Rita Chao, born 11 March 1950 in Colony of Singapore, was a singer and actress who began her musical journey in a family of opera performers, joining a getai troupe at 14. Her breakthrough came in 1966 when she signed with a recording company and released the hit single "Happy Happy Birthday". She rose to prominence with her partnership with Sakura Teng as the A‑Go‑Go Queens, touring Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo in 1967 and performing bilingual hits such as "Sixteen Candles" and "Pretty Flamingo". After a brief acting stint in the mid‑1970s, she retired from the public eye, converted to Christianity, and worked at Yishun Christian Church. In 1996, she issued the solo album Rita Chao, followed by Xiang Xia Gu Niang in 2003. Rita Chao died in July 2014 from colon cancer.
