Yu Di (singer)
Yu Di (; born November 23, 1981) is a Chinese classical crossover singer-songwriter, musical actor and educator. A classically trained lyric baritone, he combines his singing career with his full-time teaching position at Shanghai Theatre Academy and gained nationwide recognition after participating in the first season of the singing competition Super–Vocal. Early life Yu's love for music began at an early age as he grew up in a music-loving household and often listened to and mimicked foreign-language pop songs by singers ranging from Michael Jackson to Jacky Cheung. His given name originates from the fact that his father, an amateur musician, plays the dizi (Chinese flute). At age 16, Yu enlisted into the People's Liberation Army and became a drummer assigned to the Beijing Military Region. He was selected to participate in the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic of China parade. In December 2000, he received an honorable discharge after serving for three years. Prior to his stint with the military band, he had no formal training in musicianship and was mostly self-taught. He and his bandmates were encouraged by their commanding officer to apply the music theory they learned by composing songs, thus piquing his interest in the