Singer Zhang Liangying to debut English album

Zhang Liangying says marriage won't mean a back seat for her career. [Photo by Feng Yongbin/China Daily]

"After all, it's family affairs and every family has its issues. What I have to do is to be patient," Zhang says in an interview at her company office in Beijing.

She keeps herself busy as a way to handle stressful situations, she says. Wearing a loose sweater and jeans, Zhang appears energetic.

Unlike some female pop stars in China, life after marriage for Zhang won't mean a back seat for her career, she says.

Zhang's focus now is her first English album, which is expected to be released in spring.

"I am lucky to have my fans' support for the past 10 years. I want to move forward with new music," says Zhang.

Born in Chengdu, Zhang majored in English from Sichuan University. Her mother divorced her father when Zhang was 13 years old and Zhang's father died soon after.

She started singing at local pubs, where she was exposed to a wide range of music, especially Western pop singers such as Mariah Carey, who is one of Zhang's favorite musicians.

She shot to fame by winning third place in the 2005 season of the Super Girl contest, a reality TV show like American Idol, where she impressed music fans by singing English pop songs such as Hero, Loving You and Don't Cry For Me Argentina.

In 2008, she started to think about releasing her own English album.

"Though I have performed many English songs, I wanted to have an English album of my own. Earlier, I wasn't sure if it would be possible," she says.

In the past few years, she has released Chinese albums, including Jane@Music and Believe in Jane, and made her US television singing debut on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2009.

She held concerts in China and participated in the Chinese variety show I Am a Singer.

As one of the best-selling female pop singers on the Chinese mainland, Zhang is also the winner of several China Pop Charts Awards. She won the best female singer award seven years in a row starting in 2008.