Zhang Li Yin comes from a musical family, with both parents being professional violinists. At the age of three, she began to learn to play the violin. When she was nine, she began listening to pop music instead of classical, against her parent's wishes, and hoped to become a singer. At the age of twelve, she auditioned for and was accepted into the Xi-Chan Music College's middle school for violin, where she scored the top score. Eventually her parents began supporting her and she was selected as one of the top 10 teenage singers in the national singing competition in Beijing. In 2003, Zhang Li Yin was picked up by SM Entertainment and began training in secret. Her training included dance, martial arts, and foreign language, as well as extensive vocal training. Her dance skills include, but are not limited to: jazz, hip-hop, and body-popping. Finally, in September 2006, she debuted, covering Kelly Clarkson's duet with Justin Guarini, Timeless, in Korean and later released it in Chinese as well. Justin's parts were performed by Xiah Junsu of Dong Bang Shin Ki. Although fans of Dong Bang Shin Ki were originally not pleased that a female artist was to duet with their idol, Li Yin gradually earned respect due to her vocal talent. Evenutally, Timeless was met with tremendous success throughout the Korean entertainment world, and it garnered Li Yin the Best New Solo Artist award at the 2006 MKMF Awards. At the beginning of 2007, she began performing the B-side song in the single, called Y (Why...). However, after promotion of this second song, she disappeared from public's eye and only returned briefly in July to attend the 2007 SUMMER SMTOWN concert in Korea. Throughout the rest of 2007, rumours of when her first album would be released continued to spread, but without official confirmation from SM Entertainment. Finally, in November 2007, it was reported that a new music video had been shot in Shanghai featuring the same cast from the original Timeless music videos. A month later, she reappeared alongside Dong Bang Shin Ki as guests at two Chinese CYWorld charity concerts. During the press conference, she personally confirmed that her album would be released sometime early 2008. It was at the concert where she performed a new unreleased Chinese song called A Flame for You. Later in January, Zhang Li Yin performed with Super Junior's Han Geng at the Olympics 200-Day Countdown concert in Beijing, singing the 1988 Olympics song, "Hand in Hand", in three different languages (Korean, Chinese, English). She also performed a second unreleased Chinese upbeat song called One More Try. It was also during this appearance, when it was announced that her long awaited album would be released on March 6th 2008