Likened to Teresa Teng and Faye Wong, 42-year-old singer proves it’s never too late to follow your dreams – nothing, not even Covid, has stopped her

Stacey Long Ting, 42, has been singing all her life but only found her musical direction when she was in her 30s and started busking in Hong Kong

Her voice quickly gained her fans and she won a nationwide singing contest – only for the pandemic to stall her career. Now, however, the sky is the limit

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Mong Kok busker-turned-reality television star Stacey Long Ting in Tsim Sha Tsui. Long, 42, proves that it is never too late to follow your dreams. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 7:15am, 19 May 2023Updated: 8:05pm, 19 May 2023

It is 3.45pm on a Saturday, and a scattered crowd of about 100 begins to gather around a makeshift stage next to the Sha Tin Marriage Registry in Hong Kong’s New Territories.

The clouds are low and the atmosphere is heavy with humidity and anticipation.

In 15 minutes, singer Stacey Long Ting will make her first public appearance after being voted the audience favourite on Midlife, Sing & Shine – a six-month long televised singing contest for 35-or-overs that concluded last month on Hong Kong’s TVB.

The free, open-air concert also marks the sixth anniversary of the first busking gig by the 42-year-old from Liaoning in northeast China.

Long performing in Sha Tin on April 29, 2023. Photo: Kevin Kwong

Despite a major downpour, the two-hour performance continues and the number of spectators has doubled by her third number. Among the crowd is Ms Lee, a housewife from the neighbourhood who has been a fan since long before the singer’s Midlife fame.

“I’ve been watching videos of her street busking on YouTube,” says Lee. She likens Long’s voice to that of the late legendary Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng, but says “Long’s vocal range is broader and she can sing in a greater variety of styles”.