Profile | Who are Phoenix Legend? China music duo capture affection of nation with cross-generational appeal
- Members Linghua and Zeng meet in Shenzhen bar in 1998, go on to national success
- 4 songs played online 1 billion times combined, 30,000 people attend gigs
When they debuted 20 years ago the mainland music duo Phoenix Legend were mocked for being rustic, only being popular with square-dancing aunties, and their music was labelled “rural heavy metal”.
No one expected that the two-person band, made up of Yangwei Linghua, widely known as Linghua, and Zeng Yi would become the most influential Mandopop outfit around.
They have created dozens of popular songs, with catchy tunes and simple lyrics often interwoven with rapping.
Their music is listened to all over China – at dance venues, in shopping centres, as mobile phone ringtones and on social media videos.
It is virtually impossible for mainland people not to know at least a line or two from their songs.
Last year, an amusing anecdote went viral online when a woman in southwestern Guizhou province noticed one of her colleagues was not familiar with some of the band’s well-known songs.