Na Ying (born 27 November 1967[citation needed]) is a Chinese singer and musical judge. She is known for her prominent roles as a judge on Chinese TV singing shows such as The Voice of China.[1] She later transferred to the show Sing! China and remained there until 2017.
Biography
Debut
Na was born in Shenyang, Liaoning of ethnic Manchu parents.[citation needed] 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 the "Sunshine Ring" national singing contest and received vocal training from the famous composer Gu Jianfen (谷建芬).[2]
Na began her recording career in 1988 in Taiwan and Hong Kong. In 1991 she released her first album entitled "A single woman like me" (像我这样的单身女子), which had a very moderate reception. Two years later, in 1993, she released a new album called "I hope my dreams come true" (但愿好梦都成真) which was not very 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.[citation needed]
At the 1998 Spring Festival Gala show hosted by CCTV, Na sang a duet "Meet in '98" (相約一九九八) with Faye Wong. 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.[3] 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.
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 album charts.[citation needed]
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 and Yu Chengqing.
On 11 October 2017, Na announced through a letter that she would be resigning as a coach from Sing! China.[4]
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.[5] 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.[6]
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.[7]
Discography
The following are a selection of her albums released from 1991 to 2015.
In 2010, the list started to include Chinese celebrities born in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other countries. Prior to that it only included celebrities born in mainland China.
