Raymond Tham catches the God of Songs on his one-day stopover in Singapore to promote his latest Cantonese album, Life is like a Dream, and finds out how life has been a dream for him.

By Raymond Tham • UrbanWire
Additional reporting and photos by Chen Weili
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Exactly 20 years ago, a young man stood out from more than 10,000 contestants who took part in the 18 Hong Kong Districts Amateur Singing Contest. Singing "Fatherland", the 23-year-old swept his competition aside and was instantly offered a contract by scouts from Polygram Records (now Universal Music Group). The young man's name was Cheung Hok-Yau, but most know him to be Jacky Cheung or Zhang Xue You.

A true legend in the Chinese and Cantonese music industry, Jacky had to wait till 1991, for his single, "Loving You A Little More Every day", to propel him to the megastar that he is today. Ballads like "Goodbye Kiss" and "Love Letter" have tugged at the heartstrings of many, earning him the tag of "King of Chinese Love Songs".

Among his accolades include being named the "Chinese Artiste of the World" at the 1995 World Music Awards ceremony in Monte Carlo, and also becoming the first Hong Kong singer to be successful in the Chinese market when the album, Goodbye Kiss, which sold more than 1 million copies in Taiwan alone.

During the press conference in Singapore to promote his latest album, Life is like a Dream, Jacky spoke in Mandarin about the challenge of writing all his songs for this album, his family life, dreams, and his views on the Chinese's music industry today.

Writing Songs - A dream or a nightmare?

While Jacky has written songs for his albums before, this is the first time that the whole album will be entirely made up of his own compositions.

He said, "Writing songs is almost like an outlet for me to release certain feelings. Last year especially, many unfortunate incidents happened in Hong Kong and having this outlet is a great relief for me.

"When you write your own songs, you can be able to feel the song from its conception till its final product, and there is a certain sense of satisfaction when you realise that you actually created something."

However, Jacky also freely admitted that he wasn't the greatest songwriter in the world.

"I wrote more than 20 songs and about 10 of them are not in the album... about 3 or 4 of those are so terrible that I would be embarrassed to release them," he joked.

For Life is like a Dream, his first after a three-year hiatus, Jacky drew inspiration from current affairs, his friends, and most importantly, his family members. Notable tracks on the album include, "Tell You" (track 9) - a love song dedicated to his wife, and "To My Friends" - a sad yet beautiful tribute, which begins with a tear-jerking voice-over.

Family life is like a dream

While he started singing for the public at a tender age of 13, Jacky feels that his 3-year-old daughter shouldn't be placed under undue pressure.

"I don't want her to be pressured or be treated differently just because she's Jacky Cheung's daughter... right now the only thing she knows is that I am a performer...as a parent, I think that protecting your child is an obligation that every single parent must undertake."

Not surprising, as Jacky has a reputation among his fans and the media industry as a devoted family man. Married in 1996, Jacky has never neglected his obligations to his record company, his fans and his family.

"Being an artiste doesn't mean that I should sacrifice my family or my personal life. No artiste should."

Dreams can come true

Jacky admitted that ever since he was a child, he had dreamt about becoming a singer.

"Becoming an artiste was a dream for me, and at first I thought it was just going to be wishful thinking on my part. I guess, sometimes dreams do come true."

Does Jacky then have any advice to many young hopefuls dreaming to become a recording artiste one day?

"I would say 'Stop dreaming' and go and pursue your dream instead of letting it stay a dream forever. Go and really live every day of your life."

Jacky's views about the Chinese music industry

20 years on, Jacky has become one of the most respected artistes in the Chinese music industry, with fans not only in Asia, but in North America and Europe as well.

However, Jacky feels that the industry has changed a lot since he signed his first professional contract in 1984.

"Nowadays in Hong Kong, a lot of performers do not rely on their singing to sell records. Also those who can sing really well don't automatically mean good record sales... There are also a lot of so-called singers who come out with more advertisements and movies than they do albums... there's nothing wrong with appearing in advertisements and acting in movies, but when your primary job is singing, that is what you should focus more on."

The only reason why Jacky feels so strongly about the subject is because he considers it an obligation to promote the Chinese music industry to the entire world. In February "Goodbye Kiss" was released in the latest album by Danish band, Michael Learns to Rock, who covered it as "Take Me to Your Heart".

He said, "I feel very honoured and happy that foreigners are listening to Chinese music. It shows that they have realised the potential that we have."

While sceptics believe that actions like those taken by Michael Learns to Rock were used to break into the large Chinese market, Jacky feels that it is secondary compared to how the Chinese music industry could profit.

"Hopefully more Chinese songs will be covered by more artistes around the world... it doesn't really matter what their intentions are, but importantly, it shows that they recognise the songwriters here and it could lead to better things in the future."