use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = , burial_place = , burial_coordinates = , nationality =

Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, occupation =

Singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

, years_active = 1979–present , spouse = , partner = , children = 2 step-children , parents = , mother = , father = , relatives = , awards =
, module = , module2 = Sally Yeh (born 30 September 1961), sometimes credited as Sally Yip or Yip Sin-man, is a

Cantopop Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") or HK-pop (short for "Hong Kong pop music") is a genre of pop music written in standard Chinese and sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production ...

diva Diva (; ) is the Latin word for a goddess. It has often been used to refer to a celebrated woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, theatre, cinema, fashion and popular music. If referring to an actress, the meaning of ''diva'' is clo ...

and

Early life

Born in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, Yeh immigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

at the age of four with her family and grew up in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

. As a result of this, she has

citizenship.

Career

Yeh's singing career started in the early 1980s and, shortly after, her acting career started as she sang songs specifically written for the movie soundtrack. She has released a total of thirty studio albums, plus compilations and live recordings.

Return to Taiwan

Yeh had a natural talent for singing and acting, but unfortunately due to the earlier decades of the 1970s and 1980s when Asians were not especially welcomed in the Canadian entertainment business, the area in which Yeh wanted to make her career, she decided to return to Taiwan to have a chance at stardom. In Taiwan, she worked hard to make improvements on her Chinese to stay in the Chinese entertainment business. However, because she was illiterate in Chinese, her managers had to create romanized or English phonetic versions to help her read the Mandarin Chinese song lyrics.

Move to Hong Kong

Later, she relocated to

, which at the time was the primary center of Chinese entertainment, for a better chance at fame. Yeh learned to speak

Hong Kong Cantonese Hong Kong Cantonese is a dialect of the Cantonese language of the Sino-Tibetan family. Although Hongkongers refer to the language as "''Cantonese''" (), publications in mainland China describe the variant as ''Hong Kong dialect'' (), due t ...

. Since then, Yeh has focused primarily on the Hong Kong Cantonese entertainment world. With the support of utilizing romanization to read Chinese characters in Mandarin and Cantonese in addition to her interactions within the Chinese entertainment business, she began to make improvements on both her spoken

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

and

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

, including reading

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...

. However, because she never had a formal Chinese education, her proficiency in reading Chinese is still limited on various levels and when she does have to read Chinese writing in certain situations without the support of romanizations, she is able to comprehend them to some extents, but will at times stumble upon Chinese words she is unable to read. When Yeh has to read Chinese lyrics, she still relies on Mandarin romanization and Cantonese romanization for support. Yeh's proficiency to handwrite Chinese is even more limited and during a 1994

Jade Solid Gold Jade Solid Gold (Chinese: 勁歌金曲, literally ''"powerful song golden melody"'') is a music show on the TVB Jade television channel in Hong Kong. It has been running since October 10, 1981. Broadcasting time TVB Jade *Sunday at 11:00pm to 11: ...

Award event when she was participating in a word puzzle game to figure out the names of Chinese pop songs, she was able to figure out some of the song titles by reading limited Chinese characters that were already posted on the board as clues without the support of romanizations, though when it came to writing down the answers on the board, she wrote in English phonetics to reflect the Cantonese pronunciations of the Chinese song titles as she admitted it was a lot more quicker to write than taking time to figure out the complicated Chinese character hand strokes. In the 1993

Award event, several Hong Kong female artists including Sally Yeh that were in the line up for the best female artist award were pulling out tennis balls of their Chinese names written down, which they had to out loudly announce once pulling it out and Sally had pulled out a tennis ball two times, in one of the balls she was able to read out

Faye Wong Faye Wong ( zh, 王菲; born Xia Lin on 8 August 1969) is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter. Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong. Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong in 1987 and her debut album '' Shirley Wong'' ( ...

's Chinese name, but struggled to announce

Vivian Chow Vivian Chow Wai-man (, born 10 November 1967) is a Hong Kong-based Cantopop singer-songwriter and actress. Life and career Vivian Chow is the only child in her family. Her father died before her birth due to heart disease. She was brought u ...

's Chinese name on the other ball, which

Carol Cheng Carol Cheng Yu Ling ( Traditional Chinese: 鄭裕玲; born 9 September 1957), is a Hong Kong film/television actress and host. Arguably one of the most famous celebrities to have emerged during the British colonial period, Cheng made her break ...

and

Sandy Lam Sandy Lam (; born 26 April 1966), is a Hong Kong singer, actress and album producer. She rose to fame in the 1980s as a Cantopop diva, before expanding her fan base significantly in Asia, releasing more than 30 stylistically diverse albums in C ...

stepped in to help her read it out;

Lawrence Cheng Lawrence Cheng Tan-shui (born 28 December 1954) is a Hong Kong film actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and master of ceremonies. He was a Hong Kong DJ and radio channel executive. Cheng became famous after he created the radio drama ser ...

who was one of the hosts for the show even commented for the future to maybe have both the English and Chinese names of the artists written down. In a July 2022 English conducted interview with Liu Xin on

CGTN China Global Television Network (CGTN) is the international division of state media outlet China Central Television (CCTV), headquartered in Beijing, China. CGTN broadcasts six news and general interest channels in five languages. CGTN is reg ...

's news report program The Point, Sally admitted that when listening to news programs in Chinese, she is okay with understanding the contents, however over the years of her career singing Chinese songs, very often she is not able to fully understand the lyrics she is singing and very often has to listen into the arrangements of the music surrounding the songs to be able to sing out the emotions to appropriately relate to the songs. In a Canadian interview back in the late 1990s, which was all conducted in English, Sally was being interviewed about her career and briefly of her childhood and youth years and somewhere along the interview, Sally even commenting on her English skills getting bad even though this is her most fluent language skill implying she has been in the Chinese speaking entertainment world for such a long time mainly using Chinese that it has started to affect her English skills. Yeh has received the Most Popular Hong Kong Female Singer award at the

Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Jade is a mineral used as jewellery or for ornaments. It is typically green, although may be yellow or white. Jade can refer to either of two different silicate minerals: nephrite (a silicate of calcium and magnesium in the amphibole group o ...

four times (1990, 1991, 1992, and 1993). In 1992, Sally Yeh collaborated with a couple of other western artists, recording "I'm Always Dreaming of You" with

Tommy Page Thomas Alden Page (May 24, 1967 – March 3, 2017) was an American singer-songwriter, best known for his 1990 hit single " I'll Be Your Everything" and was later a music industry executive. Page collaborated with many artists, including Malaysi ...

in 1992 and "I Believe in Love" with

James Ingram James Edward Ingram (February 16, 1952 – January 29, 2019) was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He was a two-time Grammy Award-winner and a two-time Academy Awards, Academy Award nominee for Academy Award for Best Original ...

the following year. In 2002, Yeh re-entered the

market, released the record "Can You Hear", and performed a series of concerts in different countries. In 2011, Sally Yeh received the Golden Needle Award at the 33rd

RTHK Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service in Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econom ...

Top Ten Chinese Gold Song Music Award Ceremony. Yeh has also collaborated on a number of soundtracks (mostly on

Tsui Hark Tsui Hark (, vi, Từ Khắc, born 15 February 1950), born Tsui Man-kong, is a Hong Kong film director, producer and screenwriter. Tsui has directed several influential Hong Kong films such as ''Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain'' (1983), the ...

's movies with scores by

Wong Jim James Wong Jim (; 18 March 1941 – 24 November 2004, also known as "霑叔" or "Uncle Jim") was a Cantopop lyricist and songwriter based primarily in Hong Kong. Beginning from the 1960s, he was the lyricist for over 2,000 songs, collaborating ...

), including "Lai Ming But Yiu Loi" from ''

A Chinese Ghost Story ''A Chinese Ghost Story'' ( zh, t=倩女幽魂, w=Ch'ien-nü Yu-hun, l=The Ethereal Spirit of a Beauty) is a 1987 Hong Kong romantic comedy horror film starring Leslie Cheung, Joey Wong and Wu Ma, directed by Ching Siu-tung and produced by Ts ...

'' (1987), which won the Best Original Song award at the 7th Hong Kong Film Awards.

Image and artistry

Sally Yeh was one of the earliest

Overseas Chinese Overseas Chinese () refers to people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese. Terminology () or ''Hoan-kheh'' () in Hokkien, refe ...

celebrities to enter the entertainment industry in China during the 1980s and one of the few from an

English-speaking country The following is a list of English-speaking population by country, including information on both native speakers and second-language speakers. List * The European Union is a supranational union composed of 27 member states. The total Eng ...

. She was also one of the earliest Mandarin speaking celebrities to enter the Hong Kong entertainment industry. In doing so, she paved a way for future divas such as

, whom she collaborated with occasionally in her prime.

Personal life

On 17 July 1996, Yeh married Hong Kong pop star and composer-producer

George Lam George Lam Tsz-Cheung (born 12 October 1947), also known professionally by his surname Lam, is a Hong Kong-based veteran Cantopop singer, singer-songwriter, music producer and actor, with a career that has so far lasted more than four decades. Lam ...

. Yeh speaks

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, and

in that order of proficiency.

Discography

Filmography

*''Honest Little Ma'' 一根火柴 (1980) *''Marianna'' 賓妹 (a.k.a. 你要活著回去) (1982) *''

Crimson Street Crimson Street is a film directed by David Lai and produced by . Released in 1982, it is a story about a night club singer who involved in a love tangle with three men. The lead role is played by Sally Yeh. It also stars Kenny Bee, Wai-Man Chan ...

'' 殺人愛情街 (1982) *''Golden Queen Commando'' (a.k.a. ''Amazon Commando'' / ''Jackie Chan's Crime Force'' / ''Sexy Commando'') 紅粉兵團 (1982) *''Pink Force Commando'' (Sequel to Golden Queens Commando) 紅粉游俠 (a.k.a. 烈血長天) (1982) *''A Flower in the Storm'' (a.k.a. ''Falling in the Rain Flowers'') 飄零雨中花 (1983) *''A Certain Romance'' 少女日記 (1984) *''Funny Face'' (cameo) 醜小鴨 (1984) *''

Shanghai Blues ''Shanghai Blues'' ( Chinese:上海之夜) is a Hong Kong film directed and produced by Tsui Hark in his producer debut, which had its premiere on September 1984. Kenny Bee, Sylvia Chang and Sally Yeh starred in this film. The music is composed ...

'' 上海之夜 (1984) *''The Occupant'' (a.k.a. ''The Tenant'') 靈氣迫人 (1984) *''Teppanyaki'' (a.k.a. ''New Mr. Boo, Teppanyaki / Mr. Boo 6'') 鐵板燒 (1984) *''Mob Busters'' 惡漢笑擊隊 (a.k.a.情報販子) (1985) *''Seven Foxes'' X陷阱 (1985) *''Cupid One'' 愛神一號 (1985) *''Just For Fun'' 空心少爺 (1985) *'' The Protector'' 威龍猛探 (1985) (Hong Kong version) *''Welcome'' 補鑊英雄 (1985) *''

Aces Go Places 4 ''Aces Go Places IV'', also known in the United States as ''Mad Mission 4: You Never Die Twice'', is a 1986 Hong Kong action-comedy film directed by Ringo Lam and starring Samuel Hui, Karl Maka, Sylvia Chang and Sally Yeh. It is the fourth fil ...

'' (a.k.a. ''Mad Mission IV'' / ''You Never Die Twice'') 最佳拍擋IV之千里救差婆 (1986) *''

Peking Opera Blues ''Peking Opera Blues'' () is a 1986 Hong Kong film directed by Tsui Hark. The movie combines comedy, Hong Kong action, and serious drama with scenes involving Peking Opera. Director Tsui Hark described the film as a satire on the "Chinese igno ...

'' 刀馬旦 (1986) *''

The Laser Man ''The Laser Man'' is a 1988 Hong Kong film in the style of a crime drama parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comme ...

'' (1988) *''The

Diary of a Big Man (1988) ''Diary of a Big Man'' is a 1988 Hong Kong romantic comedy film directed by veteran producer and actor Chor Yuen, produced by Tsui Hark and starring Chow Yun-fat in the lead role. The film co-stars Sally Yeh, Joey Wong, Waise Lee, Carrie Ng and ...

'' 大丈夫日記 (1988) *''

I Love Maria ''I Love Maria'' (also known as ''Roboforce'') is a 1988 Hong Kong science fiction film directed by David Chung, produced by Tsui Hark and John Shum, and starring Hark and Shum alongside Sally Yeh, Tony Leung and Lam Ching-ying. Plot On one ...

'' (a.k.a. ''RoboForce'') 鐵甲無敵瑪利亞 (1988) *'' The Killer'' 喋血雙雄 (1989) *''

Swordsman Swordsmanship or sword fighting refers to the skills and techniques used in combat and training with any type of sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to a ...

'' (Uncredited / She had to leave this troubled production before filming completed, but a couple shots of her remain in the film, her role was filled by Sharla Cheung Man) 笑傲江湖 (1990) *'' The Banquet'' (cameo) 豪門夜宴 (1991) *''

Sisters of the World Unite A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

'' 莎莎嘉嘉站起來 (1991) *''

Love Under the Sun ''Love Under the Sun'' () is a 2003 Hong Kong musical short film directed by Andy Lau. It depicts an evening ball in which a rumor spreads among the guests that one among them has contracted AIDS. The film was meant to raise awareness about AID ...

'' (2003)

References

External links

*
Sally Yeh: The Effervescent Queen of Pop

Sally Yeh's Facebook

Sally Yeh's Weibo

ILove-Sally.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeh, Sally 1961 births Living people Actresses from Taipei Actresses from Victoria, British Columbia Canadian musicians of Taiwanese descent Canadian emigrants to Hong Kong Cantopop singers Hong Kong film actresses 20th-century Hong Kong women singers Hong Kong people of Taiwanese descent Hong Kong Mandopop singers Hong Kong television actresses Musicians from Taipei Musicians from Victoria, British Columbia Taiwanese emigrants to Canada Taiwanese women singers Taiwanese film actresses 20th-century Hong Kong actresses 21st-century Hong Kong actresses Hong Kong Buddhists Taiwanese Buddhists 21st-century Hong Kong women singers Taiwanese-born Hong Kong artists