In 1999, when A-Lin was 16 years old and taught children to sing the hymn “Amazing Grace” after the 921 earthquake in Nantou County, she was discovered by her former agent. However, he was not available when she wanted to give him contact information. Fortunately, four years later, A-Lin met him again in a bar where she sang regularly. She was officially offered a singing contract. A-Lin made her debut in the world of music at the end of 2006, achieving rapid commercial success. She has been called the next A-Mei, who is an aboriginal singer of Puyuma descent. She also got the nickname 天生歌姬, meaning "A Born Diva". A-Lin was often quoted as saying that A-Mei is highly influential to her music and often covers A-Mei's songs in music shows and concerts. A-Lin has won numerous music awards and is extremely popular within Mandarin-speaking world. A-Lin has performed internationally and at a sold-out concert with Xiao Yu and Shin in 2012 at the Sydney Town Hall. It was her first visit to Sydney and people flew in from different cities just to see her. In 2013, with Avex Taiwan exiting the market due to overall poor sales from the records, all singers under Avex like Huang Li-ling were allowed to terminate their contracts early. After terminating her contract, A-Lin signed with her new label Sony Music. In December 2014, she released her first album after leaving Avex. This album was nominated for Best Mandarin Female Singer, making her fourth nomination without any win. In 2015, she participated in the third season of I Am a Singer and came in sixth on the finale held in March 2015. As a result, her singing ability was recognized by more people and provided a boost to her career.
Style
While A-Lin considers herself as a Contralto, she has been noted to have an extremely wide vocal range closely identical to that of Amanda Seyfried, as noted in many of her songs to have over two octaves or more, and in the concert in Auckland, New Zealand, she was suffering from illnesses that made her unable to hit her falsetto range. She has also notably performed "Remember", by A-Mei, in infantile speech.
Personal life
A-Lin is the youngest in her family, her parents are Roman Catholics and love music. A-Lin's older sister is Taiwanese model Lea Huang, who herself entered the Super Star competition in Taiwan in July 2013 as an aspiring singer in her own right. In 2015, after A-Lin entered I Am A Singer, Lea became a contestant for 'The most beautiful harmonies'. They also have an older brother, and A-Lin's cousin-in-law is her fitness coach and also a guitarist. A-Lin was extremely popular as a student and the confidence she gained from this led to her decision to compete in a 'Singing Strength Elite Rivalry Competition' . She chose the hit song 'At least you are still there' , by Sandy Lam, and the competition allowed A-Lin to believe she had a future as a professional singer. In reference to talent shows being readily accessible to young people these days, A-Lin commented, "I am impressed that there is now a Million Star-type of singing platform, which allows both everyone who enjoys singing and those who are talented singers a tough but realistic chance - an accomplished dream." They also have a brother. On 1 July 2007, A-Lin married Huang Kan-lin, a well-known Taiwanese baseball player. They have a daughter, Huang Qiaoyu..
