Alan Tam Wing-Lun, MH is a famous Hong Kong cantopop singer and film actor. During the early 1980s, he played a major role in developing the cantopop scene as he was famous for singing romantic ballad...

Alan Tam Wing-Lun, MH is a famous Hong Kong cantopop singer and film actor. During the early 1980s, he played a major role in developing the cantopop scene as he was famous for singing romantic ballads with modern arrangements. As of 2008, he is still active in the music industry, releasing new albums on a regular basis. Since the late 1980s, he serves as a mentor for the cantopop music industry, earning the nickname the "Principal" or "Principal Tam".[3] Today he is regularly seen across the media in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, and various parts of East Asia participating in all types of entertainment related events.
Contents
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* 1 Biography
* 2 Career
o 2.1 Early years
o 2.2 Solo singing
o 2.3 TV, films and acting
o 2.4 President of Artistes Guild
o 2.5 Business man
* 3 External links
* 4 References



Biography

Tam was born in 1950 to renowned football player Tam Kong-pak (譚江柏), who represented the Republic of China national team during the 1936 summer olympics.[4][5][6]

[edit] Career

[edit] Early years

Tam developed a passion for music in his secondary school years in Hong Kong. He formed a band called the "Looser" with his friends.[1] They subsequently entered an amateur singing contest and took the first prize to began a career in the entertainment industry, appearing in a number of TVB variety shows.[1] The group was disbanded, and he later reformed into the band The Wynners with Kenny Bee in 1973.[1][7] The group was later split up in 1978.[2]

Alan Tam himself established a foothold on the Cantopop scene with songs dating back to the late 1980s like 'Embrace' (擁抱), 'Flower in Water' (水中花), 'Half Dazed, Half Awoken' (半夢半醒) and the popular 'Love Trap' (愛情陷阱).

Tam started his career with The Wynners, a band which had Kenny Bee among its members. Tam was one of the two lead singers in the band for many years. His first album as a solo artist was 'Naughty Boy' (反斗星) in 1979. An early success would be the song 'Love in Autumn' (愛在深秋) first performed in 1984.

[edit] Solo singing

"Love Trap (愛情陷阱)"
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A fast tempo song with modernized arrangements in the 1980s by Alan Tam
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Tam's first album as a solo artist was "Naughty Boy" (反斗星) in 1979.[2] He would later perform successful songs such as "Love in Autumn" (愛在深秋) in 1984 or "Embrace" (擁抱), "Flower in Water" (水中花) or "Half Dazed, Half Awoken" (半夢半醒). In the 1981 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards he also won his first major individual song award.[8] His 1984 albums of (愛的根源), (霧之戀) and 1985 (愛情陷阱) formed a successful trilogy of albums.[2] In 1987 he made an announcement that he would not accept any more awards with competition involved.[2] Though he would continue to release albums for the next 30+ years.[9] From the span of 1981 to 1988, he consecutively won a top 10 song award every year.[10] This is in addition to winning a top 10 song award every year from 1983 to 1987 for the Jade solid gold awards.[11][12]

The Hong Kong press frequently reported on a fierce rivalry between Tam and fellow singer Leslie Cheung.[13] Although both artists are at peace with each other, it was the fans who created the unnecessary spectacle of a musical feud. Nonetheless, in the late 90's, both of the singers have brushed aside the previous doubts about their friendship and even appeared in galas and other special programs. In 1999, Leslie Cheung, together with other 17 singers, participated in the Album "Paying Tribute to Alan Tam" (誰可改變15週年紀念集) and collaborated to produce the single remix of Tam's popular songs "Illusion" (幻影) and "Foggy Love" (霧之戀).[14][13]

In 2003, he teamed up with fellow artist Hacken Lee for a major world tour titled "Left Alan Right Hacken" (左麟右李) that expanded from Hong Kong, Macau, mainland China, Southeast Asia to parts of Canada and United States.[2] The name of the tour is a clever spinoff of the Chinese phrase of the same pronunciation (左鄰右裡). Since 2006, he has also been helping his godson Kelvin Kwan establish a career in the Hong Kong pop industry.[15]

One of his signature fast song "Love Trap" (愛情陷阱) would earn him the 25th Anniversary Jade Solid Gold song honor award in 2006.[16] As early as 1995 he sold more than 20 million albums. By 2005 he has launched over 104 albums, 800 songs. In addition, he has taken part in 264 concerts, of which 189 were individual concerts.[2]

In 2007 he was the recipient of the 30th Hall of Fame Award from Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong (CASH) for his 30+ years contributions to the Hong Kong and Chinese music industry (以表揚他三十多年來對香港音樂創作及華人樂壇的貢獻).[3]

[edit] TV, films and acting

In the 1970s, Tam was hosting the variety show The Wynners Show and took part in the television drama Over the Rainbow.[1] He decided to pursue opportunities in Taiwan in 1980, and starred in renowned director Pai Ching-jui's A Girl Without Sorrow.[2] He subsequently starred in more than ten films in Taiwan including The Funny Couple and Part Time Job. He later starred in a number of films like Armour of God with Jackie Chan and Master Wong v. Master Wong which is a parody of legendary Canton kung fu fighter Wong Fei Hung. In 1981 Tam won the Best Actor award at the Golden Horse Awards for his role in If I Were For Real (假如我是真的).[2] His acting career was virtually retired from since the 1996 Age Of Miracles and 1997 Aces Going Places.[1]

[edit] President of Artistes Guild

On 11 January 2008, Tam was elected as president of the Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild.[17] Just a month after he was elected, the Edison Chen photo scandal caused a media storm in the industry. The Guild condemned the increasing circulation and uploading of obscene photos on the Internet. Tam was interviewed daily by different media on the handling of the case. He made the statement that "The circulation of such obscene photos has created a bad atmosphere in society."[18]

After the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Tam helped set up a relief committee to look after the livelihood and schooling of orphaned children. He was on a HK region committee along with Eric Tsang, Jackie Chan and Eason Chan.[19]

[edit] Business man

In 1997 an announcement was made at admiralty to launch a Star East Entertainment restaurant (東魅網) concept boasting 40 celebrity investors. It was one of the most publicised investment made by Tam in collaborations with actors Natalis Chan and Eric Tsang. [20] In 2000 a merger was made between Star East and Planet Hollywood.[21]

[edit] External links[edit]Last edit by Kazuha on Monday 19 Jan, 2009 at 19:08 +100%

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