On This day in history, Ms. Yao Li passed away on July 19, 2019 after the beach song

Literature and history: Yao Li, the last singer of the Republic of China era, known as "Silver Voice"; her "Rose Rose I Love You" is fragrant, is the first Chinese pop song to be translated into foreign languages; she formed the "Iron Triangle" with her brother Yao Min and lyricist Chen Dieyi; her songs became one of the sources of Hong Kong pop music; she was the first Chinese singer to break into the US music pop charts; she debuted in the 30s until she quit the music scene in the 60s, experienced more than 30 years of singing career, and recorded hundreds of records. She sang a total of 450 songs; she was also an idol of Teresa Teng and Xu Xiaofeng.

Her "Rose Rose I Love You" is considered to be the first Chinese song that is widely popular internationally and covered by the Western music scene, and was covered by American singer Frankie Lane as the English version of "Rose, Rose, I Love You", and Yao Li's original version of Chinese entered the 3rd place in the US Billboard pop chart, and was the first Chinese singer to break into the US music pop chart. She is also the idol of Teresa Teng and Xu Xiaofeng. Once, Xu Xiaofeng invited Yao Li to participate in her Own Red Pavilion concert and introduced herself to the audience: "My idol is Yao Li, and today she came." "At that time, in the Hong Kong music scene, it can be said that no one knew Yao Li.

It is worth mentioning that the "Congratulations and Congratulations" that Chinese people around the world must sing during the New Year today was actually first sung by Yao Min and Yao Li's brothers and sisters, which is a song celebrating the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, and has become a part of the Chinese cultural tradition for more than half a century.

Yao Li was born in Shanghai in 1922. His father died early and his family was poor. One older sister and one older brother is the composer Yao Min, who has written many songs for Zhou Xuan, Yao Li and Li Xianglan.

She has loved music since childhood and practiced circumferential songs.

Yao Li was only thirteen years old when she debuted, and at first she only became a hit because of her interest in occasionally following her uncle to radio performances. Later, he began to sing, mainly singing Zhou Xuan's songs.

Soon, they entered commercial radio stations such as Huaxing and began to perform. Yao Li later recalled doing a program on the radio, saying, "My brother and I were really busy at that time. I have to run five or six radio stations a day, and I don't have time to eat... In addition to my singing, my uncle plays the violin, my brother plays the piano, and my brother sometimes sings. The accompaniment at that time was simple: a piano, a violin, and a small round mandolin that was popular at that time, and these three instruments could complete a program."

Once, Yao Li participated in the charity donation song program held by the radio, "Golden Voice" Zhou Xuan and her husband Yan Hua also attended, the couple admired Yao Li's singing voice very much, Yan Hua recommended her to Shanghai BAIDAI Records and arranged for her to record records, Yao Li was very happy, when Yao Li entered the Baidai, the most popular singers at that time were Zhou Xuan, Bai Hong and Gong Qiuxia, yao Li was 16 years old that year.

The first record she recorded was "Selling Acacia", and the title of the album was "Selling Acacia", and another song "Qingliu Ying Mingyue" swept the streets for a time, making Yao Li a red singer.

In the 1930s, Shanghai's broadcasting industry developed, and after Yao Li joined EMI Records, she also introduced her brother Yao Min to join. Yao Min is a talented composer, initially working as a singer, forming a sibling class with Yao Li, and later engaged in composition, writing many songs for Yao Li. The siblings and their younger sister Yao Ying formed a music club and often performed on the radio.

In 1940, her favorite composer Chen Gexin composed a light-hearted work for her, "Rose Rose I Love You", because this song was selected as an interlude in the movie "Tianya Singer" starring Zhou Xuan, it was very popular as soon as it was launched, setting off a rush to buy, and Yao Li also became the sales queen of EMI Records because of this song. In April 1951, American singer Frankie Laine covered the work and published the English version of "Rose, Rose, I Love You", which quickly returned in the United States and once ranked third on the charts.

After Yao Li's fame was shocked, the famous dance hall "Xianlesi" came to invite the 16-year-old girl to the nightclub to sing on stage. Since then, "Rose Rose I Love You" has spread from the dance floor to the whole of Shanghai night and night. At that time, the most famous "Four King Kong" dance halls in Shanghai Beach were: "Paramount", "Cirèse", "Big World" and "Lis". The "Xianlesi" dance hall on Nanjing West Road in Shanghai is a favorite place for celebrities.

In more than ten years, she has developed from imitating Zhou Xuan's singing voice in the early stage and her lively girlish voice to a steady and thick mature voice, after a long period of exploration. "Sing with Tears" mixes with the way Black Blues sings, and is the turning point in her change of voice.

In 1949, Yao Li's family moved to Hong Kong, and many local nightclubs and other entertainment venues came to invite her to join, but they were all rejected. She chose to continue working with EMI Records and became a full-time studio singer on a 10-year contract.

During this period, I came into contact with the records of American pop singer Patti Page, and I longed for it, and my singing style changed again.

In the 1950s, Yao Li recorded a lot of records of Chinese and Western songs, and also began to serve as a behind-the-scenes singer for the film. Since the 1956s, when the movie star Zhong Qing sang the episode of the movie "Peach Blossom River", he and Zhong Qing became the best partner in front of and behind the scenes. Yao Li's name on the opening subtitle is often bigger than the starring star.

EMI Records said of Yao Li: "She has experienced a process of nearly 20 years, and she has always been alone in the singing world, and the latecomers are unsurpassed. ”

In addition, Yao Li has also served as a behind-the-scenes singer for countless films, and these interludes are also widely disseminated and popular on Hong Kong Island. The most influential is the 1956 film interlude "Peach Blossom River" sung for the film star Zhongqing, and since then, he and Zhongqing have formed a golden partner in front of the curtain and behind the scenes, and Yao Li's name on the opening subtitle of the movie is often more eye-catching than that of the starring star.

In 1967, Yao Min died, and Yao Li lost her brother and resolutely quit the music scene.

In 1969, he was invited by EMI to serve as a record producer, making an average of two LPs a year and also doing small EPs.

He officially retired after seven years.

In 1985, Yao Li returned to Shanghai for the last time. What made her happiest was that the three most important people she wanted to meet were all met: Li Jinguang, a composer who had written many songs for her, his benefactor, Yan Hua, Zhou Xuan's first husband, and Yan Zhexi, another musical prodigy who wrote "Reunion" for Yao Li.

That year, Yao Li also went to Beijing to see Bai Hong, who was also one of the seven singers on Shanghai Beach. According to the statistics of the inventory of old record templates registered by China Sing in 1964, the most popular song records produced by Baidai, Lige, Harmony, Gaoting, Shengli and other record companies in Shanghai that year were Zhou Xuan, with about 150 or more, known as "Golden Voice"; Bai Hong had about 125 albums, and Yao Li had 117 albums, ranking third.

Yao Li last appeared on stage at Xu Xiaofeng's concert in 2005. Xu Xiaofeng, who is good at mezzo-soprano, is known as Xiao Baiguang, but she has also sung Yao Li's songs. That year, Xu Xiaofeng held a concert and invited Yao Li to sit in the first row.

Unexpectedly, at the concert that day, Xu Xiaofeng sang halfway, and suddenly said to the fans: "I am very lucky today, I have not sung for more than ten years, today came an idol I admire the most, I don't have to say her name, I just need to sing her song", and then Xu Xiaofeng hummed a few words "Rose Rose I Love You" and "Spring Wind Kisses My Face", and the fans in the audience boiled.

Yao Li's most popular songs include "Rose Rose I Love You", "Unobtainable Love", "Spring Wind Kisses My Face", "Suzhou Riverside", "Congratulations", "Peach Blossom River", "Dajiang Dong go", etc., which was the highest-selling singer in the Chinese song world that year.

Yao Li sang at the Shanghai Yangtze Ballroom for five years, during which time she fell in love with Huang Paulo, the son of Huang Zhijian, the deputy manager of the hotel, and had two sons with her husband.

He died on the morning of July 19, 2019, at the age of 96.

Yao Li (September 3, 1922 – July 19, 2019), real name Yao Xiuyun. Shanghainese. A famous singer in the Republic of China period, one of the seven queens of Shanghai Beach.

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