In this Hong Kong name, the surname is Cheung. In accordance with Hong Kong custom, the Western-style name is Jacky Cheung and the Chinese-style name is Cheung Hok-yau.
Cheung's accolades include the World Music Award (1996) for the World's Best-Selling Asian Artist,[5] the Billboard Music Award (1994) for Most Popular Asian Singer, and a Guinness World Record for the largest combined audience for a live act in 12 months (2,048,553 audience members).[6][7] In 1999, Cheung was honored by Junior Chamber International as one of the Ten Outstanding Young People in the World.[8]
Cheung was born and grew up in Quarry Bay in the eastern part of Hong Kong Island. His father is from Tianjin and his mother is from Shanghai.[13] As a child, he lived with his parents and two siblings in a 100 square feet apartment which they simultaneously shared with at least fifteen other relatives.[11] He attended North Point Government Primary School from 1967 to 1973,[14] and graduated from Literary College in 1978.
In 2007, Cheung revealed that the paternal side of his family are mostly seamen, including his father, paternal cousin, and older brother. His first language is Cantonese, but he also speaks Mandarin and English. He sings Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean and modern English pop songs. Cheung is known for his rich baritone voice,[15] but also his dramatic vibrato by rapidly moving his pronounced Adam's Apple.
In 1991, he released the song "Loving You More Every Day" (每天愛你多一些), a translated version of the Japanese Southern All Stars hit "Midsummer's Fruit" (真夏の果実). The album True Love Expression (真情流露) in 1992, as well as the subsequent release, Love Sparks (愛火花) in 1992, achieved sales of over 400,000 copies in Hong Kong alone.[20]
His subsequent albums included 1993 Me and You (我與你) and 1994 Born to be Wild (餓狼傳說). In 1994, Billboard Music Awards named him the most popular singer in Asia.[21] He received numerous music awards both in Hong Kong and elsewhere, including the best-selling Asian artist in the World Music Awards for two consecutive years in 1995 and 1996 held at Monaco.[2]
Amongst his hit songs, some of his most famous were "Amour", "Just want to spend my life with you" (只想一生跟你走) and "Goodbye Kiss" (吻别). The 1993 album The Goodbye Kiss (吻别) is one of the best-selling Chinese music albums of all time, achieving more sales in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia than ever attained before, with more than 5 million copies sold in 1993, making him one of PolyGram's top 10 artists worldwide that year.[22][23][better source needed] It made him the first singer with non-Taiwanese citizenship to win Taiwan's Golden Melody Awards. The album was also instrumental in helping Cheung break into the mandopop market. Due to these great songs and albums, Cheung is generally considered to be the pre-eminent member of the Four Heavenly Kings of Cantopop. He is regarded by some sources as the best singer of the four.[24]
In 1995, Cheung staged his record-breaking 100-show world tour titled "Yau Hok Yau" (友學友), literally a pun of "friendship Jacky Cheung" reusing the same Chinese characters found in his name.[25] The tour started with 34 shows from 8 April to 9 June at the Hong Kong Coliseum. Then the tour continued in Perth and Brisbane, Australia and returned to Taipei and mainland China.[26] It then expanded to Madison Square Garden[27] in the US, different parts of Europe, Singapore, India, Malaysia and Japan.[26][better source needed] In 1997, Cheung was named best-selling Chinese singer in the world by Time, which reported record sales of more than 25 million worldwide.[11]
In 1999, he was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World by JCI (Junior Chamber International), a worldwide federation of young professionals and entrepreneurs.[21] In 2000 he was awarded the Golden Needle Award by RTHK.[28] This award, the equivalent of a lifetime achievement award, recognised outstanding contributions to the music industry. He expressed his astonishment upon receiving the award, as he was the least experienced living recipient at only 16 years, and this award was awarded to singers, producers and lyricists that are late in their careers or are semi-retired, in which he was not, but to quash any negative publicity, he clarified that according to his research, there was no stipulation of this sort.
In 2004, Cheung released Life Is Like A Dream, an album in which Jacky co-produced with long-time collaborative partner Michael Au, and Jacky composed the melody for all songs, and penned the lyrics for 3 of the songs.
Cheung won the Best Selling Cantonese Album Award at the Hong Kong IFPI Awards in 2005 with his live album, Jacky Live Performance, which he accepted in person for the first time in years. This is despite poor ticket sales for the reason that the concert was meant to be a one-night-only charity concert in nature, and Jacky attempted to sing a song by other artists for the first time. In the fast-changing scene of canto-pop, Cheung has maintained his popularity and sales power for more than 20 years after his debut, an incredible feat in Hong Kong pop music.
In 2007, Cheung staged his Year of Jacky Cheung World Tour 2007. The tour started on 18 February 2007 at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. When the tour ended in Hong Kong on 3 February 2008 after touring 58 cities around the world, a total of 105 shows had been given, attracting more than 2 million fans. 105 became the highest number of shows in a tour by a Chinese artist, breaking the previous record of 100, which was also set by Cheung previously.[29] In that same year, he also released a Mandopop album, By Your Side, in which he was the sole executive producer of the album for the first time after Michael Au suddenly left to further his career in Beijing.
Cheung performing in 2008
In 2009, Cheung recorded Private Corner, his first jazz album for which he coined the phrase "Canto-jazz". The album was produced by Andrew Tuason. "Everyday Is Christmas", "Which Way, Robert Frost?", "Let It Go", "Lucky in Love" and "Double Trouble" were co-written by Roxanne Seeman in collaboration with Tuason, tailor-made for Cheung. "Lucky in Love" is the end-credit song of "Crossing Hennessy", Hong Kong movie starring Jacky Cheung and Tang Wei, produced by Bill Kong. Nokia's music download service website (Ovi.com) announced that "Everyday Is Christmas" was the 10th most downloaded Christmas song in the world in 2010, joining classic hits such as Wham's "Last Christmas" and Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You". Cheung is the only Chinese language singer to make it into the Top Ten.[19]
In 2010, Cheung started his Jacky Cheung 1/2 Century World Tour. This tour started on 30 December 2010 at Shanghai, and ended in Hong Kong on 30 May 2012. For 1 year and 5 months, his tour included 5 countries 77 cities, overall 146 shows, more than 2,800,000 audiences. 146 became the highest number of shows in a one tour by Chinese artist. Previous record of 105 was also made by Jacky Cheung on his 2007–2008 World Tour. Both 2007 and 2010 World tour was led by Andrew Tuason as Cheung's Musical Director. At the beginning of that year, he also attempted new musical styles. His new album, Private Corner, became his first ever Jazz album in Cantopop history, it also featured other non-mainstream Cantopop styles such as strings quartet, Waltz and Hymn. The special edition also featured a special glass-CD, also a first in Chinese pop history. "Double Trouble" from Private Corner was a featured produced number in the Jacky Cheung 1/2 Century World Tour.
Cheung performing at the 2015 KKBOX Music Awards
For the Jacky Cheung 1/2 Century World Tour, he set a Guinness World record for the largest combined audience for a live act in 12 months, with 2,048,553 audience members. During the first 12 months of the tour, which ran from 30 December 2010 to 29 December 2011, there were 105 live concerts in 61 cities across China, USA, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.[6][19] Cheung won the 35th Anniversary Golden Song Award at the 2012 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards, as he has the greatest number of RTHK Golden Songs since the award has been started.[30]
In 2018, he earned a new nickname of "Fugitive Bait" or "Fugitives' Krytonite" in China as his concerts attracted wanted criminals in China to purchase tickets to watch his concerts in China. He helped to bring 4 wanted criminals to be captured between April and June 2018 during Cheung's Chinese leg of the world tour. In June, two ticket scalpers were also captured.[31][32] This was also part of his 233-show, "Jacky Cheung A Classic Tour" world tour, which eclipses the previous tour record. The entire tour, which lasted for 27 months with performances in 97 cities, ended on 29 January 2019 after a series of 15 concerts in Hong Kong.[33]
The Jacky Cheung 60+ Concert Tour opened at The Venetian MacauCotai Arena in Macau, China on June 9, 2023. Cheung performs, singing and dancing with a dance troupe of 20 members with new choreography and dazzling production sets. The tour schedule includes arena-size shows in Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Ningbo and additional venues across China in to 2024.[34][35]
Duets
Cheung not only performs solo but often performs duets with female singers. Cheung recorded a duet with Filipino singer and Asia's Songbird Regine Velasquez for the song "In Love with You"; the song was included in her multi-platinum album Listen Without Prejudice. In 2008, Cheung and A-Mei, the popular Taiwanese singer, performed Zhu Fu ("Blessing") as a duet in a benefit concert for victims of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Other duet partners include:
Priscilla Chan – "To My Dear" (給我最愛的), "A Pair of Lonely Hearts" (一對寂寞的心), "Love and Promise" (愛和承諾), "Being Close" (接近)
Faye Wong – "Unusual Summer" (非常夏日), "Love, Can't Be Given Only Once" (愛，一次給不完)
In 1997, his work on the groundbreaking Cantonese Broadway-style musical Snow.Wolf.Lake was enthusiastically received by both audiences and critics.[36] Cheung not only played the male lead, he was also the artistic director for this production. The first female leads were played by Sandy Lam in Hong Kong and Nadia Chan in Singapore. Kit Chan played the second female lead. They achieved 42 consecutive full-house performances at the gigantic Hung HomHong Kong Coliseum which remains the record today.[37] In November 2004, Cheung and his concert manager, Florence Chan Suk-fan, worked on a revised Mandarin version of Snow.Wolf.Lake so as to bring it to a wider audience. The female leads this time were Evonne Hsu and Nadia Chan respectively. The market budget alone exceeded HK$15 million.[37] The estimated budget for this revised production was HK$100 million and the show premiered on 24 December 2004 in Beijing.[38]
Acting career
Cheung's hand print an autograph at the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong.
In 2002, he appeared in Taiwanese mini-series Love Scar (2002) with F4 member Jerry Yan and Karen Mok, where he played Jerry Yan's older brother.[42] In the 2004 drama film Jiang Hu directed by Wong Ching-po, Cheung plays Lefty, the best friend and right-hand man of crime boss Hung Yan Chau (Andy Lau). The film includes several other actors from Infernal Affairs.[43] As of 2021, he is one of a handful of Chinese singer-actors who have never starred in a television drama.[44][45][46]
In December 2006, Cheung performed live the theme song "Together Now" at the Opening Ceremony of the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.[48] He was introduced as "the most popular Asian performer in the world". In 2010, Cheung and Jane Zhang sang the Mandarin version of the Coca-Cola Celebration Mix of K'naan's "Wavin' Flag", which was the brand's promotional anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In 2012, Cheung sang "中国节拍·震动世界", the cheering song of China for the 2012 London Olympics.
Personal life
On 15 February 1996 in London, Cheung married Hong Kong former actress May Lo Mei-wei.[49] They met during the filming of Devoted to You in 1986. The couple have two daughters, Zoe, b. 2000, and Zia, b. 2005.[50] He is a Buddhist and a vegetarian.[51][52]
Community work
In March 2009 he became the first Cantopop/Mandopop artist to contribute items to the Hard Rock franchise memorabilia collection.[53] Items are to be exhibited at the Hard Rock hotel in Macau.[53] A joint donation is also made to donate HK$600,000 to the Children's Cancer Foundation and ORBIS Macau.[29] In September 2009, Cheung, was one of the super ambassadors of End Child Sexual Abuse Foundation (ECSAF) founded by Josephine Siao; he attended the charity fundraising event for ECSAF's 10th anniversary in Hong Kong.[54]
^Time.com. "Time.com." Cantopop kingdom. Retrieved on 12 April 2009.
^Jacky Cheung (2008). "Jacky Cheung: The Philosophy of Snail" 《张学友：蜗牛的哲学》. 《青年文摘》 [Youth Literary Digest] (in Chinese). Beijing: China Youth Press. pp. 211–215. ISBN978-7-5006-6472-7.
^RTHK. "RTHK.org." 2000 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards. Retrieved on 12 April 2009.
^ abHollywoodindustry.dig. "Hollywoodindustry.digitalmedianet.com." Hard Rock International World's First Chinese Memorabilia Displayed at City of Dreams. Retrieved on 12 April 2009.
^RTHK. "[2]." 十大中文金曲 金曲王張學友獲榮譽大獎. Retrieved on 21 December 2012.
^ abGofuntaiwan.net. "Gofuntaiwan.net." 華人最大型經典音樂劇－ (雪狼湖). Retrieved on 12 April 2009.
^Xinhuanet. "Xinhuanet." 揭開《雪狼湖》票房收入之謎 Retrieved on 12 April 2009.
^Hong Kong film awards. "HKFAAArchived 14 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine." 8th HK film award. Retrieved on 3 May 2009.
^Life of Guangzhou. "Life of GuangzhouArchived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine." Jacky Cheung 2007 World Tour Closing Concert Guangzhou. Retrieved on 1 May 2009.
In 2010, the list started to include Chinese celebrities born in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other countries. Prior to that it only included celebrities born in mainland China.
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