Leon Lai Ming SBS BBS MH (; born 11 December 1966), is a Hong Kong actor, singer, film director, and businessman. He is one of the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Hong Kong pop music.
Early life Lai was born in Beijing, China.ent5.cn.yahoo.com. "ent5.cn.yahoo.com ." 黎明简介 . Retrieved 31 May 2010. His family, of Hakka ancestry, was from Meixian. He migrated with his parents to Hong Kong at the age of four. At the age of 15, he attended Christ College in the United Kingdom, but returned to Hong Kong at 18 in 1984.Profile , chinareviewnews.com; retrieved 31 May 2010.
Career
Early years Lai initially worked as a salesperson for a mobile phone company. After being awarded second-runner-up in the 1986 New Talent Singing Awards, Lai received vocal coaching from Dai Sicong (). In the same year he signed with Capital Artists.Will Capital Artist stage a comeback Xinhua News Agency; retrieved 26 August 2007. He did not release any albums for four years. As a result, his teacher Dai arranged to have him signed a contract with Polygram, later known as Universal Music.Leon and Li Chin , xinhuanet.com; retrieved 26 August 2007.
Music In Polygram, he released his first album Leon and subsequent album Meet in the Rain. His debut album went gold.Dai Si Zong and Leon ent.sina.com.cn Retrieved 26 August 2007
In the early stages of his career, he mainly sang Cantopop and Mandarin, but due to the influence of producer Mark Lui, he expanded his repertoire to include popular electronic songs with compelling music videos. In 1990 he won his first 1990 Jade Solid Gold Top 10 Awards and 1990 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards.Profile , rthk.org.hk; retrieved 12 July 2009. He followed up to win the "Most Popular Male Singer" award in 1993 and 1995 for TVB Jade Solid Gold. In 1996, he collaborated with composer-producer Steve Barakatt on his album Feel. Two years later in 1998, he became the first Hong Kong singer to reach the Top 10 K-pop chart with the song "After Loving You."L-News Issue #7 , leonfamily.com; retrieved 29 August 2007.
In 2000, Lai's song "All Day Love" () got him into trouble with the Chinese authorities for drawing passages from the Chinese National Anthem, "March of the Volunteers". The starting tune was accused of plagiarism from the anthem. Lai was warned against using the song for commercial purposes.Peopledaily.com.cn. "Peopledaily.com.cn ." 星聞快遞. Retrieved 12 July 2009.Leon Learns the Score When It Comes to Loving the Motherland Asiaweek 19 May 2000 asiaweek.com Retrieved 29 August 2007
In 2002 he was selected to sing "Charged Up", the 2002 FIFA World Cup theme song for the Greater China region.Profile , Yesasia.com; retrieved 12 July 2009. In 2004, he became the first Hong Kong singer to represent the territory at the first Asia Song Festival held in South Korea.Profile , Sina.com; retrieved 21 October 2009.
In 2004, Lai formed a new record label Amusic with Peter Lam. The first album produced by the company, Dawn, was released in September of that year. The album was released with minimum promotion as Lai went to Mainland China for a movie shoot on the day of the album's release.December 2004 newsletter, hkvpradio.com; retrieved 29 August 2007.
In 2005, Lai invited Taiwanese music producer Jonathan Lee to produce his new Mandarin album A Story. However, by doing so he had to give up the opportunity for a lead role in a big budget Taiwan movie Silk due to conflicts in his schedules.Leon gave up movie role for album , ent.sina.com; retrieved 29 August 2007.
He performed at the Hong Kong Coliseum on 13 April 2007 for his one night only Leon 4 in Love Concert, where he performed not only his own hits but also hits from the other three Heavenly Kings. He performed a total of 18 songs, all of which are newly arranged by Mark Lui. He subsequently released an album titled 4 in Love on 3 May 2007, comprising 16 of the 18 songs he had performed at the concert.Leon Lai's "4 In Love Album" , yesasia.com; retrieved 13 September 2007.
Lai was selected to be the ambassador of the 6th Winter Asian Games to be held Changchun in 2007. He sang the Games' theme song and took part in the torch relay.Leon Lai named ambassador of Asian Games english.sina.com Retrieved 20 September 2007 He then joined Michael Wong and Janice Vidal and held a three-day Magic Live charity concert at Star Hall, Hong Kong from 9 to 11 November 2008."HK Picks magic live" , HK-magazine.com; retrieved 21 October 2009.
Lai holds his concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum, titled Leon Lai Talk & Sing 2021 Concert, from 10 July 2021, for 9 shows. Youth.gov.hk. Singtao.com. 2021-07-11
Duets Apart from being a solo artist, Lai has collaborated with other artists. Some of his better known collaborations are "Love Until the End" and "A Happy Family" with Vivian Chow, "Really Wish to Be Like This Forever" and "It's Still You" with Priscilla Chan, "Song of the Star" with Alan Tam, "Never Give Up" with Jacky Cheung, "Why did I let you go?" with Janice Vidal.Leon Lai's Audio Collection , leonfamily.com; retrieved 29 August 2007.
Acting career
After the New Talent Singing Awards, he had some opportunities to star in a few TV series. On one occasion, he went for the filming of a romantic serials titled Fengyun Era (風雲時代) in Taiwan. There was a stark contrast in height between Lai and the popular lead actress who is only 160 cm tall. The actress then demanded that Lai squat while filming so as to make up for the height differences. Lai had to act through all the scenes with the actress while squatting, but he had to endure it as he was not popular at the time. Not long afterwards, his new TVB series The Breaking Point turned out to be a resounding success and propelled him to widespread fame in Hong Kong and Taiwan.Leon was not look down upon while acting news.eastday.com; retrieved 20 September 2007.
In 1996, Lai was nominated for the Best Actor award at the 16th Hong Kong Film Awards for the film Comrades: Almost a Love Story. The following year in 1997, he won the award of Best Original Song for the film Eighteen Springs both at the Golden Horse Film Festival and Hong Kong Film Awards. He was again nominated for the Best Actor and Best Original Film Song award for the film City of Glass in 1999, but he only won the award for the latter, which he shared with Albert Leung and Dick Lee.imdb Film Awards , imdb.com; retrieved 20 September 2007.
Lai was considered by Lee Ang to act as Li Mu Bai in the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but he had to turn down the offer as he had an advertising contract and live concert about to start, which would not match his shaven head look as was required for the role.Trivia for Wo hu cang long , imdb.com; retrieved 20 September 2007.
He collaborated with Cecilia Cheung in 2001 for the first time in the Wong Jing directed romantic comedy film, Everyday Is Valentine. In the film, Lai played a serial liar.Everyday Is Valentine , dighkmovies.com; retrieved 20 September 2007.
In 2002, Lai took the spotlight at the Golden Horse Awards, the Chinese-language version of the Oscars in Taiwan. He won Best Actor for Three: Going Home. Lai played a minor role as Superintendent Yeung Kam Wing in Infernal Affairs III in 2003. In 2004, he starred with Faye Wong in the romantic film Leaving Me, Loving You, the story of which he co-wrote with Wilson Yip and he was also the creative/production controller of the film. However, the movie was a flop as it raked in HK$10,529,501 at the box office.HK Film Archive filmarchive.gov.hk Retrieved 20 September 2007 Still in that same year he was ranked 8th on the China Celebrity 100 list released by the Chinese edition of Forbes.China star rankings hint at struggles of showbiz , ChinaDaily.com.cn; retrieved 23 August 2007.
In 2005, Lai acted as one of the seven warriors in the Tsui Hark directed wuxia film Seven Swords.Sevenswords , loveasianfilm.com; retrieved 20 September 2007. In the same year in the film Moonlight in Tokyo, he played a developmentally challenged Chinese man who pretends to be a Korean gigolo in Japan.Moonlight In Tokyo , lovehkfilm.com; retrieved 20 September 2007.
In 2006, Lai starred alongside Fan Bingbing and Rene Liu in a love and horror, thriller film titled The Matrimony where he played a cinematographer Shen Junchu. The film was released on 8 February 2007. hbpictures.com Retrieved 20 September 2007
In 2007, Lai starred alongside Kelly Chen, Donnie Yen and Guo Xiaodong in the Ching Siu-tung film An Empress and the Warriors. He acted as a woodland medicine man who has a romantic relationship with a princess. Lai and Kelly Chen sang the theme song, "Fly With Your Dreams" written by Albert Leung and composed by Mark Lui.New action film JiangShanMeiRen promotion , chinanews.com.cn; retrieved 3 February 2008.
He underwent training in Peking Opera for playing the lead role as Mei Lanfang in the biographical film Forever Enthralled which was directed by Chen Kaige. He directed the music video for the film where he and Zhang Ziyi sang the theme song, "You Understand My Love".Duet with Zhang Ziyi sina.com.hk Retrieved 8 September 2008 For the first time in his career, Lai played the role of a beggar in the Peter Chan directed film Bodyguards and Assassins.Bodyguards and Assassins Press Conference , sina.com.hk; retrieved 25 March 2009. For his success, a wax figure of Lai was revealed at Madame Tussauds Hong Kong.Leon Lai Arrives in Style at Madame Tussauds Hong Kong, madame-tussauds.com.hk; retrieved 26 August 2007.
Community
Apart from being an actor and singer, Lai is actively involved in the Community Chest. In the 1990s, he began serious charity work when his father was diagnosed with rectal cancer. The doctors said it was incurable. After the surgical operation, his father survived. When the Cancer Research Foundation and the UN organization approached him for help, he started getting actively involved in charity work.Leon Lai on himself and Infernal Affairs III , newsgd.com; retrieved 20 September 2007.
His first work with UNICEF was a China polio eradication project in 1993. He raised substantial funds accruing from his supporters, fans, and concert ticket sales. In July 1994, he was appointed the International UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, thus becoming the first Hong Kong citizen to be given this position. Since 1994, he has been involved in various fundraising activities of The Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF (HKCU). These activities include seven charity concerts, three charity chocolate sales, and charity walkathons. Lai, along with HKCU representatives, visited Rwanda, Gansu of China, and Brazil to study the work of UNICEF and to help promote public awareness to help children.UNICEF HKCU unicef.org.hk Retrieved 8 September 2008 In December 1995, he was appointed as "UNICEF Special Representative to Youth" at the New York headquarters recognizing his contributions for the welfare of the children.
Lai has also been elected as one of The Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) in 1997, giving him a formal recognition of his professional endeavors and commitment to the community.HK awards Medal of Honour, music.ent.tom.com; retrieved 10 October 2007. He bought the first donation ticket, numbered 000001, at a "Children's Education Fund Raising Campaign" launch event at Tsuen Wan PARKnSHOP's Skyline Superstore in 2001 to encourage people to contribute to a meaningful social cause. The funds raised were donated to the Community Chest.Children's Education Fund Raising Campaign hutchison-whampoa.com Retrieved 20 September 2007
He was awarded the Medal of Honour (M.H.) on 12 October 2003 by Tung Chee-Hwa, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong.