with Hins Cheung

Barely into 2009 and loving the variety and great new people I’m working with.   I was the opening act here for “Canto popstar” Hins Cheung 張敬軒. I’m leery to call him that because this guy is actually the real deal - a very talented songwriter and musician with an excellent voice - far from what I usually consider most Cantopop singers to be.  He also happens to be nice, speaks surprisingly good English and has accomplished much success across Asia and beyond, which is quite a feat since he comes from Guangzhou, China, not exactly a music hotspot.

We had fun filming our opening video together then while I got ready for the show he had meet ‘n greet with all the sponsors and contest-winning fans; Hins’ schedule is very demanding.  In fact, this led to a bit of a commotion post-concert because he cut his encores short so he could catch a late flight to Toronto where he had another concert the very next night.  Some fans complained he should have sang longer and the hoopla even reached as far as the entertainment pages in the Hong Kong news!  Ya know, I heard the same thing about Madonna’s concerts last fall, so I guess it’s at least good to be wanted for more?!  (Not that I would know… I had to give up my ticket to see Madonna in Vegas last Nov. ‘cuz I got booked to film a tv commercial for Sylvan Learning that same weekend.  Murphy’s Law indeed, but I’m glad I stayed ‘cuz I love my work, the ad airs a lot and funny enough I filmed with the sister of the lil’ girl in my “Under the Bed” spot for BC Cancer).

Back to Madonna.  I loved singing the Anita Mui 梅艷芳 version of “Careless Whisper”, half of it, that is.  I like to begin singing in English then surprise the audience by switching to Cantonese.  Mui Yim-fong, known as “Madonna of Asia”, died far too young at the age of 40 but made such an impact with her talents and low, dramatic voice.

Today’s version of an Asian Madonna would probably be A-mei 張惠妹 and for the Hins concert I finally learned her Mandarin dance song “Bad Boy”.  Had fun onstage with dancer/choreographer Raphael Wong; we’ve done lots of shows together and he’s a good guy.  Years ago I was part of a huge outdoor concert in Taipei with tons of Asian superstars performing.  I knew I’d have dancers backing me up while I sang and assumed the cute girl with platform boots putting sparkles on her face next to me was one of them.  Imagine my shock when the producer informed me that “apart from Andy Lau she is the biggest star here - that’s A-MEI don’t you know?!!”  Oops.  The crowd of 30,000 went nuts when she came out onstage to sing just before my turn.  Hey, does that mean A-mei opened for ME?!