Yumiko Cheng

Yumiko Cheng is a Hong Kong-based Cantopop singer. Cheng was given the Japanese nickname "Yumiko" by her friends in secondary school, and upon signing with EEG, adopted it as her official stagename.

Career

Yumiko was originally marketed as a member of the group 3T (along with Mandy Chiang and Maggie Lau), which released an EP in 2002. Yumiko's potential was, however, quickly identified by the company, and she went onto become the only member of the group to release her own solo EP later that year. This was followed by a second EP, DanceDanceDance (舞舞舞) and her first full-length album One2Three, in 2003.

In 2004, she released the album, Perfect Date, though made a decreasing number of media appearances due to health problems and an overall strategy re-evaluation within her company.

2005 saw a return with the lead single 'Arabian Market' (亞拉伯市場), complemented by a novel image that featured her in traditional Arabic dress. She would continue onto covering various Middle-Eastern pop hits in subsequent singles such as 'Lupine Girl' (狼女, originally sung by Aneela Mirza) in 2006, and 'Five Centuries' (五個世紀, OT:Bechom Shei In The Heart of Tel Aviv) in 2008, which became a minor hit in its own right in the Chinese dance charts, and was even mentioned in a report by a major Israeli newspaper.

Yumiko's Space, the 2005 album to which 'Arabian Market' (亞拉伯市場) belonged, otherwise showed an 80s disco/electronic influence. Veteran music producer Carl Wong (王雙駿) took on songwriting and production credits for 6 songs, including that of the second single 'Think' (想). Electronic pop duo PixelToy also contributed one song, who again appear with songwriting credits on Cheng's 2008 Mandarin album Spectacular Era (精彩年代). Cheng has interviewed in the past that Yumiko's Space remained a personal favourite of all her albums.

Aside from a career in pop music, Cheng has also starred in several films, more notably making a special guest appreance in Stanley Kwan's 2005 feature, Everlasting Regret.

Wardrobe Malfunctions

Yumiko dominated the entertainment headlines in December 2006, due to a wardrobe mishap while performing an aerialist stunt for TVB's annual charity show. While being retrieved from mid-air on a trapeze, her trousers were accidentally pulled off by her stunt partner Chin Kar-lok, revealing her underwear. Much to Yumiko's embarrassment, the incident garnered a great deal of media attention. The MC Eric Tsang later apologised due to public disapproval over a number of remarks made at the time of the incident, including a request for a replay of the accident in slow motion, though other MCs such as Nancy Sit and Lydia Shum were seen to have laughed uncontrollably in the television broadcast.

She again made news on 23 June 2007 while performing as a featured guest for New Talent Singing Awards Toronto Audition, where she accidentally exposed part of her bare chest. The material was cut from the delayed broadcast in Vancouver.

When pressed by Stephen Chen in a 2008 TVB interview to comment on whether or not these incidents were staged, Cheng's manager, Mani Fok remarks: "Every woman has a bottom line."

Discography

With 3T:

• Girl Butterfly 少女蝶 17 September 2002

Solo:

• Yumiko The Debut EP 26 November 2002
• Dance Dance Dance 舞舞舞 6 June 2003
• One 2 Three 14 November 2003
• Perfect Date 20 August 2004
• Yumiko's Space 21 June 2005
• Yumiko Passion 12 April 2006
• 七連滋養 9 November 2006
• 上海娃娃 20 March 2007
• Super Model 1 February 2008
• 精彩年代 20 November 2008

Filmography

• Demi-Haunted (2002)
• Heat Team (2004)
• The Attractive One (2004)
• Everlasting Regret (2005)
• The Lady Iron Chef (2007)
• The Drummer (2007)
• Love Is Elsewhere (2008)
• True Women for Sale (2008)
• All's Well, Ends Well 2009 (2009)

TV series

• All About Boy'z (2002)
• The Proud Twins (2005)
• The Gentle Crackdown II 2007

External links

• Yumiko Israel Headline News
• Yumiko Cheng Q&A
• IMDb entry
• Yumiko Cheng's Lyrics, Pinyin, and English Translation