Teresa Teng

Both fled to Taiwan after communists took over China in 1949.

The only daughter among five children, Teng was raised in a poverty-stricken family and spent her early childhood in military dependents' villages, first in Yunlin and then in Pingtung.

Considering the environment of 1950s Taiwan under martial law, Teng's first mentor introduced her to singing before military audiences, a practice Teng continued throughout her life.

Teng Li-chun (29 January 1953 – 8 May 1995), commonly known as Teresa Teng, was a Taiwanese singer, actress, musician and philanthropist, renowned for her mellifluous voice and romantic melodies.

Referred to by some as the "Eternal Queen of Asian Pop", Teng is considered one of the most successful and influential Asian pop singers of all time.

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With a career spanning almost 30 years, Teng established herself as a dominant and influential force in Asia throughout most of her career, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, and, to some extent, South Asia.

Teng is credited as Asia's first musical superstar and by some as the pioneer of modern Chinese pop music—a major force in the development of the Chinese music industry by incorporating western and eastern styles into her music, replacing the most revolutionary songs then prevalent in mainland China and laying the foundation for modern Chinese popular music.

Teng was also instrumental in bridging the cultural gap across Chinese-speaking nations and was one of the first artists to connect Japan to some of East and Southeast Asia by singing Japanese pop songs, according to Nippon.

In Taiwan, she was famous for entertaining the armed forces and singing patriotic songs that appealed to the natives of the island.

Teng was nicknamed "the patriotic entertainer" and "the soldiers' sweetheart".

Teng recorded more than 1,700 songs throughout her career, starting at age 14, not only in Mandarin, but also in Hokkien, Cantonese, Shanghainese, Japanese, Indonesian, English, and Italian.

To date, Teng's songs have been covered by hundreds of artists all over the world.

Teng was born Teng Li-yun to waishengren parents in Baozhong, Yunlin County, Taiwan on 29 January 1953.

Her father was a soldier in the Republic of China Armed Forces from Daming, Hebei, and her mother was from Dongping, Shandong.

Teng's father retired in 1957, and then worked selling cakes to make ends meet.

Teng received her early education at Luzhou Elementary School in Luzhou, Taipei County, Taiwan.

Teng was exposed to music at an early age through her music-loving parents.

Her father was a Peking opera enthusiast, and her mother appreciated Huangmei opera, often accompanying Teng to Chinese movie theatres and opera houses.

At the age of six, Teng began her voice lessons through an acquaintance of her father's, who instructed an air force band.

Teng earned her first major prize in 1964, when she sang "Visiting Yingtai" from Shaw Brothers' Huangmei opera movie, The Love Eterne, at an event hosted by the Broadcasting Corporation of China.

The following year, Teng went to attend Ginling Girls' High School in Sanchong, Taipei County, to further her studies.

However, due to conflict between her performances and studies, Teng dropped out of school in the second year and pursued her career as a singer professionally.

Teng was soon able to support her family with her singing.

Teng's career commenced in 1967 as a host of the television show One Star a Day, which aired for 20 minutes from Tuesday to Sunday.

She then appeared in television dramas and movies, including a leading role in the 1967 film Thank You, Manager.

At the age of 14, Teng withdrew from school to focus on music.

She signed with a local company, Yeu Jow Records, and began to release a series of long-playing albums of "a go-go" dance tunes and cover versions of western pop songs as well as local Taiwanese, Chinese, and Southeast Asian folk tunes.

However, due to the lack of extra copyright royalties to increase her income, Teng committed to singing in night clubs around Taiwan.

She debuted at Paris Night, an upscale Taipei nightclub, and set a record for performing onstage there for 70 consecutive days, giving a 90-minute performance every single day.

Teng's albums sold well, and she eventually got an opportunity to record a theme song for Jingjing, Taiwan's first televised series and did a promotional tour that attracted quite a bit of attention in the media.

Teng's first taste of fame came in 1968, when performance on the popular Taiwanese music program The Gathering of Stars led to a record contract.

She released several albums within the next few years under the Life Records label in Hong Kong.

During these years, Teng recorded several top hits, such as "Remembering Mama" and "The Moment I See You, I Smile".

She held concerts in Southeast Asia, drawing big crowds throughout the region.

In 1986, Time named her one of the seven greatest female singers in the world.

Teng was inducted into the "Popular Music Hall of Fame" at the Koga Masao Music Museum in Japan in 2007, making her the only non-Japanese national to do so.

In 2009, in a poll by a Chinese government web portal to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, Teng was selected as the "most influential cultural figure in China since 1949" by 8.5 million netizens.

According to available IFPI statistics, Teng has sold over 48 million albums as of 2010 (excluding mainland China).

In 2010, on the eve of "March 8th International Women's Day", she was voted "the most influential woman in modern China" by the Chinese media and radio stations in and outside the country.