Na Ying is a Chinese veteran singer. She is also noted for her buoyant and forthright personality. She has been a judge of Chinese TV singing shows such as The Voice of China.
Biography
Debut
Na was born in Shenyang, Liaoning. She is an ethnic Manchu, a descendant of the noble Yehe Nara clan of the Qing dynasty. She became a member of the Liaoning Juvenile Broadcasting Chorus in 1979, and the Shenyang Singing and Dancing Troupe in 1983. Na won several national singing contests in the 1980s, and received vocal training from the famous composer Gu Jianfen. Na's father was a doctor, and wanted Na to have a good education and become a doctor when she grew up. However, Na exhibited a natural talent for singing, and was determined to become a singer instead. 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", which had a very moderate reception. Two years later, in 1993, she released a new album called "I hope my dreams come true" 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. At the 1998 Spring Festival Gala show hosted by CCTV, Na sang a duet "Meet in '98" 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. 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 the stage, 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 Taiwanalbum charts.
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 show's second season, 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, Zhou Jielun and Yu Chengqing. In 2016, Na appeared on the first season of the showSing! China, along with Wang Feng, Zhou Jielun and Yu Chengqing. She was also on the second season of the show in 2017. That year, she released NASING, an EP featuring three songs that were used in film soundtracks. On 11 October 2017, Na announced through a letter that she would be resigning as a coach from Sing! China. In 2018, Na Ying and Faye Wong performed, twenty years later, together in the CCTV new year's gala singing the song "Lunar year".
Discography
The following are a selection of her albums released from 1991 to 2015.
