching to retire following farew". Taipei Times. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  4. "Event Detail Page | Singapore Sports Hub". www.sportshub.com.sg. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  5. "How a hit Chinese song from the 80s became a global meme". South China Morning Post. 1 June 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  6. 吳品瑤. "引退多時〈一剪梅〉突歐美爆紅 費玉清情路至憾「永不可得心愛的她」 – 娛樂". China Times (in Chinese). Retrieved 23 June 2020.
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