Wei Wei

Fact Sheet

Birthplace

Wei Wei is a popular Chinese singer and actress. Born in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, the singer grew up in Liuzhou in China's southwestern province of Guangxi. While in kindergarten, she was chosen to join shows exalting the Cultural Revolution. So at an early age, she was practicing ballet daily and performing in front of large audiences. At 14, she joined the local troupe where she took up classical singing for a monthly salary of eight dollars, half a senior factory worker's.

In 1986, she won the National Young Singers contest on Chinese television. Four years later, she was chosen to perform at the 11th Asian Games in Beijing, and sang a duet with Spanish crooner Julio Iglesias at the 1993 East Asian Games in Shanghai.

Wei Wei, might have remained a big fish in China's large but shallow pond. But with the help of U.S.-born composer Michael Smith, whom she met in 1993 in Sweden and later married, she set out to make a splash worldwide.

Since then she has ben living in Sweden, Stockholm.

Many of her fans, though, may not recognize her. She speaks English fluently, with an American accent. Her linguistic ability also includes "hot dog" in Swedish (en kokt med bröd).

Her backup band includes musicians from Sweden, France, the U.S. and China. She spends half her time in Beijing and the rest in Atlanta.

On 17 April 2004, Wei Wei was divorced with her husband, Michael J. Smith. During their ten year long marriage, they have three sons.

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