Lee-Hom Wang
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| Lee-Hom Wang | ||||||||||
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 Lee-Hom Wang playing the piano at 2007 Heroes of Earth concert in Las Vegas. |
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| Chinese name | 王力宏 | |||||||||
| Pinyin | Wáng Lìhóng (Mandarin) | |||||||||
| Jyutping | Wong4 Lik6wang4 (Cantonese) | |||||||||
| Birth name | Alexander Lee-Hom Wang | |||||||||
| Ancestry | Yiwu, Zhejiang, China[1] | |||||||||
| Origin | Republic of China (Taiwan) | |||||||||
| Born | May 17, 1976 Rochester, New York, USA |
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| Occupation | Singer-songwriter, musician, actor, record producer, music arranger, commercial model | |||||||||
| Genre(s) | Mandopop, J-pop, R&B, hip hop, rock | |||||||||
| Instrument(s) | Piano, violin, drums, guitar, bass/electric guitar, erhu, vibraphone, harmonica, chinese flutes, etc. | |||||||||
| Voice type(s) | Tenor | |||||||||
| Label(s) | Sony BMG (1998–present) Decca Records (1996–1997) BMG Music (1995–1996) |
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| Years active | 1995–present | |||||||||
| Parents | David Wang (father) Mingshu Wang (mother) |
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| Influences | Stevie Wonder, Prince, Alicia Keys, Outkast, Missy Elliot, R. Kelly, The Neptunes[2] | |||||||||
| Official site | www.wangleehom.com | |||||||||
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Lee-Hom Wang is a four-time Golden Melody Award-winning American singer-songwriter and actor who has achieved highly recognized success in Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, and throughout Southeast Asia.
He coined the term "chinked-out" music to describe his music, which is heavily influenced by traditional Chinese music. Wang is managed by and records albums with Sony BMG Taiwan. Since 1995, Wang has contributed in over 25 albums, and has sold approximately 15 million records.[3] In addition to his music, Wang also participated in several films, his role in Ang Lee's Lust, Caution gaining the most attention. He is also an environmental activist, and was invited to be one of the first torchbearers for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, carrying the torch in Olympia, Greece on March 24, 2008. He was also invited to perform in the closing ceremonies. His album Change Me was dedicated to raising eco-awareness among Chinese youth. Wang was listed among "The 100 Most Inspiring Asian Americans of All Time" by Goldsea Asian American Daily.[4]
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[edit] Early life
Alexander Lee-Hom Wang was born in Rochester, New York, the second among 3 sons. At the age of six, Wang began to take violin lessons.[2] He attended Jefferson Road Elementary School, Pittsford Middle School, then Pittsford Sutherland High School in the town of Pittsford. Wang graduated from Pittsford Sutherland with high honors.[4]
Wang chose to attend Williams College, where he graduated with honors, double majoring in music and Asian Studies.[4][5] While in college he sang with the Springstreeters, an all-male a cappella group.[5] He continued his studies by attending Berklee College of Music's Professional Music program, with voice as his principal instrument.[2]
In 1995, he was signed to a professional recording contract while visiting his grandparents in Taiwan.[5] Since then, Wang has become one of the new songwriters and musicians revolutionizing the Chinese-language music industry. He is active in all areas of music production, from composing to producing, to music arrangement, to lyric writing, to directing his own music videos.
Although he did not begin learning Mandarin until he was 18, Wang is now fluent in the language (including reading and writing) and has written most of the lyrics for his songs.[5] Wang plays over 10 musical instruments. In his albums and live concerts, Wang can be heard playing piano, drums, guitar, bass, violin, vibraphone, erhu, xun, and more.
A classically trained music background enables Wang to pull from a variety of musical styles and continuously reinvent his own sound that is distinctly Chinese and western at the same time. For example, his 2005 release, Shangri-La drew heavily from R&B, dance pop, and the musics of Chinese ethnic minorities from Tibet, Mongolia, and Yunnan.
[edit] Career
[edit] 1995–1997
In 1995, during a summer trip to Taiwan, Wang's music talent was discovered.[5] His debut album Love Rival Beethoven (情敵貝多芬) was released by Decca Records in the winter of 1995, and received little limelight.
He was asked to leave his college study to pursue a full time singing career in Taiwan. Wang insisted to stay on to finish school, and at the same time, he was able to convince Decca Records to include some of his own writings in his next album. One of his writings became the title song or zhuda (Chinese: 主打; pinyin: zhǔ dǎ) for his second album If You Heard My Song (如果你聽見我的歌). Wang continued his study at Williams College, and released Missing You (好想你) during winter break of 1996 and White Paper (白紙) during summer of 1997. His music breakthrough did not come until a year later when Revolution (公轉自轉) was released after his graduation from Williams.
[edit] 1998–2002: Revolution
After graduating from college, Wang was able to devote his full attention to his music career. He signed with Sony BMG Taiwan[6] and released his fifth album, Revolution (公轉自轉) on August 21, 1998. The album became a huge success and won him numerous notable awards including Best Producer of the Year and Best Male Vocalist of the 10th Golden Melody Awards in 1999. He was just 23, making him the youngest person ever to win the award in either of the two categories.[7]
His sixth album Impossible to Miss You (不可能錯過你) was released 10 months later. It was just as successful as his previous album. Although he was nominated again for Best Male Vocalist at the 11th Golden Melody Awards he did not win the award this time. However, the interesting style of music Wang had incorporated in this album had attracted many new fans. Since his release of Revolution, each album Wang produced conveyed different styles of music and sounds, attracted numerous fans from different regions in Southeast Asia.
Although raised in New York, Wang always felt the deep root in his Chinese heritage. He started to incorporate Chinese sounds into his music. In his seventh album, Wang remade a popular Chinese song "Descendants of the Dragon" (traditional Chinese: 龍的傳人; pinyin: lóng de chuán rén) to include in his seventh album Forever's First Day (永遠的第一天). The song raised the pride of the young Chinese generation, soon became a must-sing song in all of his concerts.
His eighth album, The One and Only (唯一) marked the height of his star career. "The One and Only" (Chinese: 唯一; pinyin: wéi yī) became his signature song. The song has won him over 7 different prestigious awards and was on the Ringback Tone #1 Download Charts for over a year.
[edit] 2003–2006: Chinked-out
Having established himself as one of the most important, influential, and prolific artists in Chinese music, never repeating himself, Wang continued to invent and experiment with new sounds and voices.
His ninth album, Unbelievable marked a milestone in his career. Not only did the album heavily stress mainstream R&B and Hip Hop, it also sold more than 1.3 million copies in Asia and won him Best Producer of the Year again for the 15th Golden Melody Awards in 2004. The lead single of the album, "You're Not Here" (Chinese: 你不在; pinyin: nǐ bù zài) was ranked #1 in several music charts and stayed there for well over 10 weeks. Before the release of Unbelievable, Wang began his first world concert tour titled "Unbelievable". The concert tour received rave reviews from fans and critiques in all regions in Asia.
In his tenth album Shangri-La, released on the last day of 2004, Wang incorporated the often unheard music of Chinese aboriginal music into mainstream hip hop and coined this style "chinked-out". He experimented with the tribal sounds of China, Tibet, and Mongolia, traveled to remote villages, carrying 15 kg of equipment while fighting bouts of altitude and food sickness. Despite the derogatory nature of the term "chink," Wang had wanted to repossess the term and "make it cool."[2] Within ten days of its release, Shangri-La sold past an outstanding 40,000 copies, an excellent start as the first album to be sold in Taiwan of 2005.[8] Within a month, the album sold over 300,000 copies.[9]
Continuing the "chinked-out spirit" by infusing elements of Beijing opera and Kunqu into the songs, Heroes of Earth was released on December 30, 2005. Heroes of Earth was his eleventh album. He collaborated with American rapper Jin and Korean artists Rain and Lim Jeong Hee and again won himself Best Male Vocalist in the 17th Golden Melody Awards in 2006. Heroes of Earth impressively broke the record of selling more than 1 million copies ten days after its release.[10] The album stayed at first place in the G-Music Charts for 6 weeks.[11]. Ultimately, the album stayed in the charts for a total of 23 weeks and became third for the most sold album in Taiwan of 2006.[12]
[edit] 2007: Change Me
In the summer of 2007, Wang released his much anticipated 12th album, Change Me. The album was released on Friday, July 13, disregarding the superstition generally attached to Friday the 13th.[13]. Through this album, Leehom promotes the issue of global warming and social awareness. The packaging of the CD uses recycled paper and contains no plastic. Wang believes that little changes in each person can affect the world. The CD also came with a pair of reusable metal chopsticks in a pouch. This is also to promote environmental awareness.
Wang's first promotional single album for the new album, "Falling Leaf Returns to Roots" (traditional Chinese: 落葉歸根; pinyin: luòyè guī gēn) gave its world premiere at Hito Radio on June 20, 2007. The music style is very different from Wang's previous singles. Wang had said that the inspiration behind the song was due to the influence of his portrayal of Kuang Yumin in the film Lust, Caution.[14] The song accompanies melodic violin and piano solos. In addition, Leehom collaborated with Selina Ren, a member of the famous Taiwan girl group S.H.E in "You're a song in my heart" (Chinese: 你是我心内的一首歌; pinyin: nǐ shì wǒ xīn nèi de yī shǒu gē). For this song, Wang sings a few lines in Taiwanese, which was a bit of a challenge for him because of he is not fluent in Taiwanese.[citation needed] Wang learned some Taiwanese in order to help deal with this challenge.[citation needed]
In August 2008, Wang sought US$320,000 in damages for plagiarism by Pritam, an Indian composer. The lead song for the movie Race, composed by Pritam, was allegedly copied from "Deep Within the Bamboo Grove" (traditional Chinese: 竹林深處; pinyin: zhú lín shēnchù).[15]
Wang was announced as conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra's 2008 annual grand finale for four concerts over three days. He was the first Asian pop musician ever to conduct the orchestra.[16]
[edit] 2008: Heart Beat
In December 2008, Wang released the album Heart Beat (traditional Chinese: 心．跳; pinyin: xīn tìao).[17] This album includes a track with Jane Zhang, a Mandarin artist who is high on the list of collaboration partners for male artists.[citation needed] He demonstrates a new style with the album's main focus going on the electric guitar, as he uses it for the majority of his tracks, and the album in general focuses more on the rock genre than his previous albums.[original research?]
[edit] Musical style
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Wang's music ranges greatly from album to album. Although he is classified as an R&B artist, Wang demonstrates competence with many styles of music ranging from traditional Mandopop, Broadway, jazz, rock, R&B, gospel, acoustic, Indipop, hip-hop, to rap. Much of the styles were infused with Chinese flavor.
When he first debuted, he sang old school pop and acoustic R&B ballads. Starting from Revolution (公轉自轉), Wang began to test out R&B pop music, but quickly jumped to a quirky style of dance pop for Impossible to Miss You (不可能錯過你). Starting from Forever's First Day (永遠的第一天), Wang began composing rock songs with heavy electric guitar melodies and less emphasis on dance pop. Nonetheless, Wang still concentrated in light R&B music. The One and Only (唯一) became Wang's only fully produced rock album.
Unbelievable began a new road of music for Wang. Aside from the usual R&B grove, Wang contributed hip hop and rap that was not clearly emphasized in his past albums. "Not Your Average Thug" was a newly composed R&B style with huge American influence. "Can You Feel My World" was a different style of R&B, and the song contained huge uses of the piano and violin as the accompaniment. Fast dance songs like "Ya Birthday" and "Girlfriend" (Chinese: 女朋友; pinyin: nǚ péngyǒu) incorporated rapid rap and heavy drum rhythms. "Girlfriend" included a heavily emphasised chinese flute and a music style that is influenced by Indipop.
Shangri-La was the first chapter of Wang's new style, chinked-out. Chinked-out is a new kind of musical style developed by Wang that involves modern "west" music of R&B, Hip Hop, rap, and Dance, along with "east" music of heavy Chinese instrument influences, more notably the koudi, tuhu, and ijac. "Deep Within the Bamboo Grove" (traditional Chinese: 竹林深處; pinyin: zhú lín shēnchù) emphasized the music of different minority tribes in Yunnan and other remote areas of China.
Then, I coined the term chinked-out. Derived from the historically derogatory racial slur chink, used to put-down Chinese people, chinked-out reclaims the word, turns its negative connotations upside-down, and uses them as material to fuel the new sound of this music. The term describes an effort to create a sound that is international, and at the same time, Chinese. In this album, I decided to implement some of China's most precious and untapped resources, the musics of its shaoshu minzu [少數民族], or ethnic minorities, concentrating on the regions of Yunnan, Shangri-La, Tibet, Xinjiang, and Mongolia. This is not one of those world music CDs. It's an R&B/hip hop album that creates a new vibe the whole world can identify as being Chinese.
– Lee-Hom Wang on Shangri-La[18]
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Heroes of Earth displayed a different side to chinked out. Instead of ethnic minority music, Wang focused on Beijing opera and Kunqu. Leehom used instruments such as the erhu, guqin, and guzheng to infuse his new album with another side of traditional Chinese sound. "Beside the Plum Blossoms" (traditional Chinese: 在梅邊; pinyin: zài méi biān) dealt with fast kunqu melodies. In the last 50 seconds of the song, Wang rapped over 250 words, increasing in speed towards the middle and then slowed down. This was to emphasize the accelerating and descending beats of traditional Chinese opera.
Nonetheless, Wang is still very notable for his modern love ballads like "Forever Love" and "Kiss Goodbye", both which are sung with piano and string instrument accompaniments. A new song, "Dramas of the East" (traditional Chinese: 戲出東方; pinyin: xì chū dōngfāng), was released as the theme song for a TV program in mainland China, 非常有戲 (Fei Chang You Xi), on April 6, 2007. The song included Beijing opera with rap and pop rock, previewing Wang's new turn in his music.
[edit] Film career
Wang had displayed interest in acting when he starred in several musical plays when he was in high school and college. In 2000, Wang made his film debut by acting as Alex Cheung in a Hong Kong-based film, China Strike Force, starring alongside Aaron Kwok, Norika Fujiwara, and Ruby Lin. Hong Kong critics had remarked Wang for giving a well-toned performance as his first film, and then granted him as the first male lead in another Hong Kong-based film, The Avenging Fist, acting alongside Stephen Fung, Gigi Leung, and Kristy Yeung. The movie was released in Hong Kong cinemas in December 2001. Wang acted in two Japanese films, Moon Child (2003) and Starlit High Noon (2005).
The major breakthrough in his film career was in Lust, Caution, directed and produced by Academy Award winner Ang Lee. It was his first Mandarin-language film. The film is based on a novella written by Eileen Chang and revolves around a plot to assassinate a high-ranking Chinese official in the Wang Jingwei Government using a beautiful young woman as bait. Wang plays Kuang Yumin, a patriotic college student who persuades Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei) to seduce Mr. Yee (Tony Leung). The film was released in the U.S. cinemas on 28 September 2007. Lust, Caution was produced on a budget of approximately $15 million and grossed $64,574,876 worldwide.[19]
In 2009, Wang was selected to star with Jackie Chan in Big Soldier, Small General (also called Junior Soldiers).[20]
[edit] Endorsements
In 2006, Wang became Yamaha spokesperson for Yes! Yamaha Motors. Wang is Sony Ericsson's main spokesperson; the songs "Mistake in the Flower Fields" (花田錯) and "Kiss Goodbye" were promotional singles for Sony Ericsson's various new mobile models. Wang has endorsed for China's Wahaha Water for 8 years. Wang began endorsing Coca-Cola alongside S.H.E, Wilber Pan, Liu Xiang, and Shawn Yue in 2007, McDonald's since 2003, and Bausch & Lomb since 2007.
[edit] Participation in 2008 Beijing Olympic Games
Wang was chosen as one of the few Chinese torchbearers to run in Greece. Wang was torchbearer number 17 on March 24, the first day of the torch relay. He also attended the torch lighting ceremony before his run. Wang took the torch from Liu Hongliang, son of the first Chinese to attend the Olympic games, Liu Changchun. Wang represented the newest generation of singers from Taiwan and China. He was chosen mainly because he is devoted to helping save the environment, as shown in his latest album Change Me.[1]
Another reason he was chosen is due to Wang's enthusiasm in the 2008 Olympic Games Theme Songs Competition. His single One World One Dream was chosen as a Olympic Games participation song. The single was written, sung, produced, and scored entirely by himself. Wang sang along with Jackie Chan, Stephanie Sun, and Han Hong in the song for "The One Man Olympics" which was about the first Chinese to be in the Olympics. Wang also sang in the 100 days countdown theme song Beijing Welcomes You. He also sang along side Stefanie Sun, Wang Feng，and Jane Zhang in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Torch Relay Theme Song, Light The Passion Share The Dream. He is also one of the candidates on vote for performer of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Theme Song. In the closing ceremony, he sang "Beijing Beijing, I Love Beijing" alongside Hong Kong singer Kelly Chen and Korean singer Rain.
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Language |
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| 2007 | Lust, Caution (Chinese: 色，戒; pinyin: Sè, Jiè) | Kuang Yumin (鄺裕民) | Mandarin |
| 2005 | Starlit High Noon (真昼ノ星空) | Lian Song (梁嵩) | Japanese |
| 2003 | Moon Child (月光游俠) | Son (孫定賢) | Japanese |
| 2001 | The Avenging Fist (拳神) | Nova (山之光) | Cantonese |
| 2000 | Ashes to Ashes: Against Smoking (煙飛煙滅) | Dave | Cantonese |
| 2000 | China Strike Force (雷霆戰警) | Alex Cheung | Cantonese |
| 1999 | The Iron Giant (鐵巨人) | Dean McCoppin | Mandarin voiceover |
[edit] Awards
[edit] Bibliography
- December 18, 2001: The One and Only - The Official Piano and Vocal Score (唯一樂譜書) (Piano and Vocal Score)
- March 20, 2003: Accidental Biography (純屬意外) (Biography; Piano and Vocal Score)
- October 15, 2003: Portrait of a Love Song (Photobook; Prose and Biography) [Japan Release]
- November 15, 2005: Shangri-La - The Official Piano and Vocal Score (心中的日月樂譜書) (Piano and Vocal Score)
- June 9, 2006: "Heroes Of TOKYO" (Photobook) [Japan Release]
[edit] References
- ^ a b (Chinese) ""义乌老乡"王力宏接力奥运火炬 Yiwu native Lee-Hom Wang receives Olympic torch". Yahoo! China. 2008-03-24. http://xk.cn.yahoo.com/articles/080324/1/99wc.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-06.
- ^ a b c d "Wang Lee Hom TalkAsia Transcript". CNN. 2006-06-16. http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/06/16/talkasia.wang.script/index.html. Retrieved on 2008-07-30.
- ^ "Talk Asia meets Wang Leehom". CNN. 2009-01-14. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/01/09/ta.wangleehom/index.html#cnnSTCText. Retrieved on 2009-01-23.
- ^ a b c "Pop Star Leehom Wang". Goldsea Asian American Daily. http://www.goldsea.com/Personalities/Inspiring/leehom.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-06.
- ^ a b c d e Park, Andrea (2008-04-16). "Springstreeter turns Chinese superstar". The Williams Record. http://record.williams.edu/record/archives-articles/2008/04/16/seek/299/. Retrieved on 2008-12-06.
- ^ :: 新力博德曼音樂 :: SONY BMG Music Entertainment (Taiwan) ::
- ^ Ma, Yujun (2006-08-24). "王力宏10月21日本地举办演唱会". Lianhe Zaobao. http://stars.zaobao.com/pages3/wanglihong060824.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-03.
- ^ (Chinese) [1] (Lee-Hom's album becomes top seller) 2005-01-09, 2005. Retrieved 2007-06-07
- ^ (Chinese) [2] (Shangri-La becomes a revolution) 2005-03-01. Retrieved 2007-06-07
- ^ (Chinese) [3] (Heroes of Earth Surpasses 1,000,000 Copies) 2006-01-09. Retrieved 2007-06-01.
- ^ (Chinese) [4] (G-Music Charts, Week 5 of 2006)
- ^ (Chinese) [5] (Top 20 Albums of 2006).
- ^ (Chinese) [6] (Top Upcoming Albums of 2007)
- ^ (Chinese) [7] (Leehom's New Single To Premiere At HitFM)
- ^ "Race song in plagiarism row". NDTV. 2008-08-06. http://music.ndtv.com/story.asp?id=ENTEN20080060353. Retrieved on 2008-08-11.
- ^ (Chinese) Dong, Wen (2008-11-10). "王力宏荣幸担纲香港管弦乐团 年度压轴指挥家 Lee-Hom Wang to conduct the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra annual grand finale". Sohu.
- ^ "专辑：王力宏《心跳(预购版)》 (Album: Wang Leehom "Heartbeat")". Sina. 8 December 2008. http://ent.sina.com.cn/y/d/2008-12-08/14392285465.shtml. Retrieved on 10 December 2008. (Chinese)
- ^ "寫給聽眾的話". WangLeeHom.com. 2004-12-21. http://www.wangleehom.com/news/archives/2004/12/cecce.htm. Retrieved on 2007-05-31.
- ^ "Lust, Caution". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=lustcaution.htm. Retrieved on 2008-08-16.
- ^ "成龙20年“小将”熬成“大兵” (Over 20 years, Jackie Chan goes from "small general" to "big soldier")". NetEase. 3 April 2009. http://news.163.com/09/0403/03/55UO4OBG000120GU.html. Retrieved on 11 April 2009. English translation.
[edit] Further reading
- Hu, Brian (7 September 2007). "Leehom's Roots Music". UCLA Asia Institute. http://www.asiaarts.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=77393. Retrieved on 10 December 2008.
- Le, Han (23 May 2007). The Chineseness Constructed in Leehom Wang's "Chinked-Out" Music: Hybridized Texts and Meanings of Chinese Hip-Hop. International Communication Association. http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p168830_index.html.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lee-Hom Wang |
- (English) (Chinese) Lee-Hom Wang official website
- Sony Music: Taiwan Japan
- Lee-Hom Wang at the Internet Movie Database
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