Jacky Cheung

Jacky Cheung Hok-yau (born 10 July 1961) is a Hong Kong singer and actor.

He attended North Point Government Primary School from 1967 to 1973, and graduated from Literary College in 1978.

His music career started when he won the Amateur 18-Hong Kong district singing contest in 1984 with the song "Fatherland" (大地恩情) by Michael Kwan.

He outcompeted more than 10,000 other contestants.

After winning the contest, he was signed by the then Polygram Records, now Universal Music Group.

Although encouraged by a bright start, he did not achieve immediate supremacy in Cantopop, then dominated by Leslie Cheung, Alan Tam, Anita Mui and Danny Chan.

In 1985, he won his first two major awards together with the 1985 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards and the 1985 Jade Solid Gold Top 10 Awards.

In 1991, he released the song "Loving You More Every Day" (每天愛你多一些), a translated version of the Japanese Southern All Stars hit "Midsummer's Fruit" (真夏の果実).

The album True Love Expression (真情流露) in 1992, as well as the subsequent release, Love Sparks (愛火花) in 1992, achieved sales of over 400,000 copies in Hong Kong alone.

His subsequent albums included 1993 Me and You (我與你) and 1994 Born to be Wild (餓狼傳說).

The 1993 album The Goodbye Kiss (吻别) is one of the best-selling Chinese music albums of all time, achieving more sales in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia than ever attained before, with more than 5 million copies sold in 1993, making him one of PolyGram's top 10 artists worldwide that year.

It made him the first singer with non-Taiwanese citizenship to win Taiwan's Golden Melody Awards.

The album was also instrumental in helping Cheung break into the mandopop market.

Due to these great songs and albums, Cheung is generally considered to be the pre-eminent member of the Four Heavenly Kings of Cantopop.

He is regarded by some sources as the best singer of the four.

In 1994, Billboard Music Awards named him the most popular singer in Asia.

He received numerous music awards both in Hong Kong and elsewhere, including the best-selling Asian artist in the World Music Awards for two consecutive years in 1995 and 1996 held at Monaco.

Amongst his hit songs, some of his most famous were "Amour", "Just want to spend my life with you" (只想一生跟你走) and "Goodbye Kiss" (吻别).

In 1995, Cheung staged his record-breaking 100-show world tour titled "Yau Hok Yau" (友學友), literally a pun of "friendship Jacky Cheung" reusing the same Chinese characters found in his name.

The tour started with 34 shows from 8 April to 9 June at the Hong Kong Coliseum.

Then the tour continued at Perth Brisbane Australia and returned to Taipei and mainland China.

It then expanded to Madison Square Garden in the US, different parts of Europe, Singapore, India, Malaysia and Japan.

Dubbed the "God of Songs", his accolades include the World Music Award (1996) for “World’s Best-selling Asian artist”, the Billboard Music Award (1994) for “Most Popular Asian Singer”, and a Guinness World Record for the largest combined audience for a live act in 12 months (2,048,553 audience members).

In 1997, Cheung was named best-selling Chinese singer in the world by Time, which reported record sales of more than 25 million worldwide.

In 1999, Cheung was honored by Junior Chamber International as one of the Ten Outstanding Young People in the World.

He is the best-selling music artist of all time in Taiwan and Hong Kong with album sales exceeding 25 to 60 million records worldwide.

Known for his vocal delivery, Cheung is widely regarded as a Heavenly King of Cantopop music, and an icon of Hong Kong popular culture.

Cheung was born and grew up in Quarry Bay in the eastern part of Hong Kong Island.

His father is from Tianjin and his mother is from Shanghai.

As a child, he lived with his parents and two siblings in a 100 square feet apartment which they simultaneously shared with at least fifteen other relatives.

In 1999, he was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World by JCI (Junior Chamber International), a worldwide federation of young professionals and entrepreneurs.

In 2000 he was awarded the Golden Needle Award by RTHK.

This award, the equivalent of a lifetime achievement award, recognised outstanding contributions to the music industry.

He expressed his astonishment upon receiving the award, as he was the least experienced living recipient at only 16 years, and this award was awarded to singers, producers and lyricists that are late in their careers or are semi-retired, in which he was not, but to quash any negative publicity, he clarified that according to his research, there was no stipulation of this sort.

In 2004, Cheung released Life Is Like A Dream, an album in which Jacky co-produced with long-time collaborative partner Michael Au, and Jacky composed the melody for all songs, and penned the lyrics for 3 of the songs.

In 2007, Cheung revealed that the paternal side of his family are mostly seamen, including his father, paternal cousin, and older brother.

His first language is Cantonese, but he also speaks Mandarin and English.

He sings Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean and modern English pop songs.

Cheung is known for his rich baritone voice, but also his dramatic vibrato by rapidly moving his pronounced Adam's Apple.

Cheung originally started working as a reservation officer for the airline Cathay Pacific.