The God of Song: Jacky Cheung

Amongst the four Heavenly Kings of Cantopop who reigned supreme in the 80s and 90s, Jacky Cheung has always been the one I was most impressed with, even though I did not really listen to many of their songs.
Cantopop was extremely popular and I could not help but read news about these Hongkong celebs in the papers and Jacky was renowned, not for being the most handsome one but for having the best set of vocals.
It is notable that he had a drinking problem early in his career but he was able to deal with it and emerged from the experience better and stronger than ever, with a supportive girlfriend-turned-wife and is now a happy father of two lovely girls. 
He has also been a versatile actor, playing a series of interesting roles in many movies and his musical,  'Snow Wolf Lake' was another milestone in his career.
Dancing, acting, singing...he is a true triple threat!

 So when he came to Singapore in 2011 for his Half-Century Concert Tour (for which he broke Jay Chou's previous record of three consecutive nights with his FIVE), I seized the opportunity to attend his performance, knowing I would be in for a treat and it was waaay beyond expectations for me. :)

NB: Jay has always maintained that he was inspired by Jacky's hit song, Wen Bie (吻别) aka Goodbye Kiss, to pursue a path in pop music. So in a way, Jacky was Jay's idol and Jay would eventually write a song for him and even feature him in a cameo video in his 2007/08 concert...which I'll post here.

  

And this is the song which Jay wrote for Jacky...Tell Fortune aka Suan Ming (算命) :

Jacky sang with Jay at the latter's concert!

Reproduced here is the review of Jacky's awesome concert which I posted on Facebook on 1 Sept 2011:

Top Ten Reasons Jacky's concert was 'MOH TUCK TENG'!

 NB: For the uninitiated, the non-Engrish words in the title are Cantonese, meaning 'EXCELLENT or CANNOT BE TOPPED'.

So I've finally settled down to share my take on the awesome Jacky Cheung 1/2 Century Tour concert, which the man put up in Singapore for a record FIVE consecutive nights, from 26 to 30 August 2011.

Simply put:

* SUBLIMELY DIVINE VOCALS, which sounded even better when heard 'live'...it was heavenly just listening to him!

* NIFTY footwork, including tap-dance, an arabesque and a full split...this man just hit fifty years??? Unbelievable!

* CLEVER reinventing of song presentations , in the forms of a mini-musical and mini-movie, co-starring Shu Qi.

* IMAGINATIVE rearrangements of old favourites for a different feel.

* CHARMING interaction with the audience...but I wish he had spoken more in Cantonese than Mandarin.

* Teleprompter-LESS throughout all thirty-or-more songs...what a phenomenal memory he has!

* PYROTECHNICS just sufficient to keep the excitement level up (like it wasn't already!)

* INTERESTING costumes...silver pleated 'skirt', jewelled bib, top hats!

* THREE SOLID HOURS of entertainment...plus an 'ENCORE'!

* CONSIDERATION for the fans who had waited for him after the concert...he stopped to shake hands and sign stuff!

Truly, the 'God of Song' was in his element, especially in the beautiful ballads he is best known for.

I wish him well and hope to see him perform in person again soon. :)

Didn't take that many photos as the ushers seemed pretty strict!

Here's a clip of Jacky singing one of my favourites: