Maggie Tang

XAVIER BAPTISTE, from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, was in a stylish young lady mode.

Wearing a shiny, close-fitting black dress, with her curly hair bundled into a ponytail, the singer at Marco Polo Shenzhen bounded onto the small stage at the hotel’s Wall Street Club to greet the audience.

But she then sat on a tall stool and sang Christina Aguilera’s “Reflection.” Almost instantly, she took on the emotion of the song and was at one with the music. Her voice, which covers a wide range, is not unlike Whitney Houston’s.

Many people think Baptiste was born to be a singer. The oldest of nine children, however, she followed her parents’ instruction to finish her education first. With a bachelor’s degree in business administration, she worked for two years at the Ministry of Housing of Trinidad and Tobago before deciding to become a full-time singer.

Through an agent in Malaysia, Baptiste found a job in a pub in Guangzhou. She stayed there for a year and moved to Shenzhen six months ago.

Baptiste sings in English, French, Spanish and Chinese. Fluent in the four languages, including Cantonese, she comfortably communicates with guests.

“A lot of my guests like comparatively old English songs, such as those from the 1970s and 1980s. They also like the Caribbean folk music I sing, which is a perfect combination of various musical elements from different local communities, including Indian and Chinese,” said Baptiste.

She enjoys working in Shenzhen and meeting new people each day.

“Most people I meet in this city are business-oriented and cooperative, and they all like my singing. I want to make more friends here with music as a universal language,” she said.

Despite her busy schedule, working six days each week, Baptiste expects to travel throughout China and learn more about Chinese culture. Based on her work and life in China, she has been diligently writing her own songs and plans to release some recordings when she returns to her home country.