Frances Yip Lai-yee (born 1947) is a Hong Kong English pop and C… Read Full Bio ↴葉麗儀
Frances Yip Lai-yee (born 1947) is a Hong Kong English pop and Cantopop singer. She is best known for performing many of the theme songs for television series produced by TVB in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Born in 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.
Her first singing job was in 1969 when she won a talent contest called Sharp's Night Four Lights Competition on Hong Kong television where she met the composer, Joseph Koo. 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. Her first record, Bu Liao Qing (Love Without End) was recorded in the same year. She recorded predominantly English covers of Mandarin songs and Mandarin songs then.
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 travelling. 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. She signed onto EMI records and lived in London for two years.[3]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 from the TVB drama of the same title.[4] After she recorded The Bund, she returned to Hong Kong.
In her 45-year career, Yip has released more than 80 albums, 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. 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. The event on June 30, 1997, was watched by a television audience estimated at 120 million, in more than 80 countries worldwide.
In 2012, Yip recorded her first Christian album, Grace and Glory Psalm 84.
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.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996, but was considered free of cancer in 2002. To celebrate eight years of being cancer-free, in 2010, she held a charity concert in Kuala Lumpur to benefit cancer research and treatment.
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.
Shanghai Beach
Frances Yip Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
萬里滔滔江水永不休
淘盡了 世間事
混作滔滔一片潮流
是喜 是愁
浪裡分不清歡笑悲憂
成功 失敗
愛你恨你 問君知否
似大江一發不收
轉千彎 轉千灘
亦未平復此中爭鬥
又有喜 又有愁
就算分不清歡笑悲憂
仍願翻 百千浪
在我心中起伏夠
愛你恨你 問君知否
似大江一發不收
轉千彎 轉千灘
亦未平復此中爭鬥
又有喜 又有愁
就算分不清歡笑悲憂
仍願翻 百千浪
在我心中起伏夠
仍願翻 百千浪
在我心中起伏夠
(I have enjoyed myself immensely)
(It's been a wonderful experience for me on the stage)
(And I hope it has been as great for you as well)
(希望你哋同我一樣咁開心)
The lyrics of Frances Yip's song "Shanghai Beach" speak of the tumultuous nature of life, likening it to the never-ending waves of a river. The verses describe how the river's waves take and carry away everything in their path, signifying how the river of life can wash away all that once mattered in the past.
The song also touches on the emotional aspect of life, depicting how happiness and sadness can sometimes be difficult to distinguish. It talks about how success and failure can be lost in the waves of life's uncertainty. The chorus emphasizes the idea that despite the ups and downs, there is always something to hold onto. The last line, "in my heart, it's enough," suggests that even though we can't control what happens in life, we can find solace in ourselves.
Overall, the song reminds us that life is a continuous ebb and flow of experiences, both good and bad. It may be overwhelming and often confusing, but there is always an unwavering constant – our inner self.
Line by Line Meaning
浪奔 浪流 萬里滔滔江水永不休 淘盡了 世間事 混作滔滔一片潮流
The waves flow and surge, the endlessly flowing river never stops. It washes away all the worldly affairs and mixes into a tide of great power.
是喜 是愁 浪裡分不清歡笑悲憂 成功 失敗 浪裡看不出有未有
In the waves, it's hard to distinguish between happiness and sorrow, laughter and tears. Success and failure can't be clearly seen in the surging water.
愛你恨你 問君知否 似大江一發不收 轉千彎 轉千灘 亦未平復此中爭鬥
Do you know that loving and hating you is like a great river that flows forever? It twists and turns over thousands of bends and sands, and the fighting in it has never been resolved.
又有喜 又有愁 就算分不清歡笑悲憂 仍願翻 百千浪 在我心中起伏夠
There are both joy and sorrow, even if it's hard to distinguish between laughter and tears. I still want to ride the waves, up and down in my heart.
仍願翻 百千浪 在我心中起伏夠
I still want to ride the waves, up and down in my heart.
Contributed by Caleb M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@MayaMuthiah
I’m a Singaporean Indian attended an event she was singing I was lucky enough to request from her this iconic song, she was surprised a non-Chinese person was her fan some 30 years ago. 🌹💖
@samransombatpanit6195
Nice to hear about that.
@wancute1981
Same here, im a malay from malaysia, a big fan
@rennysiswati1484
@@samransombatpanit6195 999i0
@rennysiswati1484
@@wancute1981 ⁹5lĺ
@karthikelf
Arumai anbarae
@sharifabdullah8103
Voices like Francis Yip and Teresa Teng cannot be matched in today's world
@LAnts-ro4kx
I can imitate their voices but not very well. They are certaiknly one of the best.
@muralimuthaloo1612
I'm 55 now this song always gives me that emotional goosebumps whenever I hear this song... 🥰
@bwana_ya_mtu
Y