Early life Henry was born and raised in Shanghai, China. He also lived in
Guangzhou and
Shenyang for a period of time. His father, Feng Huo, is from Shenyang and his mother, Xiaoping Zhong is from Shanghai. Both were famous singers from whom he inherited his musical talent. His first language is Mandarin, but he also speaks the Shanghai dialect and English fluently. He sings in Mandarin, English, and Japanese. Henry's mother quit her job to raise him. She was his first music teacher and took care of Henry throughout childhood. Henry expressed the deep bond between him and his mother in his introduction on
Sing My Song. Mrs Huo loved the songs of
Michael Jackson and
Teresa Teng so much that Henry grew to be influenced by their music. He was also influenced by
Cape No. 7 of
Kousuke Atari and finally developed his own singing style. Henry is known for his crystal clear healing voice and vocal technique, similar to that of Hong Kong singer
Anita Mui.
Musical journey Henry started to learn piano at the age of 10 years and soon showed his affinity for music. He won the Individual Vocal Group Silver Award at the Shanghai Student Art Contest in 2004. In 2005, he placed third in the Middle School Group at the Shanghai 10th Youth Piano Contest. In 2010, Henry was recommended by his college to participate in the
Shanghai University "Zhiyin Cup" Piano Contest, where he won the Gold Award. In 2011, Henry performed
La campanella on piano for the University's New Year concert. The show was a huge success and made Henry popular on campus for his musical talent. In the same year, Henry was approached by the owner of
Universal Music Group during a singing performance. Although he was soon signed by
Universal Music Group, Henry stayed in
SHU-UTS SILC Business School until he earned his bachelor's degree in Business Management. In the summer of 2012, Henry finished within the top three in the
Asian Wave music talent show, where he was awarded the Glory Star. Soon after this song was first heard, Henry was recommended to perform again in 2014
CCTV Chinese New Year Eve Gala, which was broadcast worldwide, further expanding his fame.
Film and television While Henry is known for his singing, he has also acted in films. In 2013, he played the role of a singer in the film
Ashes to Ashes, 《从哪里来 到哪里去》 (lit.
From Whence One Comes, There One Will Return). This is a film about children with reading disabilities and the singer turns out to be an angel at the end. He composed and sang the theme song "Duì Niǎo" (《对鸟》, Singing Birds). In 2021, he joined the cast of
Call Me By Fire as a contestant. He subsequently withdrew from it in light of recent controversies, shortly after the show's premiere and his first performance on it. He would then be blurred and censored out in later episodes.
Full-house performance On 25 October 2014, Henry Huo held his first full-house performance at the
Nanjing Red Bull Unplugged Concert. He sang his famous first audition song and other traditional Chinese songs such as Huāxīn (《花心》,
The Flower Heart), Tiānyá gēnǚ (《天涯歌女》,
The Wandering Songstress),
Mo Li Hua (《茉莉花》,
Jasmine Flower), Tào mǎ gān (《套马杆》,
The Horses Shot), and
Teresa Teng's classic ballad "The Moon Represents My Heart".
Performance abroad In 2015, Henry went to North America to sing at the Chinese New Year Gala. On the night of 12 February, he was invited to sing 《卷珠帘》 at the United Nations New York Headquarters where representatives from 47 countries watched the performance. On the night of 22 February, he sang three songs, including "Chuánqí" (《传奇》,
The Legend) in the Orpheum Theater in Vancouver, which received wild applause from the audience. ==Songs==