Tsui Ping - Career

Career

Tsui Ping's family originates from Jiangsu, China, but she was born in Harbin in 1938, where the family resided while her father was on business. Her family later came to reside in Hong Kong where she received her education and lived during her singing career. She was quite fascinated by Mandarin pop music by Shanghai singers like the late Chang Loo, Bai Guang, and others that she heard on the radio. At age 15, she was invited to sing at a party in a nightclub. The nightclub owner was so impressed that he asked her to sign a contract, thus beginning her singing career.

Tsui Ping had also auditioned to star in the Shaw Brothers' films and acted in one movie, but later she decided to focus mainly on being a professional singer. Her dream at the time was to record albums.

While Tsui Ping was singing in nightclubs, songwriter Wong Fuk Lin (王福齡) was very impressed by her talent and encouraged her greatly. Two of the songs he later wrote became Tsui Ping's trademarks: "This Precious Night" (今宵多珍重) and "Nang Ping Evening Bells" (南屏晚鐘). "This Precious Night" was played to Taiwanese soldiers-in-training every night at bedtime.

Tsui's musical talents made her one of the most popular artists in Hong Kong and at times one of the highest paid singers. Some of her recordings of previous hits were more popular than the original: e.g. "Meet Again" (重逢) and "Needing Each Other" (兩相依)

Her performances consisted of singing in nightclubs in Hong Kong and South East Asia, making appearances in musical shows on television and recording with EMI Pathé. She formed a trio with Tsin Ting (静婷) and Billie Tam (蓓蕾) for the opening of a new Hong Kong music club. The trio recorded several songs, including "Fragrance of the Night" (夜來香), "Shangri-La" (香格裡拉), and "Not Going Home Tonight" (今天不回家).

In 1971, she publicly announced her retirement from singing to dedicate time to her family. A public farewell party was televised. A special Tsui Ping magazine was also published. Three separate music awards were given to her within 1970-1971. Tsui Ping gave singing lessons for a few years and later had to give it up due to family matters.

In 1997 she performed four successful "Golden Concerts" with her contemporaries Tsin Ting, Wu Yingyin (吳鶯音), and Liu Yun (劉韻). In 2004, she was invited by the late James Wong (黃霑) to participate in his television nightclub series, singing mandarin pops again.