Leslie Cheung

Upon returning to Hong Kong, Cheung went back to high school as a mature student and formed a band, where he was the lead singer, with his classmates. In May 1977, the band members signed up individually for Rediffusion Television (RTV)'s Asian Singing Contest. Only Cheung remained until the final round of the Hong Kong division, where he finished as the first runner-up with a rendition of "American Pie".[18] He proceeded to the pan-Asian division, finishing fifth.[15] Soon after the competition, RTV offered Cheung a three-year contract as a second-rate actor for RTV.[19] He also signed with Polydor Records with hopes of releasing music albums.[15]

Cheung's career in show business did not take off immediately. His first film role was in Erotic Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓春上春, 1978), a softcore porn production that features his bare buttocks.[7] His first two albums were solely recorded in English, and his third album, Lover's Arrow (情人箭, 1979) was recorded in Cantonese.[19] The albums failed commercially, and critics lambasted Cheung's voice as "chicken-like".[18] Cheung's first public performance at the 1977 Hong Kong Pop Folk Music Festival was booed off the stage by the audience.[15] He described his early days into show business as "full of uncertainty ... I remember well that my singing career at the early stage was like 'a person running into a rock', full of despair and obstacles."[18] Seeing little potential in Cheung, Polydor allowed him to depart on his own terms.[15]

Cheung signed with Capital Artists, a record label closely associated with the then-dominant television network TVB, in 1982. His first hit single, "The Wind Blows On" (風繼續吹; 1982), is a cover version of Momoe Yamaguchi's Japanese single "The Other Side of Goodbye" (さよならの向こう側). The song was successful on charts, revitalising Cheung's image as a Cantopop singer.[19] The titular album was Cheung's first to be certified gold by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) Hong Kong.[20] His second album with Capital, Craziness (一片痴, 1983), is a compilation of songs he recorded for TVB dramas.[21] The album was also a success, receiving a gold certification from the IFPI Hong Kong.[22] He continued his movie crossover with roles mostly in teenage films, and earned his first major recognition for starring in Nomad (1982).[23] While Cheung had already been a well-known actor with likeable personae in TVB productions, his role as a disillusioned teenager in Nomad foresaw his future reputation as an icon of rebel.[24] The role garnered Cheung a nomination for Best Actor at the 1983 Hong Kong Film Awards.[19]

The year 1984 was when Cheung achieved mass stardom. He released the hit single "Monica", a cover of the single by Japanese singer Kōji Kikkawa. The song topped charts in Hong Kong[25] and was one of the 10 gold-certified songs honoured at TVB's 1984 Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards[26] and the 1984 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards.[27] The song's upbeat dance production introduced a new musical trend to Cantopop, in addition to the traditional sentimental ballads that had dominated the scene.[25] Cheung's 1984 self-titled album, which included "Monica", was his first to be certified platinum by the IFPI Hong Kong and sold over 200,000 copies.[25][28] He starred in the TVB drama Once Upon an Ordinary Girl (儂本多情) and the film Behind the Yellow Line. In the latter, he co-starred with actress Maggie Cheung and singer-actress Anita Mui. Both productions were commercially successful and put Cheung into the limelight as a prominent entertainer.[25] As Cheung's fame expanded, the media began to pit him against fellow singer-actor Alan Tam, as the two were the most successful male Cantopop singers at the moment. The publicised so-called rivalry contributed to Cantopop's booming sales and lasted until the end of the 1980s.[29]

Cheung's next albums with Capital were met with similar success. For Your Heart Only (為你鍾情, 1985) yielded the hit single "Wild Wind" (不羈的風), which was among the 10 gold-certified songs honoured at both TVB's Jade Solid Gold and RTHK Top 10 awards. The album also included songs Cheung recorded for TVB dramas, propelling his image as a romantic male lead.[25] His 1986 single "Who Feels the Same?" (有誰共鳴) won the Gold Song Gold Award, the distinction for the most popular song of the year, at TVB's Jade Solid Gold Awards. With this achievement, Cheung became an arguably undisputed royalty of Cantopop.[30] After the release of "Who Feels the Same?", he left Capital and joined Cinepoly Records.[25] A turning point in his burgeoning acting career was in the John Woo-directed 1986 crime-action A Better Tomorrow, in which he co-starred with Ti Lung and Chow Yun-fat. He played a youthful and impulsive police officer torn between justice and his criminal brother.[23]

Cheung's career ascended to a new peak in 1987,[25] when he released his first album under Cinepoly, Summer Romance. The album was the best-selling Cantopop release of the year, earning seven times platinum certification from the IFPI Hong Kong and sold over 350,000 copies.[31] Its lead single, "Sleepless Night" (無心睡眠), won the Gold Song Gold Award at the 1987 Jade Solid Gold Awards.[25] The next two albums, Virgin Snow and Hot Summer, both were released in 1988 and sold well, receiving gold and platinum certifications from the IFPI Hong Kong.[25][28] He also had starring roles in the films A Chinese Ghost Story and Rouge.[16][32] The performance of Cheung and his co-star Anita Mui in Rouge consolidated the pair's reputation as the top Hong Kong entertainers.[33] Yiu-wai Chu, author of the book Hong Kong Cantopop: A Concise History (2017), noted that Cheung and Mui formed an "unprecedented" chemistry showcasing "mystic power of charisma", not only in films but also on stage performances together.[32] The two were also close friends in real life.[34]

Cheung embarked on a 23-date tour at the Hong Kong Coliseum in mid-1988, sponsored by Pepsi. The tour was a sold-out and accumulated over 250,000 spectators.[35] He also held several shows catering to the Chinese community in North America, visiting Atlantic City, Calgary, Toronto, and Vancouver.[36] In the wake of the intense political atmosphere in mainland China in the late 1980s, which would culminate in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, successful Cantopop singers announced public withdrawal from the music industry and emigrated to western countries. Cheung followed suit, announcing his "retirement" from Cantopop and emigrating to Vancouver, Canada in 1989.[37] Prior to his retirement, Cheung released three further albums under Cinepoly—Leslie '89, Salute, Final Encounter—all of which received platinum certifications from the IFPI Hong Kong.[28] He won Most Popular Male Artist twice, at the 1988 and 1989 Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards.[38][39] His "farewell concert tour", in support of the album Final Encounter, ran for 33 consecutive sold-out shows at the Hong Kong Coliseum.[32] Cheung donated profits of his 1989 album Salute to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, which was named the Leslie Cheung Memorial Scholarship after his death.[40]

Cheung's role in Days of Being Wild, directed by Wong Kar-wai (pictured), earned him a Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor

In addition to music, Cheung had his breakthrough movie role in the crime-action A Better Tomorrow (1986), which would pave the way for his upcoming career in cinema.[41] Cheung announced his "retirement" and emigrated to Canada in 1989,[42] in the aftermath of the handover of Hong Kong, but subsequently returned to show business in 1990.

He also won Best Actor at the 1994 Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards in the comedy-drama Ashes of Time (1994).[43]

The turning point in Cheung's acting career came in 1986 with his starring role in John Woo's (吳宇森) A Better Tomorrow,[44] which broke Hong Kong's box office record. In the following years Cheung was praised for his performances in films which found popularity with audiences worldwide, including A Chinese Ghost Story (1987), Rouge (1987), Wong Kar-Wai's Days of Being Wild (1991) and Farewell My Concubine (1993).[45]

Although Cheung quit his career as a pop singer from 1989 to 1995, he continued his music career as a songwriter. 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 film The Bride with White Hair (as a film score composer). In 1995, he wrote all three theme songs for the film The Phantom Lover. As for songwriting, 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.[46]

Cheung at a 1997 concert

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.[47][48]

In 2001 Cheung collaborated with William Chang, the art director of Wong Kar-Wai's Days of Being Wild (1991), to make his music video Bewildered, about the intimacy between two gay men.[49] Japanese ballet dancer Nishijima Kazuhiro played Cheung's lover in the video.[49] The music video was demonised for advocating homosexuality and was banned by TVB, but Cheung refused to edit the scenes and censor himself.[49]

Cheung's last concert tour was the Passion Tour, which took place in Hong Kong and overseas from 2000 to 2001. Cheung collaborated with fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier, transforming Cheung "From Angel to Devil" in four costumes: the Angel, the Pretty Boy, the Latin Lover, and the Devil – denoting cross-cultural drag and focusing on Cheung's androgyny and bisexuality.[49] Although Passion Tour was acclaimed in Japan, Korea, and Canada for Cheung's glamour and dignity in using drag performance through Gaultier's costume designs, in Hong Kong it was received with disapproval.[49] His final concert tour, the Passion Tour (2000–01), visited Asia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The tour broke attendance records throughout Asia, including a record for the first foreign artist to hold 16 concerts in Japan.[50]

While Cheung could sell well over 200,000 copies for an album in his 1980s heyday, his later albums struggled to match the same success, only 50,000 copies each.[51]

In 2011, CCTV commented the "Passion Tour" that from performance form, art concept, costume props and audience response, all represent the highest standard of Chinese concerts, no one has ever surpassed.[49]

Leslie Cheung moved to Vancouver in 1990 and became a Canadian citizen by naturalisation.[57]

Cheung was a supporter of several charities concerning children's welfare. He was a patron of the Children's Cancer Foundation, a charity that cares for young children with cancer and their families. Cheung donated HK$1 million (US$128,000) in 1996 and launched five sets of RED cards to help raise funds for the Children's Cancer Foundation.[58]

He was the first Cantopop star to launch a charity fundraising at a concert. In 1996, although he rarely sang in public at that time, he sang three theme songs from his films to raise money for the elderly.[59]

For his 1997 concert at the HK Coliseum, Cheung set up a collection booth for the RED Card charity. Donations of HK$100 or above could obtain a set of cards. Cheung said, "I will lead the way, so I donated HK$1,000,000 to Hong Kong children's cancer fund in my own name." The concert raised more than HK$800,000, to which Cheung and his friends added more than HK$100,000, and made up a million Hong Kong dollars to donate to the cancer fund.[60]

He was also a patron of the End Child Sexual Abuse Foundation (ECSAF) (護苗基金), founded by veteran actress Josephine Siao (蕭芳芳).

In 1999, at a party to raise relief funds in the aftermath of the Taiwan earthquake, Cheung participated in a fried rice tasting event. He donated HK$250,000 for a bowl of rice; this was matched by fan donations, bringing the total to HK$500,000.[61]

In 2000, Sun Entertainment opened the "Star Second-hand Shop", where second-hand goods donated by celebrities were auctioned to raise money for the "Sun Love Fund". Leslie Cheung was known for his very good fashion sense and he was the first to donate three well-loved, carefully selected pieces to the auction.[62] Leslie also donated his beloved badminton racket to IDclub Taiwan, to be auctioned to raise money for the children's cancer fund.[63]

In 1999 and 2000, he appeared in TVB charity shows to help raise funds for ECSAF, in which he was appointed a goodwill ambassador in 2002.[64]

In 2003, Cheung donated HK$100,000 to the Seedling protection fund, who were holding a large-scale charity night on the 12th of March. He told his party guests to give him cash instead of presents, then he donated all of the money that he received to the fund.[65]

Cheung is well known for his prominent roles portraying queer characters in Happy Together and Farewell My Concubine.[70] A pair of red high heels Cheung wore during a performance of his song Red were described as "a top draw"[86] at an exhibit on androgynous fashion in Hong Kong. Many media outlets focused primarily on arguing about his queer identity instead of on his artistic achievement in film and music.[49] Before his death, Cheung mentioned in interviews that he had become depressed because of negative comments about gender-crossing in his Passion Tour concert.[49] He had planned to retire from stage performance because of the strain of being a bisexual artist in Hong Kong, facing stigmatisation, surveillance, and marginalisation.[49]

In 2018, 55383 Cheungkwokwing was named in memory of Leslie Cheung. The main-belt asteroid was discovered by Bill Yeung at the Desert Eagle Observatory in 2003.