Tsin Ting Live Charity Concert in Genting @ Arena of Stars, Genting Highlands, Pahang

She auditioned for EMI Pathe´ in 1954 when they were recruiting new talent but was told by composer Yao Min that her vocals lacked power and energy. She was offered instead a part in the chorus which she accepted. Two years later, Miriam Wang, the chief executive of Pathe´ Records, who had noticed this versatile young talent with a wide vocal range, signed her as a solo artist. Tsin Ting’s first record for Pathe´ as a solo performer was two songs from the Shaw & Sons film Narcissus, where she dubbed for actress Shih Ying. Tsin Ting’s self-taught ability to read music and sing in two part harmony was an added bonus as this saved valuable studio time. Film companies soon began employing her to dub for their various films.

During a recording session, director Li Han Hsiang heard Tsin Ting sing. She was dubbing a song for actress Yu Su Qiu in the Shaw movie Lady in Distress (1957). Impressed with her talent, Li had her dub for film star Lin Dai in his next film Diau Charn, a costume epic. The film was a great success all over South-East Asia and won several Asian Film Festival awards, including one for Best Actress. Thereafter, when Li went on to film The Kingdom and The Beauty, Tsin Ting was invited to dub for Lin Dai once again. The Kingdom and The Beauty broke all box-office records upon its release in all Chinese-speaking territories and Tsin Ting rose to fame. The recording of the film songs sold in the tens of thousands and remained in the record label’s catalogue well into the 1980s. It also produced a hit song for Tsin Ting, Teasing the Phoenix (Xi Feng).

Although by the early 1960s Tsin Ting was kept busy by the film studios, often dubbing for two films per day, she was also making popular recordings for Path e´ Records, whom she was contracted to for making commercial recordings. Two hit songs that emerged from this period are There is Hope Tomorrow (Xi Wang Jai Ming Dian) and My Heart Has Only You (Wor Der Xing Li Mei Yeo Dar), the Chinese version of Historia de un Amor.

Shaw Brothers offered her a contract in 1961 to sing exclusively for their films. Some of these film songs were licensed to Pathe´ Records to be issued commercially and became best-sellers.

For Shaw Brothers Tsin Ting dubbed many of their “huang-mei-diao” films, notably The Love Eterne (1963) where she sang for Betty Loh Tih in the role of “Zhu Ying Dai”. The pathos and emotional impact of her singing, along with Loh Ti’s excellent acting, moved viewers to tears. The same year also saw Tsin Ting sing in another hit film Songfest where she dubbed for leading lady Margaret Tu Chuan singing in a style known as “shan ger” (mountain song) which requires skill and voice.

A year later, in 1964, Tsin Ting made a recording that will forever be associated with her; I’ll Wait For You (C’he C’he Di Deng) was featured in the epic war film Blue and Black starring Lin Dai, and must rate in the All-Time best known and loved Chinese popular song. Her next hit song Song of Tomorrow (Ming Rer C’he Ger) came courtesy of an Ivy Ling Po film of the same name.

The number of leading ladies whose singing voice was dubbed by Tsin Ting are countless. In the 1950s, she sang for Lucille Yu Min, Lee Li Hwa, Lin Dai, Betty Loh Tih, Jeanette Lin Tsui, Helen Li Mei etc, and in the 1960s cinemagoers heard Tsin Ting sing on screen for Ivy Ling Po, Li Ching, Lily Ho, Jenny Hu, Margaret Tu Chuan, Cheng Pei Pei to name a few.

Tsin Ting continued to make recording for Pathe´ Records until 1973 before taking a break. The 1980s saw her recording for Wing Hung Records and in the 1990s she made two excellent albums for Polygram.

In 1997, Tsin Ting made a remarkable career resurgence with sold-out concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum with Liu Yun, Tsui Ping and Woo Ing Ing. She repeated the feat a year later with Liu, Wu and Billie Tam. Hong Kong audiences saw her in 2008 in a series of sell-out solo concerts at Star Hall and in 2009 she held a sold-out solo concert at the 10,000 seater Hong Kong Coliseum.

The legendary Tsin Ting has entertained fans of Chinese popular song for over 50 years and at aged 75, she has just signed to perform at the Arena of Stars in Malaysia’s Genting Highlands on 11th June, 2011