Wong names diva Teng as favorite singer

HONG KONG: Chinese pop diva Faye Wong says her favorite singer is late Taiwanese pop star Teresa Teng (shown in photo).

"I like Teresa Teng's music the most," she told the South China Morning Post's postmagazine in an interview published on Sunday.

"I loved listening to her records way back, when I was in Beijing, before I entered the music industry. Her music influenced me deeply," Wong was quoted as saying.

China banned Taiwanese Teng's songs as "spiritual pollution" in the 1980s, but defiant fans listened to them on pirated tapes smuggled in from Hong Kong. China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949.

Wong, a Chinese native who made her debut in Hong Kong, is known for favoring alternative music. Among her works is a cover of American singer-songwriter Tori Amos' Silent All These Years.

By contrast, Teng, who died of a heart attack in 1995 at age 42, won fame throughout the Chinese-speaking world with slow, mellow ballads characteristic of Chinese pop.

Wong also defended her public aloofness, saying the best way to understand her is through her music.

"I just don't think there's a need to express my emotions too much. Away from work, in my private time, I don't need the participation of other people," Wong said.

"If you want to understand the real me -- the songs best reflect who I really am," she said. --AP