[3] Born to a firefighter father and a working mother, Yang spent his childhood singing cartoon jingles and show-tunes.
His admiration for rock bands like Europe, and later Jon Bon Jovi and Journey, led him to discover his natural talent for singing high notes.
At the age of 17, he began attending the Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages[4] and was discovered by Dick Cowboy, 迪克牛仔 aka 老爹, a music instructor at the school, who was impressed by Yang's raw and unrefined singing talent, inviting Yang to join as backup vocals to a rock band he was mentoring called the "Dirty Fingers".
Eventually succumbing to their demands and realizing his limitations as a singer, Yang began in earnest to learn as many Chinese and Taiwanese songs as he could, hoping to develop the natural talent he had, while gaining appreciation for other genres of music outside of rock.
Realizing his inability to control his frustration and anger was not only scaring his bandmates and negatively influencing his job, he withdrew from the band and from his occupation as a pub singer.
"我相信" instantly became a hit, but the singer remained a mystery, triggering heated discussions amongst message-boards demanding for the singer's identity while debating whether the song was an unreleased song recorded by the late Chang Yu-Sheng prior to his death, because there had not been a voice in the music industry that could compare to Chang's high notes.
[3] The years of singing in pubs had refined Yang's voice to progress from a thin, raw sound to a more robust sound, but it was his ability to control his voice effortlessly even while singing high notes, without using falsetto, that prompted Taiwanese media members to marvel at his voice and for music critics, Bao Xiaosong (包小松) and Bao Xiaobo (包小柏), to dub him as the "Iron Lung Prince" (鐵肺王子)[1] while noting because of his age and experience, that he was a "late bloomer" (大器晚成) heralding a "new age" of music in Taiwan as an "elderly new guy" (高龄新人).
[11] It was featured in the August 2008 Beijing Olympics, playing during competitions held in the Bird's Nest stadium and the Water Cube.
[13] Yang began competing in singing shows like 藝能歌喉戰 and making rounds in the Taiwanese talk show circuits, demonstrating the range of his singing abilities and his outstanding command of employing vibrato while singing high notes by often using Shin Band's "死了都要愛" or Chang Yu-Sheng's "我的未來不是夢"and raising them six keys, which led to Chang Fei's endorsement of Yang as the "Iron Lung Prince" (鐵肺王子)[3] and for Bao Xiaosong (包小松) and Bao Xiaobo (包小柏) to further claim he was "Music's 101" (音樂界的101).
His burden (at being discovered so late) is his most precious gift, "這個包袱是我最珍貴的禮物",[2] while acknowledging if he had achieved fame at a younger age, he would have lost touch with reality, "名利來得太快。他們都是被眾人捧在手心，但一旦捧你的手鬆開，就沒法回到現實"[2] With his breakout success in 2006, Yang became highly sought after in 2007 by major companies to have him record music for commercials.
[14] He would then dabble as an actor, appearing in the stage play, I Want To Be Famous (我要成名) with Dai Ai Ling (戴愛玲).
He gained even more exposure and recognition when he served as a guest judge on the third season of the hit TV talent show One Million Star (超級星光大道).
Yang confirmed on January 13, 2011, that he has been in the studio working on his new album, with 8 songs recorded and completed, which would be released some time after Chinese New Years.
[20] After a two-year hiatus from recording music, the album, entitled, The Seeds of Hope was officially released on March 11, 2011,[21] debuting in at fourth on the Taiwanese G-Music Mandarin chart's 11th week.
[22] Though Yang is private regarding his personal life, he has been willing to discuss to the media about his struggles in the pub circuit and his relationship with close friends, mentors, and mentees.
For his recent album, The Seeds of Hope (希望的種子), the first single released was a nu metal collaboration between himself and his fellow record label mates, Chemical Monkeys (化學猴子).