5 of Teresa Teng’s songs, each in a different language – 25 years after the legendary Taiwanese singer died from an asthma attack

Teresa Teng, the legendary Taiwanese singer who is regarded as one of the greatest singers in Asian recording history, died after an asthma attack in the Thai city of Chiang Mai 25 years ago on May 8.

Teng, who was known as Deng Lijun in Mandarin, was 42 at the time, and had enjoyed a career spanning 30 years with her powerful ballads and folk songs.

There is a saying that “Wherever there are Chinese people, Teresa Teng’s songs can be heard”. Teng was not only a household name in Taiwan and mainland China, her popularity spread throughout Asia.

Almost 24 million people voted in an online poll conducted by a government web portal to celebrate China’s 60th anniversary in 2009, and Teng was voted the “most influential cultural icon in China since 1949”.

CNN included Teng among the 20 biggest musical icons of the previous 50 years alongside Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and the Rolling Stones.

Teng succeeded because of her distinctive sweet and tender voice – the late master of Canto-pop lyrics, James Wong Jim, once described her as “a voice one hears once in a hundred years” – as well as her proficiency in Cantonese, Japanese, English, Hokkien and Indonesian. This allowed her to sing like a native and assimilate into different cultures.

Here is a taste of Teng’s classic melodies in five languages.