Cheng Lin

Not to be confused with Chen Lin (singer).
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Cheng.
Cheng Lin
Birth name Cheng Lin
Born 1967
Luoyang, Henan, China
Genres Pop music
Occupation(s) Singer
Instruments Erhu
Years active 1981–present
Website www.chenglinmusic.cn

Cheng Lin (Chinese: 程琳; pinyin: Chéng Lín; born 1967) is a solo singer from China. Her first involvement in the music industry was at the age of 13 when she released the track, Little Horn. Since then she has gone onto sell 25 million albums across Asia.[1] Cheng's latest album was 'Collaborations the album', which was produced by Grammy Award winning producer KC Porter.

Cheng is also a keen Erhu player, a traditional two-string violin. She was taught to play at a young age by her father, and still uses the instrument in her music today. She studied in the United States and learned English, learning more about Western music in the process. She was the first Chinese national to have her music videos air on national television in China in the 1980s.

Music career

Early career (1981–89)

Her career started at the age of 13 when she released the track "Little Horn" in 1981. The track launched her to stardom in China, which followed with the release of her first album "Little Horn". This made her one of the first mainland commercial pop singers.[2]

After releasing her first album, she went onto release two albums in quick succession. Her second album was titled Cradle of Childhood, which was released in 1983. A year later a third album was recorded, titled "New Shoe, Old Shoe". The track "Panda Mimi" on the album went onto win the best track of the year in China, after it was Top of the Charts of the Year in 1985.[3]

After launching her first three albums, she was issued with an Outstanding Youth Award in 1986. In the same year she also performed at the charity concert for orphans in Guangzhou. A year later she released her fourth album, "Songs of 1987". She released a number of songs from the album, producing a number of music videos in the process. These videos went onto air on Chinese national television, and were some of the first music videos aired on Chinese television. Later that year she appeared on the New Year's Eve TV special, performing the track "Flying with the wind (Xin Tian You)".[4]

A year later at the end of 1989 she returned to the same show, and performed the track "Kung Fu boy", which aired to over 1 Billion viewers on Chinese television.[3]

Post-university career (1993–2003)

Between the years of 1989–93 Cheng studied at the University of California. After finishing her studies, she performed a tour across China and the US throughout 2003–04. After spending a couple of years touring, she released the album "Home Coming". It was her fifth studio album, and was produced by Hong Kong-based producer James Wong.[4]

She went onto receive an award for her work in music, in Beijing. The years that followed, she started performing more charity concerts in China. This included the concert in 1998 for disabled children. A year later in 1999 she also performed at a fundraiser for empowering women in rural areas. Between the years 2000–04, she received a number of awards for work in music, while extending her charity work. This included sponsoring a charity build, where a school for 400 pupils was built in Henan Province. She received an "Outstanding Musician" award during this period and also won a Special Contribution award for her work with Chinese music at the 5th Chinese Music Media Event in 2003. In the same year she also toured with KC Porter on his "Embrace the World Tour" and also featured on the documentary DVD.[5]

Recent career (2004–present)

In 2004, herself and James Wong won the "Golden Song" award for the track "the Only Earth", which they composed together. Later that year, she was invited to perform with Jean Michel Jarre at the "Sino France Culture Year" in Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City.[6] The two performances were broadcast on CCTV globally.[7]

In 2006, she was invited to tour with the band Ozomatli. While touring with the band she performed using the Erhu.[8] In 2007, she began working on her latest album, with the help of KC Porter. In 2008 she released a Greatest Hits album. The album contained a number of hits from her career. These included "Little Horn" and also "Flying with the wind" (Xin Tian You). Also in the same year she also created a song for the Beijing Olympics titled "Greater Than Gold".

In 2010, she was invited to work on the Global Village project with Spencer Proffer. She recorded the theme song, which was titled, "Citizen of the World".[9] The music video of the song was shot on the roof of the famous Capitol Records Building in Hollywood. In 2011, the album she began working on with KC Porter was finally released after her 2011 concert, with the title "Greater than Gold".[10] The main highlight in her recent career was the release of her greatest hits album.

Other work

In 1989 she was cast to appear in the film "Black Snow". The leading actor Jiang Wen starred, and the film went onto win the Silver Bear award in Berlin. In 2008 Cheng began work on a book titled "Ray of Light".

Discography

Studio Albums

References

  1. ↑ "Career and Album Sales". Hawh.cn.
  2. ↑ "Top 10 women singers over 30 years". China.org.cn.
  3. 1 2 "Global Music Biography". Global Music.
  4. 1 2 "Cheng Lin Music Career". ChengLinMusic.cn.
  5. ↑ "Embrace the World Tour". Bahai Bookstore.
  6. ↑ "Sino France Culture Year". China People.
  7. ↑ "Sino France Culture Year CCTV Broadcast". CCTV.
  8. ↑ "Ozomatli Tour". Concord Music Group.
  9. ↑ "Citizen Song of the World". Equus World.
  10. ↑ "Greater Than Gold". Apple.

External links

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