Anita Mui

Her siblings are Mui Kai-Ming (1952–), Mui Tak-Ming (1953–2015) and Ann Mui (1959–2000), who was also a singer.

The children were raised in a single parent family.

Mui's father died when she was very young.

In some of her interviews, Mui mentioned that she had little memory of her father and the family were very poor.

This meant that she had to help provide for her siblings at an early age, dropping out of school at the age of 13 or 14.

More hardship followed the family when the bar that her mother ran was destroyed by a fire.

To earn a living, Mui entered show business around the age of four with her sister Ann.

She performed Chinese operas and pop songs in theatres and on the streets.

Both Mui and her elder sister Ann performed in practically any nightclub that offered them a chance to make a living.

At the age of 15, due to the frequency of performances at different venues (up to six venues per day) that she had, her voice was affected due to the development of nodules on her vocal cords.

Following the advice of the doctor, she took a year off and to keep herself occupied, she attended art lessons with her cousin.

After a year, she started performing again despite the change in her vocal range, which lowered her voice by an octave.

Anita Mui Yim-fong (10 October 1963 – 30 December 2003) was a Hong Kong singer and actress who made major contributions to the Cantopop music scene and received numerous awards and honours.

She remained an idol throughout her career, and is regarded as a Cantopop diva.

She was dubbed as the "daughter of Hong Kong" and is considered one of the most iconic Cantopop singers.

Mui once held a sold-out concert in Hammersmith, London, England, where she was dubbed the "Madonna of the East" (東方麥當娜), which brought her to further international fame.

That title stayed with her throughout her career, in both Eastern and Western media.

In the 1980s, the gangtai style of music was revolutionised by Mui's wild dancing and on-stage femininity.

She was famed for her outrageous costumes and high-powered performances in tandem with contralto vocals, which are rare in female artists.

Her fan base reached far beyond Hong Kong into many parts of Asia, including Taiwan, mainland China, Singapore, Korea and Malaysia, and other countries, as well.

In the Hong Kong entertainment industry, where stars often rise and fall quickly, Mui consistently remained in the spotlight for 21 years (1982–2003).

In 1982, as encouraged by her sister, Mui competed in the first New Talent Singing Awards.

There, Mui got a big break by emerging champion with the song "The Windy Season" (風的季節), originally sung by Paula Tsui, beating over 3,000 contestants.

Despite her title as "new talent" at that time, she had already been a singer for more than 10 years from street and club performances during her childhood.

As a reward for winning the New Talent contest at the time, Mui's first album was released with the local record company Capital Artists.

Her debut album, Debt Heart (心債), drew a lukewarm response from the audience.

However, her subsequent albums, Red (赤色梅艷芳) (1983) and Leaping in the Spotlight (飛躍舞台) (1984) fared much better, as she developed her personal style and image, with guidance and support from fashion designer Eddie Lau.

In 1983 and 1984, she won the RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs awards back to back.

Her winning streak continued as she won another major award in 1985, her first top 10 Jade Solid Gold Best Female Singer award.

Thereafter, she won the award every year until 1989.

She was awarded the Gold Songs Gold Awards (金曲金獎) in 1989 for the ballad "Song of the Sunset" (夕陽之歌), which became one of her signature songs throughout her career.

It was then understood that she had developed the disease due to a familial genetic disposition as her sister Ann had died of the same condition in 2000 at age 40 as well.

Mui experienced much hardship in her childhood.

She was born at Fa Yuen Street in Mong Kok, Kowloon.

She is the youngest daughter in a family of four children.

She is the only child born in Hong Kong in her family, as her brothers and sister were born in China.

Her mother Mui Tam Mei-kam was born at Xiguan in Guangzhou.

She was a Chinese medicine practitioner, who opened Yuet Wah Chinese Medical Clinic, Wah Geong Chinese and Western Music College, and a music brand in Hong Kong.

Her career came to an abrupt end in 2003 when she announced she had cervical cancer.

She died later that year at the age of 40.