Frances Yip

Here is a joyful song by one of China and Asia’s greatest singers, Frances Yip.

Frances Yip Lai-yee (born 1947) is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer. 

In 1973, Yip was working for Cathay Pacific and her album, Discovery, was based on her experiences traveling. Discovery was sung in nine different languages and the album inspired a London talent agent to find her. 

In her 45-year career, Yip has released more than 80 albums, mostly of songs in American English, Indonesian, Thai, Malay, Mexican Spanish, Japanese, Tagalog, Cantonese, and Mandarin. She has performed on television, and in films, concerts and cabarets in more than 30 countries on five continents. Her linguistic skills, with unique interpretations of lyrics in English, Cantonese and Mandarin, as well as several other Asian languages, have led to a fan base across a wide range of cultures and countries.

She is equally at home singing Chinese opera at a nightclub in Singapore, or popular English ballads at London’s prestigious Savoy Hotel.

Yip has worked with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, the Macau Chinese Orchestra, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, the Youth Orchestra from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Thammasat University Philharmonic Orchestra in Bangkok as well as large orchestras in Kuala Lumpur.

Yip achieved worldwide recognition when she was selected by the Hong Kong government to be a co-presenter at the British Farewell Ceremony to mark the transfer of sovereignty in Hong Kong. The event on June 30, 1997, was watched by a television audience estimated at 120 million, in more than 80 countries around the globe.

The critics were unanimous in their praise: “Vibrant and exciting”,  “Sheer professionalism”, “A majestic vocal talent” and “Indeed – simply the best.”

In 2002, Frances held two cross cultural concerts with renowned American jazz singer Patti Austin in the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco.  The Mayor, Willie L Brown Jr., attended the concert and declared May 28th 2002 as “Frances Yip Day” in San Francisco “to acknowledge her achievements in and contributions to both Eastern and Western music.”

In 2012, Yip recorded her first Christian album, Grace and glory Psalm 84.

With a talent and personality as cosmopolitan as her birthplace of Hong Kong – entertainer Frances Yip truly justifies the description of “international star”.

Enjoy the talent of “Asia’s leading lady of song”!

Kowloon Hong Kong