Wakin Chau

Wakin Chau (born 22 December 1960), better known by his stage name Emil Chau during the 1980s and 1990s, is a Hong Kong-born Taiwanese singer and actor, popular throughout Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and parts of Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam).

In 1979, he left for Taipei to major in mathematics at National Taiwan University.

While at college he sang and played folk songs in local coffee shops, learning to sing in Mandarin.

Hoping to establish a career as a recording artist, Chau sought contacts in the music industry, but after a lack of success, eventually signed on as an assistant producer at Rock Records, where he wrote pop songs for other artists.

He was later encouraged by Chyi Yu to perform jingles for commercial advertisements.

From 1985, under the name Emil Chau, he has released more than 40 albums in Mandarin, Cantonese and English.

His platinum albums, including You Make Me Happy and Sad (讓我歡喜讓我憂), The Flowery Heart (花·心), Music Brings Us Together (有弦相聚) and Emil & Friends (朋友) have won awards in Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore.

One of his jingles for a car commercial was heard by his boss at Rock, who recognised his voice and gave him a chance to record a Mandarin album, released on Rock Records in 1987.

Chau reverted to using his given name Wakin in 1999.

Chau formed the four-member supergroup Superband, along with Jonathan Lee, Chang Chen-yue and Lo Ta-yu.

Alongside his singing career, he is a restaurateur and is active in international charitable causes, such as kidney dialysis charities in Singapore, the January 2002 "Take a Deep Breath" concert in Taipei to raise money for local health-care organisations, Beijing's 4th Grand Charity Drive for Children in 2005, and Jackie Chan's all-star concerts in Las Vegas.

As of 2007, he has released more than 40 albums.

Wakin Chau was born in a rice store owned by his family at Sai Ying Pun in Hong Kong, the fourth son of seven children.

He began learning the guitar when he was about 13 years old.

They disbanded and resumed their solo careers in 2010.

Chau has also appeared in some films, and on TV and radio programs in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan.