Former rock star Luo Qi attempts a comeback

Life's been a roller-coaster ride for rock singer Luo Qi.

She was just 16 when she came to Beijing in 1991 from eastern China's Jiangxi province to become the lead singer for the now defunct Chinese rock band Compass. But her high-pitched voice was powerful enough to make her a top female star on the country's rock scene.

In 1993, Luo lost vision in her left eye in a violent bar brawl in Beijing. The following year she left the band and went solo. But her career took a downturn a year later, when she became addicted to drugs.

Rock singer Luo Qi is back in the spotlight after about two decades' absence from the country's rock scene. She prepares to release a new album and hold a concert at MasterCard Center in Beijing next month. Provided to China Daily

Since 1998, Luo has been living in Berlin with her husband. Her fans in China have missed her, but many new rock stars were also born while she's been away.

But in January, Luo, now 39, popped up on Chinese TV screens as a participant of I Am a Singer, a reality show broadcast by Hunan Satellite TV Station. Although she didn't finish the competition because she was then seven months pregnant, her fans cheered her attempt to make a comeback.

On a recent afternoon at the Post Mountain Art Space in Beijing, Luo was seen again, still looking the part she'd played in Chinese rock music nearly two decades ago. These days, she divides her time between Berlin and Beijing, as she prepares to release a new album and hold a concert at MasterCard Center in Beijing next month.

"I'm going to do covers for hit numbers and maybe a few songs from my own new album," says Luo of the upcoming concert. "I am very nervous (about it). I am exercising every day to guarantee my physical condition." She's the mother of an 8-month-old boy.

Luo tells China Daily that she has finished recording her new album along with her more recent band, Cold Air, whose members had accompanied her on the reality TV show earlier this year.

The unnamed album contains a dozen songs from her favorite new bands, both Chinese and Western.

She says she wouldn't be singing regular classics that the Chinese already know but will likely perform more contemporary numbers from lesser-known or newer bands. Luo adds that, although she's been away from the spotlight since she moved to Berlin, she's been to live shows in Germany and has fallen in love with electronic music.

"I hesitated before participating in the reality TV show, not only because I was pregnant, but also because the music scene here had changed and I wasn't sure about audience reaction.

"But soon I found out that the competition, for me, was all about rock and finding my voice again. It was about what I should sound like at this time in my life and career."

Luo says she didn't feel lonely onstage at the show because her son was around.

Luo wasn't a very happy child owing to her parents' divorce, but she focused on finding a career inspired by American rock star Jon Bon Jovi's music.

Recalling her early fame and setbacks, Luo says, she's fine with people's curiosity about her past.

"I was 16 when I gained fame and freaked out and stayed at home. I came to Beijing because of my passion for rock music, rather than with a desire to become a star," she says. "Now, I'm calm when people recognize me in the street ... my passion for music has got me back."

People are often a bit rebellious as teenagers but her situation was "amplified by rock music", Luo adds.

According to Jiang Shu, CEO of Tree Music, a Beijing-based indie music label that now manages Luo's shows and albums, Luo may be like a volcano onstage, but she can be really quiet when she isn't performing.

"For her fans, both old and new, Luo is both a mystery and a legend," says Jiang. His company will run eight of Luo's concerts in China in 2015, including one at the Hong Kong Coliseum.

Veteran songwriter Luo Bing has written a book titled My Music Territory, which includes chapters on the band, Compass, and on Luo Qi, whom he met in 1991.

"I will never forget the days when members of Compass lived together in a shabby house near Sanyuanqiao in Beijing. We shared food and money, and listened to Pink Floyd, Prince and the Cranberries," says Luo Bing, 47.

Luo Bing had written some songs for Luo Qi in the past, including the hit Comeback.

"I am glad Luo Qi is back," he adds.

Contact the writer at chennan@chinadaily.com.cn