{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} {{Other|Francis Yip (disambiguation)}} {{short description|Hong Kong singer}} {{infobox person | name = Frances Yip | image = Frances Yip 20230506.jpg | alt = | caption = Yip at the Hong Kong Coliseum in 2023 | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1947|10|22|df= y}} | birth_place = British Hong Kong | occupation = Singer | years_active = 1969–present | awards = MTV Asia Awards 2009 | module = {{Infobox Chinese|child=yes | t = 葉麗儀 | s = 叶丽仪 | p = Yè Lìyí | j = jip6 lai6 ji4 }} | module2 = {{infobox musical artist|embed=yes | background = temporary | origin = Hong Kong | genre = {{hlist|Cantopop|Hong Kong English pop|easy listening|Traditional pop|country|folk}} | instrument = Singing | label = EMI }} }} {{family name hatnote|Yip|lang=Chinese}} '''Frances Yip Lai-yee''' (born 22 October 1947) is a Hong Kong singer. She is best known for performing many of the theme songs for television series produced by TVB in the 1980s and early 1990s.
== Biography == Born on 22 October 1947, Yip is of Hakka ancestry, and is the youngest of 5 siblings. She grew up in a rural area in Hong Kong, and studied in St. Clare's Girls' School, an English Catholic school.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url = http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle/Entertainment/Music/News/2014/09/25/Hong-Kong-chanteuse-Frances-Yip-celebrates-45-years-in-showbiz/|title = Hong Kong Chanteuse Frances Yip Celebrates 45 Years in Showbiz|last = Yan|first = Seto Kit|date = 25 September 2014|work = The Star|access-date = 21 July 2015|archive-date = 18 October 2017|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171018072548/http://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/entertainment/music/news/2014/09/25/hong-kong-chanteuse-frances-yip-celebrates-45-years-in-showbiz/|url-status = dead}}</ref>
Her first singing job was in 1969 when she won a talent contest called Sharp's Night Four Lights Competition (聲寶之夜) on Hong Kong television where she met the composer, Joseph Koo.<ref name=":0" /> Koo used Yip to sing commercial Jingles while she was working as a secretary in HSBC, one was the jingles was a song about savings account for HSBC.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Citation|last=RTHK 香港電台|title=我們都是這樣唱大的 II：《浪奔浪流》 葉麗儀|date=5 August 2015|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4mgS2OOgyA|accessdate=12 July 2017}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}}</ref> Her first record, ''Bu Liao Qing'' (Love Without End) was recorded in the same year.<ref name=":0" /> At that time she recorded predominantly English covers of Mandarin songs and Mandarin songs.<ref name=":2" />
In 1972, Yip and Joseph Koo went to Japan's World Singing gathering in Nippon Budokan. In 1973, Yip was working for Cathay Pacific as an Ambassador of Hong Kong under Hong Kong Tourism Board for a year, and her album, Discovery, was based on her experiences traveling.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url = https://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Showbiz/Story/A1Story20110319-268935.html|title = Frances Yip is Still a Traditionalist at Heart|date = 19 March 2011|work = Asia One News|access-date = 21 July 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160125022536/http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Showbiz/Story/A1Story20110319-268935.html|archive-date = 25 January 2016|url-status = live}}</ref> Discovery was sung in nine different languages to represent the 9 major destinations for Cathay Pacific then, and the album inspired a London talent agent to find her.<ref name=":1" /> She signed onto EMI Records and lived in London for two years.<ref name=":1" /> It was a worldwide contract, meaning she can have one English album released in 6 different languages in different areas of the world. Since then, she had renewed her two-year contract until now.
Yip hit international fame with her signature tune, ''The Bund'' ({{Lang-zh|c=上海灘}}) from the TVB drama of the same title.<ref>{{Cite news|url = http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle/Entertainment/Music/News/2015/01/23/Celebrate-CNY-Eve-with-legendary-Hong-Kong-divas/|title = Celebrate CNY Eve With Legendary Hong Kong Divas|last = Cheang|first = Michael|date = 23 January 2015|work = The Star|access-date = 21 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-08-21 |title=Hong Kong Canto-pop singer Frances Yip helps raise $200,000 at Metro Vancouver performances |url=https://www.straight.com/music/954046/hong-kong-canto-pop-singer-frances-yip-helps-raise-200000-metro-vancouver-performances |access-date=2022-04-04 |website=The Georgia Straight |language=en}}</ref> After she recorded ''The Bund'', she returned to Hong Kong.<ref name=":1" />
In her 45-year career, Yip has released more than 80 albums,<ref name=":0" /> mostly of songs in American English, Indonesian, Thai, Malay, Mexican Spanish, Japanese, Tagalog, Hong Kong Cantonese, and Taiwanese Mandarin. She has performed on television, and in films, concerts and cabarets in more than 30 countries on five continents.<ref name=":0" /> 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.
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, alongside British actor Brian Blessed. The event on 30 June 1997, was watched by a television audience estimated at 120 million, in more than 80 countries worldwide.<ref name=":0" />
In 2012, Yip recorded her first Christian album, ''Grace and Glory Psalm 84''.<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/1103795/diva-frances-yip-releases-first-christian-album|title = Diva Frances Yip Releases First Christian Album|last = Chen|first = Vivian|date = 13 December 2012|work = South China Morning Post|access-date = 21 July 2015}}</ref>
Yip is fluent in Chinese (Hong Kong Cantonese and Taiwanese Mandarin) and English. She often spends time in Sydney where her son and grandchildren live.<ref name=":0" />
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996, but was considered free of cancer in 2002.<ref name=":0" /> To celebrate eight years of being cancer-free, in 2010, she held a charity concert in Kuala Lumpur to benefit cancer research and treatment.<ref>{{Cite news|url = http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle/Features/2010/08/16/A-new-life-for-Frances-Yip/|title = A New Life for Frances Yip|last = Indramalar|first = S.|date = 16 August 2010|work = The Star|access-date = 21 July 2015}}</ref>
Since 2013, she and her husband have lived in the rural suburbs of Sydney, Australia with their son and grandson. They have Australian citizenship, and also own rental properties in England. She occasionally returns to Hong Kong to perform and make TV appearances.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080716154529/http://www.francesyip.com/ Official website]
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Yip, Frances}} Category:Hong Kong people of Hakka descent Category:People from Huiyang Category:1947 births Category:Hong Kong Roman Catholics Category:Living people Category:English-language Hong Kong singers Category:20th-century Hong Kong women singers Category:Hakka musicians