By Xia Rihua

Though Song Zuying had held solo concert in Sydney Opera House in 2002 and had sung in Golden Hall of Vienna in November 2003 and Kennedy Center in Washington in 2006 and her album was nominated for Grammy, her biggest moment as a singer came when she and Spanish tenor Placido Domingo performed a duet at the 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in Beijing.

The diva was born in August 13, 1966 in a farmers family in Guzhang County in central Chinas Hunan Province. She is a Miao ethnic. Her childhood years were happy until her father passed away when she was only 12. Her mother brought her up. The daughter did house chores to help her mother out. Her career as a singer started in June, 1881. Two recruiters came from the county capital to the village in search of singing talents for the countys song and dance troupe. They heard the village girl sing and loved it. She was recruited.In the following three years, Song toured with the troupe in the rural county and her singing amazed local residents. Toward the end of 1984, she was discovered by the leaders of the prefecture and she was soon transferred to the prefectures song and dance troupe. She entered the vocal department of the Central University of Nationalities. For the four years she lived in a basement room for economic reasons. After the graduation from the university, she became a graduate student majoring in ethnic vocal music in China Conservatory of Music. She studied under the guidance of Jin Tieling, the best vocal teacher in China.

She graduated in July, 1991 and joined the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Navy Political Department of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army. Months later, she appeared, for the first time, at the CCTV gala show on the eve of the Spring Festival, which is Chinas biggest entertainment show watched by hundreds of millions across the country. Song Zuying comments that the gala, the most important stage of her life, gave her the opportunity to rise to the national fame over night. She has been a constant at the annual celebration since then.

Since 2002, she has held three solo concerts overseas. The first occurred in December, 2002 at Sidney Opera House, Australia. The next overseas solo concert took place in Vienna. On October 12, 2006, she sang at Kennedy Center in Washington DC.

In 2004, she was nominated for Grammy for “Diva Goes to Movies”, an album of her reinterpretations of Chinese movie hits over the past 30 years.

Her husband is Luo Hao, a television director with Hunan Province Television, her home province. They met in the summer of 1988. Song Zuying was a burgeoning singer at a provincial singing competition for young singers. The show was televised. Song thought the young man was smart and talented with a very good sense of humor. They began to write each other. The correspondence bred the romance. Two got married in the spring of 1992, a few months after Song completed her postgraduate study.

Luo Hao wrote a few songs for his wife. The songs became popular after Song Zuying sang them. Song views her husband as her tutor. She says many of his thoughts and advices have played a key part in her career success as a singer.

Luo and Song had a son in 2005 when Song was already 39. The baby boy now knows his mother is the most beautiful singer in the country. The son is not the only one in China who thinks Song is a stunner. Many people believe that Songs popularity in China owes partly to her voice and partly to her heartthrob beauty. Song, however, is modest about her face. She plays down her appearance by saying that her beauty results from cosmetics. She shows her best to the audience and leaves the other side at home.

Song Zuying admits that she is just an ordinary person like everyone else except singing. She is part of an extended family which she enjoys. She loves her family and leads a happy life.