Interview with Jacky Cheung: “Not handsome enough, so can only be a singer”

Here's an awesome article about Jacky from earlier in the week that was just too good for me to 'pass up', so I decided to share it with fellow fans here.  

I'm sure most of you know that Jacky's concert DVD finally came out last week (on July 19th) -- much to the delight of us fans who have been waiting what seemed like 'eons' for the album to be released. Of course, it goes without saying that Jacky wasted no time fulfilling his 'responsibility' of promoting the album -- on the day of the album's release, he attended the press conference officially announcing the release (as well as accepting a 'double platinum' plaque for the album selling 40,000+ copies in pre-order, even before its official release...YAY!!!).  In addition, he hit the promotional circuit right away, going on practically every radio station imaginable (in HK) as well as flying to Taiwan for a few days to promote the album there (though of course he also got the chance to meet up with his buddy Harlem in the process...hehehe!).

Though I've definitely been 'keeping track' of Jacky's promotional activities this past week, I'm actually not going to be translating/posting every single article / radio interview / television interview, etc. that he's done so far this week because, well, to be honest, I just don't have the time to do so.  From the looks of it right now, I will probably only translate one of the radio interviews that Jacky did (there are at least 8 or 9 of them out there worthy of listening to though)...more to come on that later.

Anyway, back to this article -- it's actually from a Mainland newspaper that I'm not familiar with at all (not surprisingly), so I'm not going to comment too much (plus the article already speaks for itself).  But I will say one thing -- reading this interview from Jacky reminded me once again why I'm such a devoted fan of his (and will continue to be for the rest of my life)!

Enjoy!!

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Interview with Jacky Cheung:  “Not handsome enough, so can only be a singer”

Source:  Jinghua Times Newspaper

Article originally published 7/24/2013

Translation:  llwy12

On July 19^th, Jacky Cheung (張學友) held a press conference in HK officially announcing the release of his ‘Jacky Cheung ½ Century Tour’ concert DVD.  With the help of his good friend and the concert’s music director Andrew Tuason (杜自持) [TN: Andrew has also been the producer for Jacky’s albums the past few years], Jacky’s concert DVD took more than a year to complete, but has proven to be worth the wait.  As to his ‘God of Songs’ title, Jacky helplessly states that because he is not ‘handsome’ enough, he had no choice but to pursue a career as a singer….

Towards his concert DVD….

Took a year to complete with the help of Andrew Tuason

Jacky Cheung’s ½ Century Concert DVD is comprised of the live recordings from 4 of the last 9 shows on the Hong Kong ‘grand finale’ leg of his 18 month concert tour.  [TN: Jacky actually held a total of 29 shows in HK – 20 shows in April/May 2011 and 9 shows in May 2012; the 2011 shows were held at the HK Coliseum while the 2012 shows were held at the Asia World Expo Center due to the HKC already being fully booked.]

This concert DVD was certainly a long time in the making -- Jacky worked hard alongside his concert’s music director Andrew Tuason for more than a year before the ‘final product’ was completed.  With this being his 8^th concert tour, Jacky expressed that he wanted the DVD to be ‘worth the wait’:  “I’ve always thought to myself – why can’t a concert DVD be produced in the same manner as other high quality video/audio products whereby everyone who watches the DVD and listens to the music are treated to a comfortable, enjoyable experience?   When putting together the DVD for this particular concert [1/2 Century Tour], this was the ‘goal’ that I kept in mind.”  Jacky admits that the process of putting together this particular concert DVD was arduous and difficult, however his mindset throughout the entire process was actually quite simple:  to ‘do things a little bit better’ (‘better’ than his previous concert’s DVD and ‘better’ than his other albums overall).

Towards his work….

He once thought that 2007’s concert tour would be his last

Asked when he plans on having another concert tour, Jacky admits that he has not even started thinking about it:  “I remember back in 2007/2008 when I finished my ‘Year of Jacky Cheung Concert Tour’ [TN: known as ‘Long Time No See Concert Tour’ in Mainland China], I thought that it would be the very last concert tour of my career.  At the time, I was already 46 years old, so naturally, I was worried about whether I’d have the physical endurance to do another concert tour:  would I still be able to do the dance moves?  Would I be able to sing for so many hours straight without much rest?   Would I have the strength physically to handle another tour?”  Jacky recounts that it wasn’t until he released his Private Corner album in 2010 and started immersing himself  again in various performances to promote his album that he realized he still had the physical endurance to do another concert tour:  “After the release of that album, I started preparing myself to do another concert by getting back into my ‘regimen’ – rehearsals, physical endurance exercises, keeping myself healthy, etc.   I actually wasn’t sure how well I’d be able to get back into the concert tour routine and what the end result would be like – all I could do was try my best.”

Attitude toward his ‘God of Songs’ title – from being ‘repelled’ [by it] to being ‘indifferent’

For the past 20 years [since 1993], whenever the name Jacky Cheung is mentioned, the title ‘God of Songs’ (歌神) is always attached to his name. 

Towards this famous title, Jacky admits that in the beginning, he was very much ‘repelled’ by it:  “In the beginning, when people started calling me ‘God of Songs’, I was really repelled by it and didn’t want to hear it.  Later on though, everyone kept calling me that and after awhile, I got used to it.  For me, as long as I keep a clear mind and don’t think of myself as such [‘God of Songs], then it’s fine -- I can live with people calling me that title.  However, if one of these days I ever stand on stage and call myself ‘God of Songs’, then that will be the end of me.”   True to his humble personality, Jacky often mocks himself as being ‘the singer who makes the most mistakes’, so in his mind, it’s impossible for him to be ‘God of Songs’ – that is, unless there is a ‘god’ out there who ‘specializes’ in making mistakes:  “People gave me that title primarily because I had a lot of performances in the past and released a lot of albums – towards this, I am definitely very lucky.”  Jacky expressed that his ‘luck’ is due to debuting in the HK music industry at the right time -- when he started his singing career, the HK music industry was in its ‘golden’ era, so he benefited from the high exposure and ‘attention’ that the industry received at the time -- because of this, perhaps everyone got used to calling him that title and even now, it’s difficult for them to change it.

Worried about the current state of the music industry; hopes for another ‘music genius’ to emerge

Faced with the current dismal state of the Chinese music industry, Jacky admits that he is truly very worried:  “I’m not worried about myself – rather, I’m worried about the current state of the Chinese music industry.  My hope is that it [the music industry] will get better and better and can last for a long time.  I really want to encourage all Chinese singers to work together and make the industry better; of course, if we were blessed with a little bit of luck on our side, that would be most ideal.  I’m a firm believer that another ‘music genius’ can emerge and revitalize the industry.  In the past, we [the music industry] did have a ‘music genius’:  his name was Michael Jackson – he was able to single-handedly energize and liven up the music industry to the point that everyone paid attention to the industry and in so doing, also paid attention to a lot of other things.”  [i.e.:  industry concerns, societal issues, etc.]   After saying this, Jacky let out a huge sigh and lamented that, regrettably, ‘luck’ is not something he has control over – all he can do is work even harder and give it his best effort, as he believes that as long as one is willing to sacrifice and invest, the outcome will be a positive one in the end.

Towards his daily life….

Even the most blissful of marriages requires perseverance

When people hear the name Jacky Cheung, there are actually 2 more ‘titles’ that come to mind:  ‘good husband’ and ‘good father’.

Asked how to maintain a successful marriage, Jacky’s advice is very simple:  perseverance.  When it comes to marriage, Jacky has always been of the mindset that it should never be a hasty decision made on impulse, nor should it be a ‘simple matter’ of merely signing one’s name on a piece of paper:  “Nowadays there are a lot of couples who get married for 1 or 2 years, sometimes even shorter amount of time, then end up in a divorce.  I feel that this is too ‘hasty’ and to me, they [those couples] don’t have a true understanding of the significance behind marriage.”   In contrast to these ‘hasty’ marriages, Jacky often used his own marriage as an example to explain to his media friends whenever they asked him about maintaining a successful marriage:  “For me, it’s not as easy to maintain a blissful marriage as everyone thinks – the biggest obstacle is perseverance.  I encourage all married couples never to forget the vows you took when you first started on the journey together:  to love, honor, cherish, and stay with each other no matter what difficulties may arise – this is truly very important.”

Does not want his daughters to enter show business

Whenever the subject of his 2 daughters is brought up, Jacky cannot help smiling blissfully.  Asked whether his daughters [eldest daughter Zoe is 13 and youngest Zia is 8] inherited his singing talent, Jacky expressed both of them love singing and actually sing almost every day – except that they mostly sing children’s songs.  However, when asked whether he would support his daughters to become singers and enter show business in the future if they so desired, Jacky expressed that he has reservations about it:  “If possible, my hope is that they won’t have the desire to become singers in the future.  If we talk purely about singing, it’s actually a good thing, but if we look at all the other things that a singing career brings forth – for example, fame and fortune – it will do more harm than good.  Because I love them so much, I don’t want them to endure such unnecessary pain and harm.”  Ever the benevolent father, Jacky’s only ‘wish’ for his daughters is that they grow up happy and healthy:  “Of course, if one day they have the ability and tell me that they do want to become singers, there’s nothing I can do about that.  After all, hoping that they don’t pursue a singing career is only a personal thought of mine.”

Additional ‘thoughts’ from Jacky….

RP = Reporter

JC = Jacky Cheung

RP:  Why put so much effort into making a high quality concert DVD?

JC:  I feel that a lot of people are a bit disrespectful toward audio/video products…instead of spending the money to buy these products (CDs/DVDs), they choose to download them from the Internet – even if the visual is not good, the picture is fuzzy, the sound is horrible, it’s not a concern.   With this being the case, I hope that at the very least, the stuff I put out is high quality, as I don’t want to give anyone an excuse to say that they don’t need to buy the original (non-pirated) version because the quality is bad anyway.  I hope that the music [products] I make is something that everyone feels is worth spending the money to buy.

RP:  You once said that “the more ‘God of Songs’ there are, the better.”  What do you mean by that?

JC:  I hope that there are more singers in this industry with a lot of music fans paying attention to them – the more of these types of singers there are, the more the industry will flourish and develop...if the industry flourishes again, then it will have the chance to recover.  If I’m the only one doing something, eventually things  will come to an end.  I don’t want to see the music industry getting worse and worse – it breaks my heart.  I hope that there will more ‘Gods of songs’ so that we can all work together toward positive results.

RP:  What is your secret to having zero rumors your entire career?

JC:  Because I’m not good-looking, so even ‘rumors’ don’t want to come near me!   When I first debuted in the industry, I was probably the ‘worst’ among the newcomers of that generation – other than having singing talent, I lacked everything else:  I didn’t have the looks nor did I have any acting talent.  Perhaps it’s because I didn’t have the looks, so people were forced to pay attention to my singing.  As for myself, since I knew I wasn’t good-looking, all I could do was put more effort into cultivating my singing skills and my performances on stage.  Of course, once you’re able to achieve a lot of things and people start to like you, they want to continue seeing around, so they will undoubtedly be protective of you and support you.  Looking back on my career up to this point, I feel that I’ve been able to ‘survive’ this long because of one trait that has accompanied me all this time:  ‘ordinary’.

RP:  Are you afraid of growing old?

JC:  If you were to ask me that question back when I was 20 years old, I would tell you ‘yes, I’m afraid – very afraid!’  But now, at this point in my life, I’m not afraid at all.  People may ask – “what is an ‘old man’ capable of doing?”  Well, I can tell you that an ‘old man’ is capable of doing a lot of things.  What I want to say is this:  don’t be concerned about what others say about you – you need to have your own hopes and expectations for yourself and your future.  This way, you won’t be as concerned about the passage of time and the past years will be full of memories.

Jacky Cheung scolded for 10 minutes straight to give up alcohol; re-takes wedding pictures with wife May Lo

Here’s a delightful article from the latest issue of Mingpao Weekly (published this past Friday) recapping the interview that Jacky did with Raymond Ng for his NowTV program.  Of course, nothing beats watching the actual interview once it airs (which I hope is soon), but for now, us Jacky fans can enjoy this ‘sampling’ from MP.

In terms of comments about the article….well, the article pretty much speaks for itself, but there are a few things that I wanted to mention:

.—I’ve heard of Raymond Ng’s (Brother Fai) name before and actually did know that he was friends with Jacky, but didn’t realize they were that close.  No wonder Jacky was willing to accept this particular interview (note that he rarely accepts interviews of this nature unless the interviewer is someone he knows well).  Brother Fai sounds like a very interesting person and it sounds like he and Jacky have a lot of mutual friends in the industry based on the names that came up in the interview (which isn’t surprising given the way the HK entertainment industry works).   I definitely look forward to watching his interaction with Jacky in the actual program once it airs.

.—I totally LOL’ed at the segment where Jacky talks about his older daughter Zoe being ‘rebellious’ and not allowing her to go to the mall by herself.  When he responded to Brother Fai (in that cute, innocent way of his) that the ‘Internet didn’t say anything about the mall being safe or not’(I can totally picture that segment in my head too), I almost fell on the floor laughing!   Silly Jacky daddy!  (hehehe)

.—One of the reasons why I enjoyed this article so much (and look forward to the interview) is because this is one of those rare interviews where Jacky talks in depth about his wife and daughters.  It was sweet reading about how much he appreciates everything his wife (May May) has done for him and from the way he ‘gushes’ about his daughters, it’s obvious how much he loves them!   As I’ve said numerous times before – in addition to the entertainer side of Jacky, one of the other reasons why I love him so much to become a fan of his for such a long time (22 years and counting) is because of his personality in real life and his reputation for being a good husband and father (as I’ve said before:  good men like him are pretty much extinct nowadays, so May May is definitely lucky!  Haha!).  This article reinforces that fact.

.—Glad that Jacky clarified that Lehman thing again!  Despite the fact that us Jacky fans have been stating for years that the rumor about him being significantly impacted by the Lehman issue was not true, tabloids continued to insist on it (not surprisingly) and of course, people who don’t know any better continued to believe them (the tabloids).  Hopefully this is the last time that Jacky needs to clarify this issue (meaning let’s put this issue to rest, please!).

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Jacky Cheung scolded for 10 minutes straight to give up alcohol; re-takes wedding pictures with wife May Lo

Source:  Mingpao Weekly, Issue 2316

Translation:  llwy12

RTHK’s former deputy director of broadcasting Raymond Ng Sek Fai (吳錫輝) recently embarked on a new career path:  serving as host for NowTV program Brother Fai’s Culinary Rewards (輝哥的饌賞).  As an interview program that features the host [who is referred to as ‘Brother Fai’ by his friends] inviting his celebrity friends to chit-chat with him while enjoying various delectable dishes, the format sounds very similar to one of TVB’s former popular interview program Be My Guest (志雲飯局). 

Towards this, Brother Fai explains:  “At first, when I saw that HK’s local eateries were being ‘killed off’ by big real estate bosses one by one, I wanted to bring attention to the issue and so I figured that a food-themed program such as this was the best way to do it.  In the beginning, I was only planning to be an advisor – in fact, for the trial episode, I had Kelvin Kwan (關楚耀) and Jacqueline Pang (彭晴) serve as hosts, however [nowTV’s Executive VP and GM of Production] Ho Lai Chuen (何麗全) told me that if I’m not willing to host the program, then he’s not even going to consider having it produced.  Later on, it evolved into a cultural program of sorts that helped to preserve and safeguard HK’s core values, so we persevered with pushing this conviction.”

Recently, ‘God of Songs’ Jacky Cheung (張學友) agreed to be interviewed by Brother Fai for his program.  Towards the ‘rare’ move of agreeing to such an interview, Jacky laughed and explained that when Brother Fai contacted him, he could not think of anything else to say except ‘Ok!’:  “Brother Fai can be considered the person who ‘discovered’ me!  We were both born on the same month, same day (July 10^th) and even though we don’t see each other often, there’s an inseparable connection between us – he’s practically like a father figure to me.”  Their ‘connection’ is indeed a very close one, similar to family:  Brother Fai once scolded Jacky angrily over his excessive drinking and over the years, whenever Jacky encounters difficulties with his daughters, the first person he goes to for advice is Brother Fai’s wife, Blanche Tang (鄧藹霖) [TN: Blanche Tang is a former RTHK DJ turned parenting expert].

No matter how many years pass and regardless of whether he is ‘person’ or ‘god’ [TN: play on Jacky’s ‘God of Songs’ title], Jacky Cheung always has the utmost reverence in his heart for Brother Fai:  “He was the head judge of the singing contest I participated in many years ago, so it’s as though he was the one who brought me into the industry.”

In 1984, Jacky participated in the 18^th Hong Kong District Amateur Singing Competition, which was organized by RTHK – after so many years, Brother Fai still remembers that moment fondly:  “You represented the Eastern district at the time;  as soon as you finished singing Michael Kwan’s (關正傑) classic ‘Fatherland’ (大地恩情), I remember saying to myself: ‘The other 9 contestants are dead!’  No, I wasn’t trying to curse them – it’s just that when all of us judges discussed backstage, our opinion was unanimous:  you were the best [out of all the contestants who participated]!”

When he first started in the industry, Jacky’s career was pretty smooth – from the ‘Best Newcomer’ to various ‘Golden Hits’ awards, it seemed that success came easily.  Unfortunately though, the good circumstances didn’t last :  in 1988, when Jacky released his 5^th album Last Night in My Dreams (昨夜夢魂中), the sales of the album dropped to a record low of 20,000 copies.  Unfortunately, Jacky’s reputation also took a hit as well – his ‘good boy’ image was tarnished and soon he became known as a constantly drunk ‘alcoholic’:  “To this day, I still can’t figure out why I took up drinking – it’s not like I was under a whole lot of pressure or anything.  But it’s undeniable that the constant drunkenness brought a lot of negative reports and as a result, record sales were affected.” 

At the time, Brother Fai – who loved Jacky like a son – was pained to see him in this manner; one time, they were standing in the street in Wan Chai and Brother Fai started scolding Jacky severely for 10 minutes straight.  At the time, [record company] Polygram’s top exec Chan Yu Hung (陳汝雄) tried to put a stop to the scolding by yelling out: ‘Enough! Enough!’ – however, Brother Fai ignored him and continued to reprimand Jacky:  “Enough what?!  Scolding him for another 5 minutes isn’t even enough!”  Hearing Brother Fai recount this story, Jacky’s memory of the incident returned:  “The worst thing is that at the time, I didn’t take your words to heart and continued to drink!”

After losing his way for a few years, Jacky suddenly realized that he needed to face reality – not only did he quit drinking, he also worked hard to rebuild his reputation and regain the acceptance of friends and fans.  Over the years, Jacky is often praised for his flexibility and willingness to try different things – but even someone like him can have those moments where he finds himself in a difficult to resolve predicament:  “During a concert in the year 2000, I suddenly was not able to sing.  At the time, my eldest daughter (Zoe 張瑤華) was just born so I was already feeling nervous overall – plus my nose allergy flared up again and so when I was singing, I would often force my voice to come out – the result was that I ended up damaging my voice.  This is why I often warn potential singers that they should have a professional singing teacher teach them the proper methods of singing because once your voice is ‘dead’, it’s hard to fix.”

Long distance call to ‘ask advice’

Brother Fai says that both him and Jacky were born on July 10^th and so fall under the astrological sign Cancer – people with that sign have a common trait:  they’re naturally compassionate and also place the most importance on family:  “One time, in the middle of a performance in Australia, you called Sandy Lamb (林珊珊) in a flustered and exasperated state to urgently ask for my wife’s phone number.  When you called, you asked if you could get some advice on how to communicate well with children.”  It turns out that Jacky was desperate to make a long distance call to his friend to ask for advice because of a predicament at home:  his wife May Lo (羅美薇) had gotten into an argument with their daughter (Zoe) back home – in tears, Zoe called her daddy to ‘complain’.  Having just finished a performance on stage, Jacky was beside himself and didn’t know what to do, so he decided to call the only parenting expert he knew – Brother Fai’s wife Blanche Tang.  Jacky recalls:  “My wife is the type who gets extremely nervous over everything and in the process of raising our daughters, she gets flustered often.  She and I handle matters very differently and so sometimes there would be conflict there – nowadays, the 2 of us try really hard to work together in order to accomplish our goals, especially as they pertain to our daughters.  For example, on the topic of whether our daughter should go to boarding school – if we mutually decide that she should, then we analyze the situation together and figure out the best way to help our daughter understand that it’s the best option for her.”

Towards his 2 daughters, is Jacky partial to one over the other?  In response, Jacky practically had to raise his hand to swear an oath:  “With the heavens and earth as my witness, I swear I’ve never been partial to one over the other!  In fact, I’m very very careful when handling matters related to them:  the younger one ( Zia 張瑤萱) is still a little kid, so of course she will be a little more coy and want attention – she’s already at the stage where she sometimes fights with her older sister and will purposefully do things to try and please us to gain favor; the older one (Zoe) will be turning 13 soon and is starting to be rebellious—all day, she complains about things being ‘unfair’.   She constantly complains that her classmates are allowed to go to the mall to watch a movie by themselves, but we don’t allow her to go by herself .  There are lots of people at that mall, plus I’ve never been there myself and when I research on the Internet, it says there are tens of thousands of people there….”  At this moment, Brother Fai couldn’t help asking:  “Which mall?”, to which Jacky responds:  “Festival Walk! [in Kowloon Tong]”  Brother Fai asks:  “What’s the problem?  That’s the safest mall in HK!”  Jacky sheepishly responds:  “Um, I don’t know…the Internet didn’t mention anything (about that mall being the safest).”

Lehman Brothers issue was exaggerated

Last year, Jacky completed 146 shows of his ½ Century Concert tour – such an accomplishment could not have been achieved without the support of his wife May;  Jacky is grateful to his wife for taking care of matters at home so that he could focus on his performances.  Asked what was the most ‘romantic’ thing he had done to ‘reward’ his wife for her support all these years, Jacky replied:  “The biggest thing was re-taking wedding pictures and treating close friends to a ‘wedding’ dinner. [TN:  Jacky and May married overseas (to avoid the prying eyes of the HK Media) so they never had a ‘traditional’ wedding ceremony like others did].  That moment was definitely a very happy one!  Sure, we waited until our daughters were already so big to take wedding pictures, but hey, it’s better than nothing!”

The past few years, there have been constant rumors that Jacky lost a lot of money due to the Lehman Brothers situation and that’s the reason why he had to do his ½ Century Concert tour.  Towards these rumors, Jacky expressed his helplessness:  “The matter was definitely super exaggerated!!  After I finished my 2007 concert tour, my bank contacted me and proposed an investment plan that included investing in Lehman Brothers stock – the Lehman Brothers portion was only 20% of the entire investment plan, so even if I were to lose money, it would very little – no big deal at all.  When I was asked about it at the time, I admitted to investing in Lehman Brothers and jokingly said that I’ll need to work harder now – after that, the reports came out saying that I had lost everything in that investment and had to resort to taking up a lot of job offers to make up for it!  That rumor continued to spread for a number of years – in fact, in 2011, people were still saying that I did my ½ Century Concert because of the Lehman issue!  At the time, it was more than 4 years already [since the Lehman investment] – if the rumor were true, I would have already starved to death by then!”

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Picture captions

First page, top middle:  After his bout with alcoholism, Jacky has since given up on drinking:  “For a period of 7 years, I didn’t touch alcohol at all – not even one drop.”  Brother Fai smiles and responds:  “Unfortunately, you have a buddy named Eric Tsang (曾志偉) – he’s a bad person, don’t hang out with him so much.”   Nowadays, when it comes to alcohol, Jacky only dabbles in it occasionally.

Second page, top left box:  When it comes to food, Jacky does not have any particular preferences, as he views food as “a source meant to maintain my life.”   For this interview, Brother Fai treated Jacky to dinner at Tak Lung Restaurant [in San Po Keung, HK island] – when the restaurant’s owner Mr. Tsang brought over a dish of pickled cabbage with pork, Jacky was ecstatic and ate one bowl of rice after another.  In fact, he liked the food so much that he gestured over to Alan [lead vocalist for the music group Mr.], who was at the other end of the room, and shouted out:  “Alan, come try this!  It’s delicious!”

Tribute to a Legend: The 10th Anniversary of Leslie Cheung’s Passing

As most of you already know, April 1^st 2013 marks the 10 year anniversary of superstar Leslie Cheung’s death.  Given how important Leslie was to the HK entertainment industry, there will undoubtedly be a lot of tributes and events taking place in the next few days to honor his memory.  The event that I’m really looking forward to this year is the special tribute concert that Leslie’s former manager Florence Chan will be putting together, during which some of Leslie’s closest friends in the entertainment industry will gather together with his fans at the HK Coliseum and perform many of his greatest hits.

Even though 10 long years may have passed since Leslie left us, the memory of him and his tremendous contributions to the entertainment industry continue to live on in our hearts.  Of course, nothing can replace the pain that many of us went through when we found out that one of our most beloved entertainers decided to leave us forever…and not surprisingly, many of us still find it difficult to come to terms with this horrible fact.  Regardless of whether you’re a fan of his or not, I’m sure you would agree that Leslie was a charismatic entertainer and overall great person who impacted the lives of many, many people – be it his friends, colleagues, fans, and even people whom he didn’t even know!  

No one knows what the future will bring and in the case of the HK entertainment industry especially (depending on how you look at it), the outlook may not necessarily be a positive one – but no matter what happens in the coming years and what direction things end up going, one thing’s for sure:  Leslie will always be an important part of HK entertainment history – an absolutely irreplaceable legend whose influence and impact will continue to be felt for decades to come!

For my personal tribute to Leslie this year, I’ve decided to ‘re-visit’ some of the older posts I wrote about him on my blog and in so doing, ‘re-live’ some of those past ‘Leslie moments’ – be it happy moments or sad ones – that had made me either laugh or cry at some point.  I’ve included the links to some of these past blog posts below in the event that anyone who reads this is interested in ‘re-visiting’ as well (though one ‘disclaimer’ I have to make is that this list is NOT all-inclusive, since I only update my blog whenever I have time and so there may be a lot of things that I wanted to write about but didn’t get a chance to yet).

A few last words....

Rest in peace, Leslie!   No matter what happens, you will forever be in our hearts…MISS YOU MUCH!! 

.*******.

Post #1:  Book Review – Now and Then (從零開始): Leslie Cheung

Post #2:  Remembering Leslie Cheung:  Jacky’s Eulogy Speech at Leslie’s Funeral

Post #3:  2003 HKFA Awards Ceremony (Tribute to Leslie)

Post #4:  Jacky and Leslie’s Taiwan Trip (11th Annual Golden Melody Awards)

Post #5:  Tony Leung’s 50^th Birthday Party:  Leslie’s friends pay tribute to him

Post #6:  Jacky pays tribute to Leslie during his ½ Century Concert

Post #7:  Book Review – Now and Then (從零開始):  Anita Mui

Post #8:  Book Review – Now and Then (從零開始):  Danny Chan

Concert Tour once again breaks records – Jacky Cheung to release 3D concert DVD

I've actually been planning to translate this article for awhile now, but I got busy these past 2 weeks and didn't have time, so finally getting around to it now.  This article was actually published back on 5/26 and at that time, Jacky's concert was still going on...

In any case..I was excited to see the below news that Jacky will be releasing a 3D version of his concert because knowing him, he will try to make the DVD just as spectacular as the actual Live show was (though of course nothing beats watching Jacky sing live...LOL!).  After reading this article, I really have to hand it to Jacky and his production team for the meticulous effort they put into filming the concert for DVD release -- I don't know about others, but I definitely appreciate the effort!

Of course, as a die-hard fan, I will be buying the concert DVD no matter if it's in 3D or not, so in a sense, I guess it really shouldn't matter as much to me -- but it's still heartwarming to see how Jacky (with the help of his concert organizers) once again channels his passion for his craft into creating the best possible musical experience for his fans!  :-)

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Source:  Mingpao Weekly, Issue 2272

Article originally published on May 26th, 2012

Translation: llwy12

Concert Tour once again breaks records – Jacky Cheung to release 3D concert DVD

The Jacky Cheung ½ Century World Tour Concert 《張學友1/2世紀演唱會》recently held its finale performance in Hong Kong. The concert tour started back in December 2010 and a year and half later, in May 2012, it [came] to a close with a final count of 146 shows – which breaks the record for total number of [world tour] concert shows performed by a HK singer. Last year, in April 2011, Jacky had held ‘part 1’ of the Hong Kong leg of his tour at the HK Coliseum; this year (May 2012), ‘part 2’ was held at the Asia Expo Center – a venue that allowed for a wider stage, more far-reaching views, and better lighting effects. For the finale shows, Jacky invested a lot of effort and thought into the process – in a few months time, he will be achieving another ‘first’ amongst HK singers: he will be the first artist to release a concert DVD completely in 3D.

The name ‘Jacky Cheung’ itself is already a ‘beautiful voice, beautiful songs’ guarantee, however this time around, Jacky took his concert to new heights by incorporating elements that would allow audiences attending the concert to enjoy the best visual effects possible: a huge high-definition [HD] LED screen, multi-colored laser lights, a transparent glass stage, a heavy weight specially tailored outfit made of crystal beads, etc. For the anticipated release of the concert DVD, Jacky wanted the concert to be filmed using the highest level quality method possible – other than the usual HD and Blueray, what other option was there? After a little thought, an idea suddenly came to him – with the recent trend of many Hollywood grand productions being filmed in 3D, why not apply that same concept to his concert? With that thought, Jacky decided that he wanted to release a 3D concert DVD.

Filming in 3D is actually 4 to 5 times more expensive than filming in regular 2D mode – a 70 person filming crew had to be hired and from an equipment perspective, filming required 3 times the number of cameras that would normally be used. In addition, cameras had to be installed in various places throughout the arena in order to capture the performances from multiple angles. With everything that had to be done, filming only the very last show was virtually impossible – therefore, filming had to take place over the course of 3 shows, with the equipment running for 3 nights straight. The production was definitely taken very seriously.

Our [Mingpao’s] reporter watched the 138th show (a lucky number), which was one of the shows where the special filming took place. That night, a gigantic HD camera was set up in the arena’s control tower and each time concert producer Florence Chan (陳淑芬) had to leave or enter the area, she had to bend over slightly when walking in front of the camera so as not to block its view. She expressed: “A few nights ago, we watched some of the 3D trial footage of the concert and it truly did feel as though things were flying out at us from the screen! Definitely a very three-dimensional feeling.”

As soon as Jacky expressed his desire to film in 3D, Florence Chan immediately set the preparations in motion. Knowing that each shot would be very clear and crisp, which meant that even one speck of dirt would be captured by the cameras, Mrs. Chan had to arrange for an entirely new set to be made for the stage, with each crevice [of the set] carefully lacquered and polished to perfection. Even Jacky’s concert outfits had to be newly made, as there were quite a few heavy dance numbers scheduled throughout the show -- since Jacky usually sweats a lot during these performances, an additional 3 sets of the same-style outfits were made so that he could change into brand new outfits each night that filming took place. Mrs. Chan expressed: “With each white-colored outfit, we were afraid that even a speck of powder [from the makeup] on the collar would be visible!”

Due to all 10 of the finale shows being completely sold out, concert organizers specially added an additional section of seating in the hopes of reaching audiences who were not able to buy tickets earlier. These $200 HKD seats are on a slightly slanted incline on both sides of the stage and the view is partially obstructed majority of the time, however each time Jacky walks onto the suspension bridges on both sides to perform, the distance to him is especially close – definitely something for the fans purchasing these tickets to consider!

Jacky Cheung completes ½ Century World Tour Concert; plans to be ‘stay-at-home dad’ for the time being

Ok, here I go with another post about Jacky!  :o)

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts (this one here), Jacky's 1/2 Century Concert Tour scheduled its grand finale for May 30th (yesterday), bringing a 146 show concert that spanned 1 1/2 years to an official close. 

Though I will certainly miss 'following' news about Jacky's concert everyday and of course I will miss listening to fellow fans' stories of their concert experience, I am glad to know that Jacky will finally get the rest that he needs and deserves.  Earlier on Weibo, I had read a fellow fan's comment about how, during one of the events he attended (around the time of the HK finale shows), Jacky admitted that he "truly felt a little tired" -- it broke my heart to read this because like I said earlier, as a dedicated fan, one of my utmost concerns is Jacky being in good health.  He has already done enough for us (his fans) -- I mean, the fact that he put 120% effort into every single one of his 146 shows and in so doing, gave us a truly wonderful, unforgettable, out-of-this world concert-going experience is already proof enough to me how much he truly loves his fans (as well as his craft)!  As a fan, I could ask for nothing more!  :-)

So Jacky -- please take all the time you need to rest and re-energize...don't worry about us, as we'll keep ourselves entertained in the interim (hehehe).  And a big THANK YOU for giving us such an awesome concert experience -- one that we will remember and cherish forever!

P.S. for fellow Jacky fans -- here's something to look forward to in the coming months:  the release of Jacky's concert DVD!  And get this -- for the first time ever (not just for Jacky but for the entire HK entertainment industry as well), the concert DVD will be in 3D!!  Can't wait!  (Stay tuned for an additional post that talks about this).

******

Jacky Cheung completes ½ Century World Tour Concert; plans to be ‘stay-at-home dad’ for the time being

Source:  Mingpao, Oriental Daily, Sina

Translation: llwy12

Jacky Cheung (張學友) launched his ½ Century World Tour Concert back on December 30, 2010 [in Shanghai] – a year and a half later, after a record-breaking 146 shows, the concert finally came to a close. Yesterday night (May 30th), Jacky wrapped up his World Tour Concert with a sold out final show at the Asia Expo Center in Hong Kong.

Prior to yesterday’s show, Jacky, his concert manager Florence Chan, and the rest of the crew participated in a special blessing ceremony for the show – afterwards, Jacky met with over 100 fans who had arrived extra early for the show, shaking their hands and posing for pictures with them. Asked about his feelings towards his concert tour drawing to a close, Jacky stated that as early as a few days ago, he was already experiencing feelings of sadness, as the concert tour had become somewhat of a ‘lifestyle’ that he had already gotten used to.

Asked if he will finally have time to rest now that the tour is over, Jacky smiled and replied: “I will actually be going from one ‘job’ to another, as I will go back to taking care of my daughters. With summer vacation coming up, I need to help my daughters arrange summer plans.” (Going on another family trip?) “No, I would rather spend more time chatting with them at home.” (Did you ask your daughters for their opinion?) “No, because if I ask them, their answer would be a family trip – we always go to the same places on our family trips, so I would prefer not to this time around. I would like to arrange for them to take music classes instead.” (What’s your wife’s opinion about it?) “She’s ok with it, since I’m back now helping to take care of the girls – she can rest now.”

Asked about his thoughts on NowTV’s rumored plans to create a music chart and awards ceremony similar to TVB’s Jade Solid Gold (勁歌金曲), Jacky responded that he is not too familiar with the reported plans: “The most important thing is whether the criteria [for the charting and awards] is clear or not – if so, then it is beneficial for the music industry. However if all it does is create unhealthy conflict, then there’s no point.” (If the criteria is clear, would you mind making an appearance on the show in support of it?) “It’s not a matter of whether I mind or not – it’s really dependent on my schedule. Nowadays, I don’t make music as consistently as I did in the past – with me releasing albums only every 3 years now, if they were to wait for me, their program might be over already!” Jacky emphasized that the ceremony needs to be beneficial to the music industry -- if it’s just like all the other ceremonies where they need to rely on relationships to get awards or the ceremony is used to promote their own artists, then it would just be “asking for trouble”.

During the final show, Jacky shared his feelings toward ending this 17 month journey with his many fans sitting in the audience: “Every time I see your smiles, the moved expressions on your faces, and hear the applause, it gives me tremendous encouragement standing here on the stage.” He continued: “I’m generally a pretty reserved person, but at this moment, I would like to say to all of you: I truly love you guys!”

Many stars attended Jacky’s final concert show, including his good friends, singer Eason Chan (陳奕迅)and director Andrew Lau (劉偉強), both of whom made special effort to attend the concert as well as the celebration event afterwards; later on, both of them posted their pictures with Jacky on Weibo.

After the show, despite being exhausted, Jacky attended the celebration event for his concert and received huge applause from the entire crew. Eason Chan also attended the celebration event and as soon as he went on stage, he got on his knees and pretended to ‘worship’ Jacky. When the two of them hugged, their faces were so close to each other that they almost ‘kissed’ on the lips! Jacky immediately laughed and said to Eason: “I was planning to imitate what you and Denise [Ho] did!” to which Eason replied: “We should ask Andrew Lau to open a new film for us similar to Happy Together (春光乍洩)!”

News Article: Jacky Cheung wraps up Mainland China leg of his ½ Century Concert Tour

The COUNTDOWN to Jacky's 1/2 Century Concert Tour Finale has officially begun!! (Well, in my book at least...LOL).

The Mainland China leg of the tour was just completed this past weekend (on 5/6) and on the 12th, Jacky will be in Malaysia for his final show there, which officially completes the "Overseas" (outside of HK / China) leg of his tour.  The GRAND FINALE is scheduled to take place at the end of this month in HK (see sidebar for actual dates).

As a devoted fan, I'm definitely a bit saddened that Jacky's concert will be over soon (since that means we won't get the chance to watch the show again here in the U.S.....*sniffs*).  However, looking at it in a more positive light -- all good things must eventually come to an end, right?  Plus, as a devoted fan, I care alot about Jacky's well-being -- he's already 50 years old and having to perform 145 shows (the number is technically double that, since Jacky does formal rehearsals for every show) is very draining physically (as well as mentally and emotionally)....so from that perspective, I'm fine with the concert ending so that Jacky can get the much needed rest that he deserves (as well as more time to spend with his family).

Since the "countdown" has already begun, expect to see more posts from now until the end of the month about final shows of Jacky's concert (I'm sure there will be alot of stuff about it on Weibo and such, as there was last April when Jacky held 20 shows in HK). 

Note:  I might not be able to translate and post every single thing that comes out about the remaining shows(since I work full-time and have time constraints like most people...LOL), but I will try my best to at least post up the 'major stuff' (i.e. the 'milestones' and such) as currently and quickly as I can.

So anyway....here's the article about the Mainland China finale show....

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Jacky Cheung wraps up Mainland China leg of his ½ Century Concert Tour

Source:  Mingpao, Oriental Daily

Translation:  llwy12

Picture credit as listed



After 89 successful shows in Mainland China, Jacky Cheung wrapped up the Mainland leg of his ½ Century Concert Tour by holding his final show the day before yesterday at the Beijing Gongren Stadium. This week, he will complete the overseas leg of his tour with final shows in Malaysia and starting next Friday (May 18th), he will return to Hong Kong for the ‘grand finale’ – the final 9 shows of his entire concert tour – which will take place at the Asia Expo World Arena. At the end of his tour, Jacky will have completed a total of 145 shows over a span of 1 ½ years, which breaks his previous record of 105 shows [2007’s Year of Jacky Cheung Concert Tour] as well as the record for all HK singers.

After the Beijing show, concert organizer Florence Chan held a celebratory gathering for all the workers and behind-the-scenes crew to commemorate the milestone. Normally, Jacky rarely attends celebratory events such as this, however since the Beijing show was his very last one in the Mainland, plus his concert tour is reaching its final ‘countdown’ stage, Jacky decided to attend the event so he could specially thank the workers as well as the concert sponsors in the Mainland. After hugging each of the workers who had helped out with his concert in the Mainland, Jacky went up on the stage and said to them: “Being able to achieve results such as today’s is truly a miracle! I had no intentions of breaking any records or exceeding previous achievements, but being able to have all this now is a result of the efforts and hard work of everyone here. All of the success that the concert was able to achieve was due in large part to your contributions!” Jacky then sang his classic hit ‘Blessing’《祝福》as a means of gratitude to all those who assisted with his concert, which moved many of the workers and crew to tears!

Asked about his plans after his concert tour is over, Jacky frankly stated that he hoped to rest and spend more time with his daughters: “There was a period of time where I felt that with my youngest daughter especially, my place in her heart was not even equal to that of the nanny! So after the tour, I will focus my efforts on being a ‘nanny’ and take care of my daughters at home. In the future, my goal is to focus more on projects that I greatly enjoy, such as putting together another stageplay (musical), rather than working purely for the purpose of earning money.”

Jacky Cheung ½ Century Concert – Chengdu stop: Jacky recalls his love story with wife May Lo

I came across this awesome article written by a reporter in Chengdu as a promotional piece for Jacky’s upcoming concert in the region. It’s a very heartwarming piece recounting Jacky and his wife May’s relationship and so I felt moved to share this with fellow Jacky fans.

With Jacky’s concert ending next month (final stop in HK on May 23rd), there will inevitably be fewer opportunities to read news about Jacky – I know that I will definitely miss ‘following’ all the updates about his concert shows (I feel as though I’ve traveled with Jacky all around the world this past year and a half..LOL)! Therefore, might as well enjoy these articles while they last!

.****.

Jacky Cheung ½ Century Concert – Chengdu stop: Jacky recalls his love story with wife May Lo

Article published April 11th, 2012

Source: Chengdu News

Translated by: llwy12

Picture credit as listed

“From the moment I had that ‘electrifying’ feeling, I knew that we would be together.” These are the same words that both Jacky Cheung (張學友) and May Lo (羅美薇) coincidentally happened to say when giving separate interviews to reporters. Sometimes, that’s the way love is – a chance encounter that turns into love at first sight.

On May 4th, Jacky Cheung will be returning to Chengdu [China] to serenade audiences with one signature love song after another – it will be as though he is recounting his own romantic love story with his wife May Lo for his many fans.

Jacky states: “Years ago, there were many times when, with tears in her eyes, May would try to persuade me to quit drinking – she would even buy all sorts of special teas and candies to help me kick the habit, but unfortunately none of it worked. Every time I got drunk, she would prepare tea for me, put a warm towel on my forehead, clean up the vomit in the bathroom….at that time, not only would I not be moved by her actions, sometimes I would even act like a lunatic, holding a wine bottle in one hand and waving erratically at her with the other hand, telling her to get out!”

He continues: “Back then, aside from my own family, there was only one other person who cared so much about my well-being -- that person was May Lo.” At that time, out of desperation, May told Jacky that she was breaking up with him in the hopes of ‘provoking’ him into getting out of his rut and back onto his feet, however this caused his mood to become worse – seeing Jacky in this condition was painful for May and her heart ached for him. She had one of their mutual friends bring him a message: if he would resolve to quit drinking, then she would return to his side. These words were like a light at the end of a dark tunnel for Jacky and from that moment on, he was determined to quit drinking. In October of 1988, May returned to Jacky’s side.

Jacky recounts: “In order to properly handle marriage and family relationships for a lifetime, there are so many things that one must learn.” Nowadays, Jacky always puts his family ahead of all else – in fact, he has even considered sacrificing his own career and interests for his family. Jacky states: “I feel that up to this point, as a husband I would give myself a 60 and as a father I would give myself only a 70 [out of 100]; therefore, I decided to put my family at the center of my life [to continue working on being a good husband and father] – if anyone tried to interfere with these plans, I wouldn’t have any second thoughts about leaving the entertainment industry.”

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Chinese version:

张学友来蓉讲爱的故事

2012-04-11 05:49四川新闻网-成都商报

　　成都商报讯（记者 任宏伟）“从那刻有触电的感觉开始，我就知道我们会一起。”这是张学友和罗美薇在接受采访时不约而同谈到的一句话。有时候，爱情就是这样不期而遇，一见钟情。在5月4日的晚上，张学友这位好男人将在成体中心深情演唱一首首动人情歌，就像给蓉城歌迷讲述自己和妻子罗美薇的浪漫故事一般。

　　张学友说，“好多次，罗美薇泪眼模糊地劝我戒酒，甚至买来各种戒酒茶、戒酒糖果，但都无效。每次喝醉了，罗美薇总是泡茶、敷热毛巾、清理卫生间里的呕吐物……可我不仅不感动，有时还会像疯子一样，一手拿着酒瓶，一手挥舞着让她滚蛋。”

张学友说，“当时除了自己的亲人，还有一个人关心着我，那就是罗美薇。”当初宣布分手，也许不过是个“激将法”，想刺激他积极进取，谁知张学友却越发消沉，罗美薇看在眼里，痛在心头。她只好委托好友传话给张学友：如果他下决心戒酒，她会考虑回到他的身边。听到此话，张学友恍若在黑暗中见到曙光，一口答应坚决戒酒。1988年10月，罗美薇回到了张学友身边。

　　张学友说，“一生一世处理好家庭与婚姻关系，不知要学多少东西。”张学友永远把家庭放在第一位，甚至想到为家人牺牲自己的事业与兴趣。张学友对外宣称“我觉得到目前为止，做罗美薇的老公，我只能打60分，做爸爸能打70分，所以我决定将重心放在家庭，假如再有人干扰我的计划，我会义无反顾地退出演艺圈。”

　　泸州老窖·国窖1573之夜张学友1/2世纪演唱会成都站

News Article: Jacky Cheung pays tribute to Leslie Cheung during concert; encourages fans and friends to donate to charity

Another great article about Jacky!

Jacky's 'love' for his good friend and 'brother' Leslie is obvious, especially given how Jacky rarely changes the lineup of his show (usually he only does it during the Encore segments) because he wants to ensure the integrity and quality of the show (pretty much the way he rehearsed the show is the way it's usually performed). For Jacky to change things and perform Leslie's song as a tribute to him, goes to who how much Leslie meant to him!

Also, once again, Jacky's philanthropy shines through in his gesture of having his fans and friends buy 'fortune bags' to donate to charity in lieu of giving him flowers and such (he did the same thing last year when he performed in HK -- he had people donate bags of rice instead). As usual, Jacky goes about his philanthropic ways without fanfare and without flaunting....he absolutely proves that charity comes from the heart. What a great model for us to follow!

I've said this before and I'll say it again: I'm absolutely PROUD to be a Jacky fan!!! :-)


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Jacky Cheung pays tribute to Leslie Cheung during concert; encourages fans and friends to donate to charity

Source: Mingpao, Oriental Daily

Translation: llwy12

Pictures credited as listed

The day before yesterday, Jacky Cheung completed the 127th show of his ‘1/2 Century World Tour Concert’ in Hefei, China. Since the day of the concert (4/1) was also the 9 year anniversary of his good friend Leslie Cheung’s death, Jacky discussed with the music coordinators to specially add the song 《風繼續吹》[‘The Wind Continues to Blow’] to the lineup. With a slightly quivering voice, Jacky told the audience: “I hope to sing a song for a special friend of mine – a friend whom I will love and miss forever!” As Jacky performed Leslie’s classic hit, the entire audience of more than 20,000 people sang along with him.

In the next couple weeks, Jacky will be touring in various cities in Mainland China as well as Malaysia and in May, he will return to Hong Kong for the final 8 shows of his concert tour, which will be held at the Asia Expo Center. By the end of the tour, Jacky will have performed a total of 144 shows on his concert tour, which breaks all records for number of shows by a HK singer. Jacky’s manager and concert producer Florence Chan expressed that the tickets for the last 8 shows are all sold out – she also revealed that as a special treat for fans, the finale shows will feature some visual effects that were not seen at previous shows, including a specially designed glass stage as well as a 360 degree revolving LED wall.

Just like with his previous concert last year in HK [where he asked his fans to donate bags of rice for charity in place of buying flowers], Jacky once again asked his fans and friends not to send him any flower arrangements – instead, he encouraged them to each buy a $250 HKD worth ‘fortune bag’ 「友福袋」consisting of oil, rice, sugar, various canned and boxed goods, as well as other articles for daily use. After the HK shows, concert organizers will work with local charities as well Jacky’s fan club to have the bags distributed to elderly seniors in the community who live alone.

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Chinese Version:

學友《風繼續吹》悼張國榮

【明報專訊】張學友前晚於合肥完成第127場「1/2世紀巡迴演唱會」，當晚正值好友張國榮的死忌，他特別與樂師商量加唱一曲《風繼續吹》。學友語帶哽咽表示：「希望唱一首歌送給一位朋友，我永遠都愛他及懷念他。」全場2萬多名觀眾與他合唱。

學友之後要到內地及大馬開騷，5月中返港假亞洲博覽館舉行終結站的8場演出，換言之於世界各地共舉行144場，打破香港歌手紀錄。製作人陳淑芬表示，香港的8場演出已爆滿，香港演唱會特別設計玻璃舞台，配合360度環迴LED Wall，增強視覺效果。

同時，學友再次呼籲好友們不要送花，改為購買每個250元的「友福袋」行善，當中包含油、米、糖、日用品、罐頭、燕麥片等，可經主辦機構代購，完騷後經慈善團體、義工隊、歌迷會等合力派給獨居長者。

News Article: Having just completed his 116th show, Jacky Cheung continues to break records

This is an awesome article about Jacky and his most recent concert show in Guangzhou...I liked the article so much that I decided to translate and post it. Hope all fellow Jacky fans out there enjoy it!

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Article originally published: February 27, 2012

Source: Sohu.com

Translation: llwy12

Having just completed his 116th show, Jacky Cheung continues to break records

** Note: The below article was published in a Guangzhou newspaper, so most of the content will relate to Jacky’s concert tour in China. **

On 2/25, Jacky Cheung completed the Guangzhou [China] leg of his “1/2 Century World Tour Concert” and in the coming days, he will travel to Putian [in Fujian province] and Shenzhen, ultimately arriving here in Hangzhou on March 10th. Each show that Jacky performs brings him one step closer to breaking the Guinness World Record for number of concert shows performed by an Asian singer. Actually, the original record is currently held by Jacky himself for his 2007 ‘The Year of Jacky Cheung World Tour Concert’, which at that time, had established an unprecedented record of 105 shows on one concert tour. Looking at it right now, the original ‘number’ has already been exceeded, as the Guangzhou leg of the tour was already Jacky’s 116th show.

During the Guangzhou performance, fellow singer Eason Chan made a special trip to visit his friend Jacky – the two singers even performed a song together during rehearsals. Recently, there have been rumors that due to Eason straining and overextending his vocal cords, he is in danger of losing his voice – don’t know if Eason took the opportunity during his visit to ask Jacky for his ‘secret’ to maintaining good health.

Xie Hong, a manager for the Tianjin division of Rock Records who once accompanied Jacky for more than 100 shows on his world tour, described Jacky’s regular world tour ‘routine’ in this way: “Every Thursday, after taking his daughters to school, Jacky would fly to the first city where he’s scheduled to perform. He would have rehearsals on Friday afternoon, then the actual performance that same night. The next day (Saturday), he would switch to another city, rehearse on Sunday afternoon, then perform that same night. On Monday, he would fly back to Hong Kong, pick up his daughters from school, then head home. On days that he does not need to perform, Jacky would get up at 6am every morning and work out for 2 hours; at night, he would always go to bed before 10pm.”

After completing a concert, most singers normally hold a celebration gathering, however due to the frequency of Jacky’s performances, he usually ‘omits’ the celebration party, choosing to do it only once every few months. According to Xie Hong, Jacky is willing to ‘omit’ certain formalities when needed, however there is one ‘formality’ that Jacky is firm about never omitting: rehearsals. Indeed, Jacky’s persistence when it comes to rehearsals is one area where Xie Hong admires him the most: “He’s already performed over 100 shows, yet he still insists on rehearsing prior to every single show. To be honest, I’ve already watched [the rehearsals] to the point that I don’t want to watch anymore, however Jacky never gets fed up with it – in fact, he never finds it [the rehearsals] even the least bit tedious!” Also, for his performances, Jacky refuses to use a teleprompter – he would rather set aside a certain amount of time each day to recite and memorize the lyrics to the songs. Xie Hong once suggested to Jacky that perhaps he should use a teleprompter to help him save time and energy and so that the process would be less exhausting for him, but Jacky politely turned down his offer with the response: “As soon as one starts to develop the mentality of being dependent [on something], it’s very easy to get into the habit of being lazy.”

What moves Xie Hong the most though, is Jacky’s considerate nature. During his concert tours, Jacky is very much aware that the concert sponsors [in each city] are usually the ones responsible for providing (and paying for) his meals, therefore, he never chooses any expensive dishes and most of the time, eats only simple vegetable and occasional meat dishes – if in certain cases he felt like eating fish, he would always choose the least expensive one.

As a concert sponsor, Xie Hong admits that of course he would prefer for Jacky to sing his classic hits for each show: “It saves on production costs, plus the audience reaction will definitely be excellent, so it sounds like the best route to take, right? Nope, not for Jacky. Because he feels that Chinese singers rarely incorporate stage musicals in their performances, he wanted to serve as an example for everyone.” That’s why for this concert, the stage musical segment is one of the most important parts of the performance – for the MV (music video) accompanying the musical portion, Jacky asked renowned director Andrew Lau to help him produce / direct it and actress Shu Qi to star in it. The stage musical segment tells the story of a couple as they go through various stages of their relationship – from meeting, to falling in love, marrying, and eventually, the strain on their relationship due to the passing of time (secretly, Xie Hong and the crew refer to the MV as “If You Are the Only One 3“ 《非诚勿扰3》 [TN: an actual movie starring Shu Qi and directed by Feng Shao Gang]).

Xie Hong concludes: “We see Jacky put such exhaustive, painstaking effort into his performances and at first, we didn’t understand it – but later on, we came to realize that it is a natural part of who he is as person – and that’s why he is the ‘God the Songs’!”

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Chinese version:

刚刚演完第116场 张学友不断刷新吉尼斯世界纪录

记者 钱卓君 广州报道

2012年02月27日03:29

2月25日，张学友结束了“2012张学友1/2世纪巡回演唱会”广州站的演出，接下来张学友将马不停蹄奔赴莆田、深圳，3月10日来到杭州黄龙体育中心。每唱一场，张学友都在刷新亚洲歌手举办演唱会次数的吉尼斯世界纪录。原纪录是张学友在2007年“学友光年世界巡回演唱会”时创下的105场，现在这个数据早就被抛到了身后，广州站已经是第116场。

　　在广州演出时，陈奕迅特地赶去探班，他还和张学友在彩排时合作了一曲。因为用嗓过度，陈奕迅最近面临失声风险，不知道他这次在广州有没有向张学友讨点健康秘诀。

　　跟过张学友一百多场演出的天津滚石老总叶宏，这样描述张学友的生活规律：“每个星期四，学友送孩子上学后，就搭飞机到第一个城市。周五下午彩排，晚上表演，周六转场，周日下午彩排，晚上表演。周一搭飞机回香港，接孩子放学回家。没有演出的日子，他每天早上6点多起床，锻炼两个小时的身体，晚上10点前一定睡觉。”

　　通常演唱会结束后，歌手都会举办庆功宴，但张学友因

　　为演出密度太大，庆功宴就被省略到几个月开一次。叶宏说，张学友别的环节都愿意省略，只有彩排不肯省，这也是让他很佩服的一点：“已经演了一百多场，他还是坚持每场之前进行彩排，我都看得不想再看了，他居然一点都不厌倦。”还有，张学友不肯用提词器，他宁愿每天花一定时间去背歌词。叶宏提议过，不用这么辛苦，能省点力就省点力，但张学友说，人一旦产生依赖心理就会习惯偷懒。

　　而最让叶宏感动的是，明知道主办方会买单，但张学友吃饭时从来不点贵的菜，平时也就吃点蔬菜红烧肉，偶尔想吃鱼了，也挑便宜的点。

　　作为演出商，叶宏巴不得张学友每场都唱老歌，“成本又省，观众反响又好，何乐而不为？但张学友不干，他认为华人歌手极少触及音乐剧，他要给大家做示范。”所以这次演唱会，音乐剧是张学友的重头戏，光是MV就找了刘伟强执导，女主角是舒淇。音乐剧讲述一对恋人从相识、相恋、相守，最后在岁月的折磨中，渐渐沦为怨偶，叶宏他们私下管这个叫《非诚勿扰3》。“学友这么折腾，我们一开始不理解，后来想，他就是这么有个性的人，所以才是歌神。”