Wei Wei (singer)

Wei Wei (singer)

Wei Wei (simplified Chinese: 韦唯; traditional Chinese: 韋唯; pinyin: Wéi Wéi; September 28, 1963) is a Mandopop singer and actress. She was born in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia and was raised in Liuzhou, Guangxi.

Wei Wei recently performed at the opening ceremony of the Shanghai World Expo (May 2010), as well as at the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics (August 2008). Between these two major events in China, she performed at the opening- and the closing ceremony of the 11th National Games in Nanjing, China (October 2009).

Wei Wei has been an Olympic Ambassador for China since 1993 when the Chinese Olympic Committee applied for the games for the first time. She supported the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics by performing at major Olympic events in China and abroad. In 2004, she received the highest number of votes in an Internet survey as to who should sing the theme song of the Chinese Olympics. Wei Wei was the single representative for Asia at the 100 year anniversary show at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, USA in 1996.

In September 2006 Wei Wei's song I Want to Fly (the Mandarin version of Where We Are) was appointed official song for the 2008 Olympic Sailing City of Qingdao by the Chinese Olympic Committee and the Sailing Committee (Qingdao) of Beijing for the Beijing Olympics.

In 2006, Wei Wei celebrated 20 years on stage. The anniversary was highlighted by the production of new recordings of her 20 greatest hits: The Wei Wei 20X20 Celebration Collection. The recordings were produced in Stockholm, London and Los Angeles.

Her breakthrough came in 1986, when she won the National Young Singers contest on Chinese television. The next year, China sent a representative to an international pop competition for the first time: The 24th Sopot International Song Festival in Poland. She won the competition, and the "Miss Photo-category" as well, which brought her even more attention. Four years later, she was chosen to perform at the 11th Asian Games in Beijing, and sang a duet with Spanish singer Julio Iglesias at the 1993 East Asian Games in Shanghai. She has sold over 250 million records.

She has lived in Stockholm, Sweden since 1999.