Leslie Cheung

Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing (12 September 1956 – 1 April 2003), nicknamed "Gor Gor" (哥哥), which means elder brother, was a Hong Kong musician, singer-songwriter, actor, and music and film producer. Cheung is considered as "one of the founding fathers of Cantopop" by "combining a hugely successful film and music career." He rose to prominence as a teen hearthrob and pop icon of Hong Kong in the 1980s, receiving numerous music awards including both Most Popular Male Artist Awards at the 1988 and 1989 Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards. In 1989, Cheung announced his retirement from the music industry as a pop singer. Returning to the music scene after a five-year hiatus, he released his chart-topping comeback album (寵愛) which achieved a huge market success. In 1999, he won the Golden Needle Award for his outstanding achievement as a musician at the RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards, and his hit song "Monica" was voted as Hong Kong's "Song of the Century." He was honoured "Asia's Biggest Superstar" at the 2000 CCTV-MTV Music Honors.

Cheung had won the 1991 Hong Kong Film Award (Days of Being Wild) and the 1994 Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award (Ashes of Time) for best actor. He had also won the 1994 Japan Film Critics Society Award for best actor for his performance in Farewell My Concubine and ten other best actor nominations, five Golden Horse Awards, three Cannes Film Festival Awards, a Asia Pacific Film Festival Award, and a Venice Film Festival Award.

Cheung's music and movies not only captured fans in Hong Kong but also other Asian countries including Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Japan and South Korea. He is the first foreign artist to hold 16 concerts in Japan that has yet to be broken and the record holder as the best-selling C-pop artist in Korea.

Cheung was ranked as the most favourite actor in the 100 years of Chinese cinema. In 2010, he was voted the third "Most Iconic Musicians of All Time" (after Michael Jackson and The Beatles). CNN considered Cheung as the "Most Beautiful Man from Hong Kong Cinema" and one of "Asia's 25 Greatest Actors of All Time."

Cheung was born in Kowloon, Hong Kong, the youngest of ten children in a middle-class Hakka family. Cheung Wut Hoi, his father, was a fairly well known tailor, whose customers included American actors William Holden, Marlon Brando, and Cary Grant. His parents divorced when he was quite young. While in Hong Kong, Cheung attended Rosaryhill School. At age 13, he was sent to England as a boarder at Eccles Hall School. After six month study, he transferred himself to a school in Chelmsford and obtained scholarship. He worked as a bartender at his relatives' restaurant and sang during the weekends. It was around this period that he chose his name, "Leslie." According to Cheung, he chose this name because "I love the film Gone with the Wind. And I like Leslie Howard."

In several interviews, Cheung stated he had had a fairly unhappy childhood. "I didn't have a happy childhood. Arguments, fights and we didn't live together; I was brought up by my granny." "What I would say most affected me as a child, was that my parents were not at home with me. As a young kid, one could not always understand why his parents weren't at home. This made me depressed sometimes."

He attended the University of Leeds where he studied textile management. He dropped out of university at the end of his first year when his father fell ill. After his father's recovery, Cheung did not return to England to complete his studies.

In 1986, he joined Cinepoly Records Hong Kong and released the album Summer Romance in 1987. Summer Romance became the Best Selling CD of the Year and IFPI Best Selling Album in Hong Kong. The success of Summer Romance made him one of the top two Cantopop idols at the time . In 1988, he composed one of his most famous songs "Silence is Golden" (沉默是金), which was later adapted to both Mandarin and Taiwanese versions. Other popular albums published by Cheung through Cinepoly Records included Hot Summer (1988), Virgin Snow (1988), Leslie '89 (Side face, IFPI Best Album of the Year, 1989), Final Encounter (1989), and Salute (1989). In the meantime, Cheung also released several Mandarin albums in Taiwan, such as Refuse to Play (拒絕再玩) and Car Ride. Salute was the first non-profit album released by a superstar in Hong Kong music history that would only compile songs originally performed by other singers. According to Cheung, Salute is his homage to music. He donated all the proceeds from the sales of Salute to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (香港演藝學院), which was named the Leslie Cheung Memorial Scholarship after his death.

With the popularity of Cheung and Tam, fans of these two stars became increasingly hostile to each other, starting a long-standing conflict that soon put heavy pressure on both singers. In 1988, Alan Tam publicly quit all pop music award ceremonies. In 1989, Cheung announced his intention to retire from his music career as a singer. Cheung then set a record by being the first singer ever in Cantopop history to hold a retirement concert series (Final Encounter of the Legend), which ran for 33 consecutive nights (he was 33 at the time) at Hong Kong Coliseum. In 1990, he left Hong Kong at the peak of his music career and emigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he reportedly "found peace and tranquility." Cheung became a Canadian citizen in 1992, returning to Asia full-time in 1995 for his re-emergence in Chinese-language popular music.

From 1986 to 1989, Cheung acted in a number of movies that are considered as Hong Kong classics by film critics and Asian movie fans. In 1986, Cheung co-starred with Chow Yun-fat in A Better Tomorrow (directed by John Woo), which was widely considered as a trend starter for Hong Kong triad movies in the 1980s. He played "Kit", a righteous and idealistic young cop. He also starred in the sequel, A Better Tomorrow II (1987). Also in 1987, Cheung starred in Stanley Kwan's Rouge where he played Chen-Pang Chan, an infatuated, opium-smoking playboy and doomed lover of a beautiful prostitute, Fleur (played by Anita Mui). Further, in the same year (1987), he appeared in Tsui Hark's A Chinese Ghost Story (directed by Ching Siu-tung). Cheung played Ling Choi Sin, a well-meaning but cowardly debt collector who had fallen in love with a beautiful ghost (played by Joey Wong). His performance in these movies won him two Best Actor nominations from Hong Kong Film Awards. The success of A Better Tomorrow and A Chinese Ghost Story made his name known in the Japanese and South Korea film markets.

Golden age in film

In 1990, Cheung acted as Yuddy, a handsome, ruthless bad boy, philanderer and narcissist in Wong Kar-wai's movie Days of Being Wild. His performance in Days of Being Wild won him the Best Actor Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 1991 as well as his first nomination as Best Actor at the Golden Horse Film Festival (Taiwan). He appeared in two other Wong Kar-wai films, Ashes of Time (1994) as Ouyang Feng, a swordsman and assassin who spent his days in a desert. His role as Ouyang earned him the Best Actor Award at the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards, and Happy Together (1997), which depicted a complex relationship between a pair of gay lovers), in which he played Ho Po-wing, who goes to Argentina with his lover (played by Tony Leung Chiu-wai).

In Farewell My Concubine (1992, directed by Chen Kaige), Cheung portrayed opera star Dieyi Cheng, a Beijing opera artist who was acclaimed for his performances of female roles. Farewell My Concubine is the first Chinese film to have won the Golden Palm award at the Cannes Film Festival. It also won more than twenty other film awards including a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film and Oscar nominations for Best Foreign Film and Best Cinematography. Cheung's performance in the film won him international fame as a film star and set his steps in the mainland China film industry. In 1996, he worked again with Chen Kaige, playing the role of a misty gigolo, Zhongliang Yu, in Temptress Moon. In 1998's A Time to Remember (directed by Yip Ying), he acted as Jin, an underground Chinese Communist leader. His Hong Kong background caused a heated debate at the time, but the film still achieved box office success in mainland China and in 2004 won a "Most Popular Foreign Film" Award at the Pyongyang Film Festival.

Other films in which Cheung appeared during this period include The Bride with White Hair (with Brigitte Lin, 1993), He's a Woman, She's a Man (with Anita Yuen, 1994), The Phantom Lover (1995), and Viva Erotica (with Shu Qi, 1996). His performance in these movies won him three Best Actor Award nominations at the Hong Kong Film Awards and three Best Actor Award nominations at the Golden Horse Film Festival from 1990 to 1998. He acted in many comedies. In 1991, teamed again with Chow Yun-fat and Cherie Chung, Cheung played a skillful and charming thief in John Woo's Once A Thief. In 1992's All's Well, Ends Well, he acted as an effeminate brother who would later realize the meaning of true love. Other well-known comedies included The Eagle Shooting Heroes, It's a Wonderful Life, and The Chinese Feast, where he starred opposite Anita Yuen. Cheung was also a box office attraction in Hong Kong; from 1990 to 1998, 13 out of 39 movies in which he starred were listed as yearly top ten box office movies.

Although Cheung quit his career as a pop singer from 1989 to 1995, he continued his music career as a composer. He composed more than ten songs during that time. In 1993, he won Best Original Movie Song Award from Golden Horse Film Festival for the theme song Red Cheek, White Hair to the movie The Bride with White Hair (as a composer). In 1995, he composed all three theme songs for the film The Phantom Lover. As a composer, Cheung won four nominations for Best Original Movie Song Award at the Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards and two nominations for Best Original Film Song at the Hong Kong Film Awards. In 1998, he was a member of the jury at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival.

Return to music

In 1995 Cheung signed a contract with Rock Records, returning to music as a singer. At the same year, he released his first post-"retirement" album, Beloved. Beloved achieved large market success with the award of IFPI Best Selling Album, but it did not receive much acclaim from music critics as it is a collection of Cheung's movie theme songs from 1993 to 1995. In 1996, Cheung released possibly his most highly acclaimed album, Red. Red was a fusion album, mixing smooth jazz, R&B, trip hop, etc., into Cantopop, forming a consistent unique style. Cheung worked since then on cutting-edge music as well as Cantopop, his new music style being markedly different from before his earlier retirement. In this album, Cheung also composed another important song in his music career, Red. In April 1998, Cheung released Printemps, a Mandarin album in collaboration with renowned Taiwanese song writers and music producers, Liu Chi Hong (劉志宏) and Liu Si Ming (劉思銘). Another version of Printemps was released in Japan titled Gift. Both versions include Cheung's first song sung in Japanese, "Marshmallow". In 1997 Cheung held his first post-retirement concert series: World Tour 97, which lasted from 12 December 1996 to 17 June 1997. As with the refinements to his musical style, Cheung introduced a new image to his audience. The most daring part possibly was the closing dance "Red" where Cheung did a tango duet in a pair of red high-heels with a macho dancer. World Tour 97 included 55 concerts: 24 concerts were held in Hong Kong Coliseum and 31 concerts were held in the cities around the world. Among them, six concerts were held in Japan and mainland China respectively. World Tour 97 was the first concert series that Cheung held in these two areas.

In 1999, Cheung founded a music company, Apex Music, signing a distribution contract with Universal Music Group(UMG). Important albums released via UMG includes Count Down With You (1999), Big Heat (2000), and Untitled (2000). The hit songs released by him during this period include "Passing-by Dragonfly", the top one hit song, "Big Heat", and "Left Right Hands", Top Ten Gold Song of the Year (1999). He also composed the song I (first released in the Big Heat album). In 1999, he was awarded the Golden Needle award (lifetime achievement award in Cantopop music). In 2000, he was named "Music Ambassador" of Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong (CASH), a position he held until his death. He composed the theme song "Noah's Ark" for the CASH Golden Sail Award.

The later years

In 2000, Cheung played his last concert series, Passion Tour. Passion Tour included 43 concerts, lasting from 31 July 2000 to 16 April 2001. Cheung worked at the first time as the art director as well as the singer for the concert. He invited Jean-Paul Gaultier to design all eight costumes for the concert. However, the costumes, together with his long wig and beard, were criticized bitterly by Hong Kong media at the early stage of the concerts. Cheung later disclosed that Gaultier was very angry about the criticism and claimed in an email (sent to Cheung) that he would never design costumes again for any Asian performer. Despite the early criticisms from the media, Passion Tour achieved huge success. Passion Tour was highly welcomed in Japan and made Cheung hold 10 concerts there. Together with World Tour 97 concerts, Cheung set a record of foreign artists of holding 16 concerts in Japan. In China, Cheung set a record yet to be broken by holding two consecutive night concerts in Shanghai Stadium (capacity of 80,000). He was also awarded the "Grand Salute Award" (2000) by Mingpao Weekly (Hong Kong) and "Music Salute Award" (2000) from Chinese Pop Music Media Association (mainland China) for his work in Passion Tour.

By the end of the 1990s, Cheung began to focus on acting in non-romance roles. In The Kid (1999, directed by Jacob Cheung Chi-Leung), he starred as a poor single father who fostered an abandoned baby boy. In the action thriller Double Tap (2000, directed by Lo Chi Leung), he played a psycho killer, Rick. In the 2002 psycho thriller Inner Senses (directed by Lo Chi Leung), he played psychologist Dr. Law, who discovered his own emotional issues when he tried to treat his patient Yan (Kar Yan Lam). His performance in these films earned him another Best Actor nomination from the Hong Kong Film Awards. He also garnered another two Best Actor Award nominations from Taiwan Film Festival. During this period, Cheung began to try his hand at film direction. In 2000, he directed his first movie, the 45 minutes From Ashes to Ashes. In 2002, he began working on the script for his first regular length movie Stealing Heart. The script was not completed due to the deterioration of his health.

Popularity

In 1984, Overseas Chinese Daily News considered Cheung as one of the 10 most popular artists. In 1986 and 1987, Cheung was voted as one of the 10 most popular celebrities (演藝十大當紅人物) in Hong Kong by RTHK. In 1989, Commercial Radio ranked Cheung as Hong Kong's most beautiful celebrity (十大靚人榜首). In 1990, RTHK ranked him as one of the 10 most popular celebrities of the 80s (八十年代十大演藝紅人). In 1989 and 1994, Korea's Roadshow rated him as Korea's most popular foreign celebrity. In 1996, Cheung was voted among the top 10 Chinese-speaking film stars of all time (全球十大華語影星) by Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards. In the same year, Japan's Pop Asia rated Cheung as the best artist of the year. In 2000, Yahoo! Japan ranked him as Japan's most popular foreign celebrity. In the same year, Cheung was crowned as Hong Kong's most popular celebrity of the millennium (千禧十大紅人榜首) by RTHK.

Personal life

In 1996-1997, Cheung raised over $1 million HKD, and drawn attention to Children's Cancer Foundation, through his Cross '97 concerts and coffee shop. In 2002, Cheung was appointed a goodwill ambassador for ECSAF.

Cheung was a close and longtime friend of Hong Kong Cantopop diva, Anita Mui, whom he met while he was at Capital Artists.

Though Cheung had never publicly declared his sexual orientation, he once said in an interview with Time magazine:

"It's more appropriate to say I'm bisexual. I've had girlfriends. When I was 22 or so, I asked my girlfriend Teresa Mo (his colleague at Rediffusion Television (now ATV) of the time) to marry me."

Cheung dated Ngai Sze-Pui (倪詩蓓), a Hong Kong model and actress whom he met on the set of Agency 24 for two years.

In a 1997 concert, Cheung dedicated a song to his mother and Mr. Tong as his dear family member, life partner and friend, and all the fans at the concert that night.

Death and legacy

Leslie Cheung leaped from the Mandarin Oriental hotel (right).

Cheung committed suicide on 1 April 2003 at 6:43 pm (HKT). He leaped from the 24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel, located in the Central district of Hong Kong Island. He left a suicide note saying that he had been suffering from depression. He was 46 years old.

As one of the most popular performers in Asia, Cheung's death broke the hearts of millions of his fans across Asia, and shocked the Asian entertainment industry and Chinese community worldwide. The day after Cheung's death, his family confirmed that Cheung suffered from clinical depression and had been seeing psychiatrists for treatment for almost a year. They also revealed that Cheung had attempted suicide in 2002. Later at his funeral, Cheung's niece disclosed that her uncle had severe clinical depression and suffered much over the past year (2003).

Despite the risk of infection from SARS and the WHO's warning on travels to Hong Kong, tens of thousands attended Cheung's memorial service, which was held for the public, on 7 April 2003, including celebrities and other fans, many from other parts of the world such as mainland China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, the United States, and Canada. Cheung's funeral was on 8 April 2003. For almost one month, Cheung's death dominated newspaper headlines in Hong Kong and his songs were constantly on the air. His final album, Everything Follows the Wind (一切隨風), was released three months after his death.

Cheung's suicide note (translation):

"Depression! Many thanks to all my friends. Many thanks to Professor Felice Lieh-mak (Cheung's last psychiatrist). This year has been so tough. I can't stand it anymore. Many thanks to Mr. Tong. Many thanks to my family. Many thanks to Sister Fei. In my life I have done nothing bad. Why does it have to be like this?"

In a 2012 interview, Cheung's eldest sister, Ophelia Cheung, stated Cheung was diagnosed with clinical depression caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. She said that reporters were outside of her brother's house, so he was not able to see a doctor. Thus, he would come over to her house to consult the doctor. He would ask his sister, "Why am I depressed? I have money and so many people love me." He was reluctant to take medication.

In 2013, Cheung's former music agent Florence Chan organized two memorial concerts entitled "Miss You Much Leslie" on 31 March and 1 April for the 10th anniversary of Cheung's passing. Big names of the Hong Kong entertainment industry such as Jacky Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Andy Hui, Leo Ku, Chilam Cheung, Vivian Chow, Kelly Chen, Joey Yung, Grasshoppers, and others performed at the concert at Hong Kong Coliseum. In addition, this year, fans of this late singer-actor around the world made two million origami cranes for the Guinness World Record as tribute to Cheung's 10th year of passing.

Awards and nominations

RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards

Year	Category	Nominated title	Result
1984	Top 10 Gold Songs	"Monica"	Won
1985	Top 10 Gold Songs	"Wild Wind" (不羈的風)	Won
1986	Top 10 Gold Songs	"Past Love" (當年情)	Won
1987	Top 10 Gold Songs	"Sleepless Night" (無心睡眠)	Won
	Best CD	Summer Romance	Won
	Sales Award (Best-Selling Album of the Year)	Summer Romance	Won
1988	Top 10 Gold Songs	"Silence is Golden" (沉默是金)	Won
	Top 10 Gold Songs	"Don’t Need Too Much" (無需要太多)	Won
	IFPI Award	Leslie Cheung	Won
1999	Top 10 Gold Songs	"Left Right Hand" (左右手)	Won
	Golden Needle Award	Leslie Cheung	Won
2000	Top 10 Gold Songs	"Big Heat" (大熱)	Won
2002	Silver Jubilee Award	Leslie Cheung	Won

Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards

Year	Category	Nominated title	Result
1983	Top 10 Gold Songs	"Wind Blows On"(風繼續吹)	Nominated
1984	Top 10 Gold Songs	"Monica"	Won
1985	Top 10 Gold Songs	"Wild Wind" (不羈的風)	Won
1986	Top 10 Gold Songs	"Past Love" (當年情)	Won
	Top 10 Gold Songs	"Who Resonates With Me" (有誰共鳴)	Won
	Gold Song Gold Award (Best Song of the Year)	"Who Resonates With Me"	Won
1987	Top 10 Gold Songs	"Sleepless Night" (無心睡眠)	Won
	Gold Song Gold Award (Best Song of the Year)	"Sleepless Night"	Won
1988	Top 10 Gold Songs	"Silence is Golden"	Won
	Top 10 Gold Songs	"Closer" (貼身)	Won
	Most Popular Male Artist	Leslie Cheung	Won
1989	Top 10 Gold Songs	"Starting from Zero" (由零開始)	Won
	Most Popular Male Artist	Leslie Cheung	Won
1999	Honours Award	Leslie Cheung	Won
2000	Four Channel Award (Best Album of the Year)	Untitled	Won
	Honours Award	Leslie Cheung	Won

Ultimate Song Chart Awards

Year	Category	Nominated title	Result
1988	Ultimate Male Artist Gold Award	Leslie Cheung	Won
1989	Ultimate Male Artist Gold Award	Leslie Cheung	Won
	IFPI Award	Side Face	Won
1999	Ultimate Song Award (No. 1 Song of the Year)	"Left Right Hand"	Won

Metro Radio Hit Music Awards

Year	Category	Nominated title	Result
1999	Metro Radio Hit Song of the Year	"Left Right Hand"	Won
	Metro Radio Top 10 Hit Songs	"Left Right Hand"	Won

Hong Kong Film Awards

Year	Category	Film	Result
1983	Best Actor	Nomad	Nominated
1988	Best Actor	A Better Tomorrow 2	Nominated
	Best Original Film Song	A Chinese Ghost Story	Nominated
1989	Best Actor	Rouge	Nominated
1991	Best Actor	Days of Being Wild	Won
1994	Best Original Film Song	The Bride With White Hair	Nominated
1995	Best Actor	He's a Woman, She's a Man	Nominated
	Best Original Film Song	He's a Woman, She's a Man	Won
1996	Best Original Film Song	The Phantom Lover	Nominated
1997	Best Actor	Viva Erotica	Nominated
	Best Original Film Song	Who's the Woman, Who's the Man?	Nominated
1998	Best Actor	Happy Together	Nominated
2003	Best Actor	Inner Senses	Nominated

Golden Horse Awards

Year	Category	Film	Result
1991	Best Actor	Days of Being Wild	Nominated
1993	Best Original Song	The Bride With White Hair	Won
1994	Best Original Song	He's a Woman, She's a Man	Nominated
1995	Best Original Song	The Phantom Lover	Nominated
1996	Best Actor	Temptress Moon	Nominated
	Best Original Song	Temptress Moon	Nominated
	Best Original Song	Who's the Woman, Who's the Man?	Nominated
1997	Best Actor	Happy Together	Nominated
2000	Best Actor	Double Tap	Nominated
2002	Best Actor	Inner Senses	Nominated

Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards

Year	Category	Film	Result
1994	Best Actor	Ashes of Time	Won

Japan Film Critics Society

Year	Category	Film	Result
1994	Best Actor	Farewell My Concubine	Won

Cannes Film Festival

Year	Category	Film	Result
1993	Best Actor	Farewell My Concubine	Nominated
1996	Best Actor	Temptress Moon	Nominated
1997	Best Actor	Happy Together	Nominated

Asia Pacific Film Festival

Year	Category	Film	Result
1993	Best Actor	Days of Being Wild	Nominated

Venice Film Festival

Year	Category	Film	Result
1994	Best Actor	Ashes of Time	Nominated

Ming Pao Power Academy Awards

Year	Category	Nominated title	Result
2000	Honorary Award	Leslie Cheung	Won
	Outstanding Male Singer	Leslie Cheung	Won
2002	Best Actor	Inner Senses	Won

Discography

Main article: Leslie Cheung discography

Filmography

Main article: Leslie Cheung filmography

See also

• Cinema of Hong Kong
• Music of Hong Kong

Further reading

• Simon Broughton, Mark Ellingham, World Music Volume 2: Latin and North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, BBC Radio, 2000, ISBN 1-85828-636-0
• Kei Mori, "夢想之欠片 (Broken pieces of dreams)", Renga Shyobo Shinshya Co Ltd, Tokyo, Japan, 2004, ISBN 4-902603-55-1
• Chitose Shima, "Leslie Cheung Interview", All About Leslie, p25–40, Sangyo Henshu Center Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, 1999, ISBN 4-916199-10-3
• Chitose Shima, Time of Leslie Cheung, Sangyo Henshu Center Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, 2004, ISBN 4-916199-59-6
• City Entertainment Editor Committee, Leslie Cheung's Movie World 2 (1991–1995), City Entertainment, Hong Kong, 2006, ISBN 962-8114-98-0
• De Hui, Leslie Cheung's Movie Life I, II, Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House, Shanghai, 2006, ISBN 7-80678-557-4.

External links

• Leslie Cheung at IMDb
• Leslie Cheung Internet Fan Club Official website of the Leslie Cheung Internet Fan Club
• レスリー・チャン（張國榮）スマイル
• Leslie Cheung Cyberworld Official website of Red Mission, providing material on Cheung's music, movies, interviews, photos, etc.
• "Farewell, Leslie Cheung", Los Angeles City Beat by A. Klein (2003). Retrieved 17 December 2005