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3月27日 Chinese Music Part 7: The Late 90sIf the late 1980s can be considered the golden age of Cantonese Pop, then it was the late 1990s that was the golden age of Mandarin Pop. Artists that emerged in the mid-90s hit their stride a few years later, scores of new artists arose, and the release of Mandarin language albums became standard procedure for Hong Kong singers. Huge karaoke venues, fancier than five-star hotels, were constructed all over China at a feverish pace. At the touch of a button, patrons, seated on leather sofas, could call up a song from the mammoth database and sing to their heart's content, over a state-of-the art sound system, while the music video played on a large flat-screen TV. And singers whose songs could be called up included…
Sherry ("A-Mei") Zhang
Chinese Name: 张惠妹
Mandarin Name: Zhang Hui Mei
(b. 1972 in Taiwan)
Sherry Zhang, an aboriginal Taiwanese, was one of nine children born to a lower class family in the mountains of eastern Taiwan. Her father, while seriously ill, encouraged her to enter a singing contest. She came out on top and joined her cousin's band which traveled north and began playing in Taibei pubs. She was invited to sing the theme song of a TV show which led to a recording contract. She released her first album—Sisters—at the end of 1996. Only two weeks after release it hit the radio airwaves topping the charts where it remained for nine weeks. It became one of the few albums ever to exceed sales of a million copies on the island of Taiwan. This feat made Sherry Zhang (a.k.a. A-Mei) one of the most significant overnight sensations in the history of Chinese pop music. Her second album did even better. With sales of 1.38 million copies in Taiwan, it became that island's second biggest-selling album ever (after Valen Xu's Do the Clouds Know?). In 1998, Billboard Magazine named her the most popular singer in Asia. The American News Network CNN produced a documentary on her which was broadcast worldwide. Riding on the waves of mega-success, Sherry Zhang embarked on Asian concert tours, and drew a crowd of 80,000 in Shanghai.
By Y2K, Sherry Zhang had sold over 8 million copies of her recordings. She became the first and only Taiwanese singer to make the cover of Newsweek magazine. She was also named as one of the 20 Asian Heroes in a special issue of Time Magazine. She held a concert in the United States in 2002 and continued releasing albums at the rate of one a year.
Sherry Zhang's hit songs include "May I Hold You?", "Cutting Love", "Can't Cry", and "Listening to the Sea".
Listen to "Listen to the Sea" (听海)
"May I Hold You?" (我可以抱你吗)
"I Don't Care" (我无所谓)
Gigi Leung
Chinese Name: 梁咏琪
Cantonese Name: Leung Wing Kei
Mandarin Name: Liang Yong Qi
(b. 1976 in Hong Kong)
This tall beauty started out during her school days as a part-time model. She then joined the film industry. She surprised everyone by releasing an album (Cantonese) in late 1996 which was well-received. But, when she released her second album (Mandarin), Short Hair, its title-track did two things: 1. It made her a household name overnight. 2. Young women all across China cut their hair short. If fact, though a Hong Konger, in the early years of her musical career, it was her Mandarin songs that outshone her Cantonese. The success of Mandarin hits like the aforementioned as well as "Washing My Face", "Sometimes", and "Scaredy-Cat" made critics call her the fastest rising Hong Kong pop star. Her Mandarin song "Vow", a duet with Leo Ku, won a Song of the Year award. It remains one of the most popular songs played at Chinese weddings.
What made Ms. Leung more credible musically was the fact that she was one of the few singers who could also play music—and not just the piano but the guitar and drums as well. This integrity was subsequently sealed with a card she had held up her sleeve for four years: she composed her own song. While most Chinese singers could not compose their own music, Gigi wrote her own song, a song that nabbed MTV China's "Song of the Year by a Hong Kong Artist" award in 2001. And that song was "Firework". She began composing songs for other singers as well, including Sammi Cheng and Hacken Lee. In the last ten years, Leung has come out with over 20 original studio albums.
Gigi is a well-established actress as well. She is one of the few Hong Kongers privileged to star opposite Jet Li in a film. In 2003, she starred in Warner Bros. first-ever Chinese movie, Turn Left, Turn Right. She is also known as Hong Kong ambassador for both UNICEF and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature. This work has brought her to visit places seldom graced by Chinese celebrities, like Africa. Gigi has one of the most photographed faces in all of Asia, appearing in countless ads, billboards, and a myriad magazine covers.
More on Gigi:
Listen to Gigi Leung's "Firework" (花火), a song she composed herself The song that made her famous: "Short Hair" (短发)
"He's Caught My Fancy" (中意他)
Eason Chan
Chinese Name: 陈奕迅
Cantonese Name: Chan Yik Shun
Mandarin Name: Chen Yi Xun
(b. 1974 in Hong Kong)
Like Gigi, Eason Chan is also a musician. He can play guitar, piano, and the violin. He is also a composer. He was raised in London, U.K. from the age of 12 where he later studied architecture at Kingston University. He returned to Hong Kong in 1995 to take part in the New Talent Singing Contest and won first place. He was immediately signed to a major record label, thus ending his future career as an architect. Two years later, he released his first album, Happy Days. Eason's 2005 album U87 was recommended by Time Magazine as one of the five best Asian albums worth buying. It was the best-selling album that year in Hong Kong.
Listen to "Your Knapsack" (你的背包)
"Decade" (十年)
David Tao
Chinese Name: 陶喆
Mandarin Name: Tao Zhe
(b. 1969 in Hong Kong)
While so-called R&B was a popular genre of music in the United States, few Chinese singers ventured into its territory. David Tao is credited with popularizing this musical genre in the Mandarin Pop industry.
The life of Mr. Tao is an interesting one. His parents (who apparently eloped to get married) were both famous entertainers in Taiwan—his mother for Chinese opera singing and his father (originally from Shanghai) for acting, singing, and composing. David spent his early years in Hong Kong but lived in Taiwan from kindergarten to junior high school. His family relocated to the U.S. where his father worked as an animator for Walt Disney. Later, David's parents returned to Taiwan where his father began a singing career. David was left behind in the States to fend for himself. His various jobs included, believe it or not, a stint as a policeman with the Los Angeles Police Department. He completed a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology. He then became a salesman. A Taiwanese producer offered him a job when he found out who his parents were, which brought David Tao back to Taiwan. He composed and produced songs for various singers before releasing his own self-titled album in 1997.
(On a personal note, while Carolyn and I were at Pudong airport one time, a short man wearing a baseball cap and a gray backpack walked quickly past us. Carolyn nonchalantly commented, "Oh, there goes David Tao". It really was him; everyone in the airport was talking about seeing him.)
Listen to "Beach" (沙滩)
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