Fish Leong: The Life Story Behind Malaysia's Sweet Voice

In the Chinese-speaking world, there is a voice that almost everyone knows, even if they have never seen the singer’s face. It is a sweet, clear voice that sings about love, courage, and the quiet pain of letting go. The voice belongs to Fish Leong, a singer from a small town in Malaysia who became one of the most loved Mandopop stars of her generation. Her songs have played at weddings, in karaoke rooms, and in the headphones of heartbroken teenagers for more than twenty years.

Her real name is Leong Chui Yee, and she was born in 1978 in Seremban, a town in the Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan. She did not come from a rich family, and she did not have a famous teacher. She had a good voice, a love of singing, and a brave heart that was willing to leave home and try her luck in a faraway place. This is the story of how a girl from Seremban became the Queen of Love Songs.

A Small Town Girl With a Big Voice

Leong Chui Yee was born on 16 June 1978 in Seremban, the capital of Negeri Sembilan in Malaysia. Seremban is a calm town, known for its food, its markets, and its slower pace of life. It is not a place where pop stars are made. The music business in Malaysia was centred in Kuala Lumpur, and a girl from Seremban had to travel to be heard. But small towns have their own gifts. They give a child time to dream, and they give a voice room to grow without pressure.

As a child, she loved to sing. She sang at home, she sang at school, and she sang whenever music was playing. Her voice was sweet and clear, the kind of voice that makes people stop what they are doing and listen. Teachers and family members noticed it, and they encouraged her. She did not have formal training at first, but she had something that training cannot give: a natural feeling for melody and for the words of a song.

Her family spoke Chinese at home, and she grew up with the songs of the Chinese-speaking world as well as the sounds of Malaysia around her. That mix would later become her strength. She could sing in Mandarin with feeling, and she could also understand the lives of ordinary people in Malaysia and Singapore. Her songs would speak to both worlds at once.

Like many young singers, she dreamed of a bigger stage. She entered singing contests, and she practised whenever she could. A contest can be a frightening thing for a teenager, because it puts your dream in front of strangers who can say no. But she kept entering, and she kept learning. Each contest taught her something about her voice, about her nerves, and about what it takes to stand on a stage and sing for people who do not know you.

The Contest That Changed Her Life

The turning point came when she entered a singing contest in Malaysia and was noticed by the famous Taiwanese producer and songwriter Jonathan Lee, known in Chinese as Li Zongsheng. Jonathan Lee was one of the most respected figures in Mandopop, a man who had written songs for the biggest stars in Taiwan and Hong Kong. For a young singer from Seremban, being noticed by him was like a dream.

Jonathan Lee saw something in her voice that others had missed. It was not a loud voice, and it was not a showy voice. It was a warm, honest voice that could carry a sad song without overdoing it. He believed that she could become a star in Taiwan, the centre of the Mandopop world, and he invited her to join Rock Records, one of the most important record labels in Chinese music.

Leaving home was not easy. Taiwan was far from Seremban, and she was still very young. She had to learn to live alone, to work in a studio, and to cope with the pressure of a record company that expected her to succeed. Many young singers fail at this stage. They cannot handle the loneliness, or they cannot handle the hard work. Fish Leong handled it by focusing on the music. She practised, she listened, and she learned from the people around her.

The contest had given her a door. Jonathan Lee had opened it. But she still had to walk through it herself, and that walk would take years of hard work. The girl from Seremban was now a singer in Taiwan, and her real career was about to begin.

The First Album and the Long Wait

In 1999, Fish Leong released her first album, called “Grown Up Overnight”, or “Yi Ye Zhang Da” in Chinese. The title fits her story well, because it talks about growing up suddenly, and that is what she was doing. The album introduced her voice to the Mandopop world, and it showed that she could sing with feeling and with care.

The first album did not make her a superstar at once. It sold modestly, and it took time for people to notice her. That is normal in the music business. A first album is often a quiet beginning, a way of telling the world that a new singer has arrived. The singer’s job is to keep going, to make a second album, and then a third, until the world catches up. Fish Leong kept going.

She worked with good songwriters and producers, and she learned how to choose songs that fitted her voice. She was not trying to sing every kind of song. She was learning which songs were hers: gentle ballads about love, about courage, and about the pain of saying goodbye. Those songs would become her home, and she would live in them for the rest of her career.

The years after her first album were a time of learning and waiting. She performed, she recorded, and she built a small but loyal group of fans. She was not yet famous, but she was getting better with every song. Sometimes a career is built in this quiet way, one step at a time, and the steps do not look like much until you turn around and see how far you have come.

Courage and the Song That Made Her a Star

In 2000, Fish Leong released the album “Courage”, or “Yong Qi” in Chinese, and everything changed. The title song, “Courage”, is a gentle ballad about finding the strength to love someone even when you are afraid. The song is simple, and its message is clear: love takes courage, and courage is something we can all find inside ourselves. The song touched millions of people.

“Courage” became one of the most famous Mandopop songs of its time. It played on the radio in Taiwan, China, Malaysia, and Singapore. It was sung in karaoke rooms by young people who were in love, and by people who were trying to be brave about their feelings. The song gave Fish Leong a name that everyone knew, and it gave her a place in the hearts of listeners that she has never lost.

The success of “Courage” was not an accident. The song fitted her voice perfectly, and it fitted the moment perfectly. At the turn of the century, many young people in the Chinese-speaking world were looking for songs that spoke about love in a gentle and honest way. Fish Leong gave them that song, and they thanked her by playing it again and again.

After “Courage”, she was no longer a new singer waiting to be noticed. She was a star, and her albums began to sell in large numbers. She had found her sound, and she had found her audience. The girl from Seremban had become a voice that the whole Chinese-speaking world knew and loved.

The Queen of Love Songs

In the years that followed “Courage”, Fish Leong released a series of albums that made her known as the Queen of Love Songs. Her songs about love were not all happy. Some were about love that had ended, some were about love that was far away, and some were about the quiet hope that love would come again. But all of them were sung with the same warmth and honesty that had made “Courage” so special.

One of her best-loved songs is “Breathe”, or “Hu Xi” in Chinese, a song about the pain of missing someone so much that even breathing feels hard. Another is “Love Song”, or “Qing Ge”, a song that many fans sing at karaoke when they want to say what they feel. These songs are simple, but they are not shallow. They take a feeling that is hard to explain and put it into words that anyone can understand.

Her success also brought her to big stages. She performed in concerts in Taiwan, China, Malaysia, and Singapore, and her audiences grew bigger every year. She was known for concerts that felt warm and close, even in a large hall. She talked to the audience, she told small stories between songs, and she made people feel as if they were in a room with a friend rather than in a crowd with a star.

She also became a familiar face on television and in the news. But she never changed her style to chase fashion. While other singers tried new sounds and new images, she stayed true to the gentle ballads that had made her famous. That loyalty to her own sound is one of the reasons her fans have stayed with her for so long. They know what a Fish Leong song will feel like, and they trust her to deliver it.

Marriage, Motherhood, and a New Life

In 2010, Fish Leong married the Taiwanese businessman Tony Chao, and the next year she gave birth to a son, Anderson. For a singer at the height of her fame, marriage and motherhood brought a new chapter. She slowed down her work, and she spent more time with her family. Fans understood, and they waited for her to return.

Her marriage later ended in divorce in 2019, and the news was sad for many fans who had followed her happy life. Divorce is never easy, and it is harder when it happens in public. But Fish Leong handled it with the same grace that she shows in her songs. She did not make a show of her pain. She focused on her son, on her work, and on moving forward with quiet dignity.

Motherhood changed her music in a gentle way. Her later songs have a deeper feeling, as if she now understands love not only as a young woman in love but as a mother who loves her child. That deeper feeling gives her newer work a warmth that younger singers cannot copy, because it comes from life, not from a studio.

She has also spoken about the importance of looking after herself and her son, and about the need to find a balance between work and family. That honesty has made many fans respect her even more. She is not only a singer. She is a woman who has lived through joy and sorrow, and who has kept singing through both.

Still Singing After More Than Twenty Years

Today, Fish Leong has been singing for more than twenty-five years, and her voice is still loved across the Chinese-speaking world. She continues to release music, to perform in concerts, and to meet fans who have grown up with her songs. Some of those fans first heard “Courage” when they were teenagers. Now they are parents, and they play her songs for their own children. That is a rare kind of success.

Her concerts remain special events. When she sings “Courage”, whole halls sing along, and the feeling in the room is warm and full of memory. A song that has been loved for twenty years becomes more than a song. It becomes a part of people’s lives, tied to first loves, to weddings, and to quiet nights when they needed comfort. Fish Leong’s songs have become that kind of music.

She has also inspired a new generation of Malaysian singers. She showed that a singer from a small town in Malaysia could become a star in Taiwan and China, and that a gentle voice could win over millions of people. Young singers in Malaysia still look at her career and see a path that is open to them. That path was not there before she walked it, and she walked it with grace.

The girl from Seremban who loved to sing is now one of the most loved voices in Mandopop. Her story is not about luck. It is about a good voice, a brave heart, and the patience to keep singing until the world listened. And the world is still listening.

The Power of a Gentle Voice

Fish Leong’s voice is not a loud voice, and that is exactly why it works. In a world where many singers try to impress with big notes and dramatic runs, she sings in a calm and steady way, and the listener leans in to hear her. That leaning in is a form of intimacy. When you listen to her, you feel as if she is singing only to you, in a quiet room, and that feeling is more powerful than any loud performance. A gentle voice can reach a heart that a loud voice cannot touch.

Her singing style is also notable for its control. She does not oversing. She does not add extra notes where they are not needed. She sings the melody as it was written, and she lets the words carry the feeling. That restraint is a sign of a mature singer, one who trusts the song rather than trying to show off. Young singers often try to prove themselves with every note. Fish Leong proves herself by holding back, and that holding back is a kind of wisdom.

The songs she chooses also fit her voice perfectly. They are ballads about love, about courage, and about letting go, and they need a voice that is warm and honest. A harsh voice would break them. A showy voice would distract from them. Her voice is the right instrument for these songs, and that match between voice and song is one of the reasons her music has lasted for so long. When the voice and the song agree, the result feels natural, and natural music lasts.

Over the years, her voice has matured, and that maturity has made her later work even more moving. A young singer can sing about love, but an older singer who has lived through love and loss can sing about it with a depth that a young person cannot copy. Fish Leong’s later songs have that depth, and her audiences can hear it. They hear a woman who has lived, not only a girl who is dreaming, and that lived feeling is what makes her concerts so emotional.

Karaoke, Weddings, and Songs in Daily Life

One of the surest signs of Fish Leong’s success is where her songs are sung. They are sung in karaoke rooms across Asia, at weddings, in cars, and in the quiet of people’s homes. A song that is sung by ordinary people, not only by the singer herself, has entered daily life, and that is a greater achievement than any award. Her songs have become a part of how people in the Chinese-speaking world express their feelings.

“Courage” is the best example. It is sung by young people who are in love and afraid, by people who are about to confess their feelings, and by people who need strength to be honest. The song gives them words for a feeling they could not explain on their own. That is what a great song does: it lends you its words, and it makes you braver. Fish Leong’s songs have lent their words to millions of people, and that is a beautiful gift.

Her songs are also sung at weddings, where couples choose them to mark the happiest day of their lives. A wedding song becomes a part of a family’s memory, and it is played again on anniversaries and on quiet nights. That kind of lasting place in people’s lives cannot be bought. It can only be earned, song by song, over many years. Fish Leong has earned it, and her songs will be sung at weddings for many years to come.

The karaoke room is another world where her songs live. In a karaoke room, a person chooses a song because it says what they feel, and they sing it with friends who understand. Fish Leong’s songs are among the most chosen in karaoke, because they are easy to sing, they are full of feeling, and they make the singer feel understood. That popularity in karaoke is a sign of true love from the public, because people do not choose a song for karaoke unless they truly love it.

Working With Great Songwriters

Fish Leong’s career was shaped by the songwriters and producers she worked with, and the most important of them was Jonathan Lee, the man who discovered her. Jonathan Lee is one of the greatest figures in Mandopop, a songwriter who has written hits for the biggest stars in Taiwan and Hong Kong. His belief in her gave her a start that few young singers ever receive, and his guidance helped her find her sound.

Working with a great producer is like working with a great teacher. The producer hears what the singer cannot hear, and he helps her choose songs that fit her voice. Jonathan Lee heard that Fish Leong’s voice was warm and honest, and he gave her songs that let that warmth shine. That match between singer and producer is one of the reasons her early albums were so good, and it is a lesson in the importance of finding the right people to work with.

She also worked with other talented songwriters over the years, and each of them added something to her music. A good songwriter can give a singer a song that feels as if it were written for her alone, and Fish Leong received many such songs. Her albums are full of them, and that is why they have lasted. A singer is only as good as her songs, and she was lucky to have great songs, but she was also wise enough to choose them well.

The relationship between a singer and her songwriters is a partnership, and it requires trust. The singer must trust that the songwriter understands her, and the songwriter must trust that the singer will honour the song. Fish Leong built that trust over many years, and her music shows it. Her songs feel personal, as if she wrote them herself, even when she did not. That feeling is the mark of a great partnership.

Today, young singers in Malaysia still look at her career and see the value of working with great people. She did not try to do everything alone. She found a mentor, she learned from him, and she built a career on that learning. That is a wise way to work, and it is one that more young artists should follow.

My Take:

I have listened to Fish Leong’s songs for a long time, and I want to be honest about what I feel when I hear them. There are singers with bigger voices, and there are singers with more dramatic styles. But there are very few singers who can make you feel calm and understood the way Fish Leong does. Her voice is like a kind friend who sits with you when you are sad and does not try to fix everything at once. It simply stays with you, and that staying is enough.

The first thing I admire is her courage, and I do not only mean the song. I mean the real courage it took for a girl from Seremban to leave home and try her luck in Taiwan. She was young, she was far from her family, and she was working in a music business that is not kind to newcomers. Many people would have given up and gone home. She stayed. She practised, she learned, and she waited for her moment. That kind of patience is a form of courage too, and it is often harder than a single brave act.

I also admire the way she found her own sound and stayed with it. After Courage made her famous, she could have tried to become a different kind of singer. She could have chased dance music, or loud pop, or any fashion that was popular at the time. She did not. She stayed with gentle ballads about love, because those were the songs she sang best, and because those were the songs her audience needed. That loyalty to her own voice is rare, and it is one of the reasons her fans have stayed loyal to her.

Her songs about love are special to me because they are honest. A lot of love songs are only about the happy beginning, when two people first meet and everything is wonderful. Fish Leong sings about the whole of love: the fear of loving someone, the pain of losing someone, the quiet hope of loving again. That honesty is why her songs last. A happy song can be forgotten when the happiness fades. A true song stays, because it tells the truth about life.

I also think about what her success means for Malaysia. She came from a small town, not from Kuala Lumpur, and she became a star in Taiwan and China. That showed young Malaysian singers that their dreams were not too big. They could come from Seremban, or from any small town, and still reach the world. She opened a door, and many singers have walked through it since. That is a gift she gave to her country, even if she never talks about it that way.

But I do not want to praise her without thinking about the hard parts. Being known as the Queen of Love Songs is a wonderful thing, but it can also be a cage. When the world expects you to sing only one kind of song, it becomes hard to try something new. I wonder if she ever wanted to sing a different kind of music, and whether she felt trapped by her own success. I hope she has found ways to grow inside her sound, because an artist who cannot grow will slowly feel tired, even if the audience is happy.

I also think about her personal life, and I want to say this with respect. Her marriage ended, and that must have been painful, especially in public. She handled it with grace, and she put her son first. That tells me a lot about her character. A star can hide behind fame, but a mother cannot hide from the real work of raising a child. She did that work, and she kept singing. I respect that very much.

There is something else I notice, and that is the warmth of her concerts. I have heard people say that her concerts feel like sitting with a friend, not like watching a star on a distant stage. That warmth is not an act. It comes from a person who genuinely likes her audience, and who is grateful to them. Gratitude is a quality that many stars lose after years of fame. She seems to have kept it, and that is why her fans still love her after more than twenty years.

When I think about her whole career, I see a woman who built a life out of a sweet voice and a brave heart. She did not have the loudest voice, and she did not have the most dramatic story. She had a good voice, a clear sense of who she was, and the patience to keep going. That is not a flashy story, but it is a true one, and true stories are the ones that last.

If you have never listened to her, I would tell you to start with Courage, and to listen to it when you are quiet and alone. Then listen to Breathe, and then to Love Song. You will hear a voice that does not try to impress you, but tries to understand you. And if you are going through a hard time in love, her songs will not fix it, but they will make you feel less alone. That is what good music does, and Fish Leong does it better than almost anyone.

In the end, I think her story is a hopeful one for anyone from a small place with a big dream. She came from Seremban, she sang with a sweet voice, and she became a star across Asia. She did it without losing her kindness, without losing her roots, and without giving up when the road was long. That is a life worth admiring, and a voice worth remembering.

I also want to talk about her voice, because it is the heart of everything she does. It is not a loud voice, and it is not a showy voice. It is a warm and honest voice that makes you feel calm and understood. When she sings, you believe her, because she does not try to impress you with tricks. She simply sings the song, and she lets the words do their work. I think that simplicity is harder than it looks, and it is one of the reasons her songs have lasted for so long.

There is something else I admire, and that is the way her songs have entered daily life. They are sung in karaoke rooms, at weddings, and in cars across Asia. A song that is sung by ordinary people has become a part of their lives, and that is a greater achievement than any award. When a young person sings Courage in a karaoke room, they are not only singing a song. They are borrowing her courage to say what they feel. That is a beautiful gift to give to the world.

I also admire the way she worked with great songwriters, especially Jonathan Lee, the man who discovered her. A singer is only as good as her songs, and she was lucky to have great songs, but she was also wise enough to choose them well. She did not try to do everything alone. She found a mentor, she learned from him, and she built a career on that learning. That is a wise way to work, and it is one that more young artists should follow. Talent matters, but the people you work with matter too.

There is something else I want to say, and that is about her concerts. People who have been to them often describe the feeling as sitting beside a friend rather than watching a star from far away. That warmth is genuine. It grows out of a singer who truly enjoys her audience and feels thankful for them. Thankfulness is something many famous people lose after years in the spotlight. She seems to have held on to it, and that is why her fans still love her after more than twenty years of singing.

I also think about the young singers she has inspired. She showed that a singer from a small town in Malaysia could become a star in Taiwan and China, and that a gentle voice could win over millions of people. Young singers in Malaysia still look at her career and see a path that is open to them. That path was not there before she walked it, and she walked it with grace. She did not only build a career. She built a road for others, and that road is still being used today.

Finally, I want to say that her story is a hopeful one for anyone from a small place with a big dream. She grew up in Seremban, she sang with a sweet and honest voice, and she became a star across Asia. She managed it while keeping her kindness, holding on to her roots, and refusing to quit when the road was long. That is a life worth admiring, and a voice worth remembering. I hope she keeps singing for many more years, because the world still needs her gentle voice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Fish Leong?

Fish Leong, whose real name is Leong Chui Yee, is a Malaysian singer born in Seremban in 1978. She became one of the most loved Mandopop singers after her 2000 song “Courage” made her famous across Taiwan, China, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Why is Fish Leong called the Queen of Love Songs?

She earned the title because so many of her best-known songs are gentle ballads about love, including “Courage”, “Breathe”, and “Love Song”. Her warm and honest voice made these songs favourites at weddings, in karaoke rooms, and on the radio for more than twenty years.

How did Fish Leong get discovered?

She was noticed at a singing contest in Malaysia by the famous Taiwanese producer Jonathan Lee, also known as Li Zongsheng. He invited her to join Rock Records in Taiwan, and she released her first album, “Grown Up Overnight”, in 1999.

What is Fish Leong’s most famous song?

Her most famous song is “Courage”, released in 2000. The song is about finding the strength to love someone even when you are afraid, and it became one of the best-known Mandopop ballads of its time.

Is Fish Leong married?

Fish Leong married the Taiwanese businessman Tony Chao in 2010, and they had a son named Anderson. The marriage later ended in divorce in 2019, and she has focused since then on her son and her music career.

How long has Fish Leong been singing?

She has been singing professionally since her first album in 1999, which means more than twenty-five years. She still releases music and performs in concerts, and her older songs remain popular with fans of all ages.