Liu Yun

Biography

Liu Yun, born in Beijing in 1941 as Liu Gui Lan, was nicknamed "Queen of Little Diao Songs". She began her career in 1958 when Yao Min recommended her to record with Hong Kong EMI. She became famous across the Chinese-speaking world for singing "An Eighteen-Year-Old Girl Like a Flower" and excelled in performing xiaodiao (little tune) folk songs, earning her well-known nickname. She also worked as a behind-the-scenes singer for Huangmei diao films by Shaw Brothers and Cathay/MP&GI. She came from an artistic family; her sisters Xia Dan and Hua Wa were also singers, and her father was Kuomintang general Liu Jiewu. She married Wang Xun and had three daughters, one of whom, Wang Wei Li, sang in the duo "Wind Group". She passed away in Hong Kong in November 2025 at the age of eighty-four due to heart disease.