Fei Xiang (born Bart Hsiao Luan Phillips, known as Kris Phillips; traditional Chinese: 費翔; simplified Chinese: 费翔; pinyin: Fèi Xiáng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hùi Siông) is a Taiwanese-born American pop icon and singer both in Mandapop and English language music theater, who was also one of the biggest popular music stars in China during the 1980s.
Fluent in both English and Mandarin Chinese, he graduated from Taipei American School and entered Stanford University in 1978 on a full scholarship, but he later dropped out.
Due to the reaction and subsequent fall out, Fei then abandoned his career in Taiwan and solely focused on developing his music in Mainland China.
The two songs he performed on the Gala, Winter Fire (the Chinese adaptation of Sexy Music) and Clouds of My Homeland became smash hits in the 80s.
[4] In 1990, Fei Xiang moved to New York and underwent formal vocal training, hoping to extend the range of his performances to Broadway theatre.
Andrew Lloyd Webber attended the Beijing performance of this Concert, which was staged in The Great Hall of The People and filmed for DVD release and worldwide telecast.
To further promote musical theatre among the Chinese-speaking audience, Fei Xiang released The Broadway Album in 2005, a double-CD recorded with a 36-piece orchestra in New York.
[19] Fei Xiang made a surprise guest appearance in 2012, starring as the chief villain Tian Lang Sorcerer,[20] in the Chinese fantasy film Painted Skin: The Resurrection.
[23] In 2016, Fei Xiang made another rare film appearance, co-starring with the legendary Chinese actress Gong Li in The Monkey King 2.
[25] In 2019, it was announced that Fei Xiang will play King Zhou of Shang in the upcoming epic fantasy film series Fengshen Trilogy directed by Wuershan, based on the Ming dynasty novel Investiture of the Gods.